26 cubic feet of southern yellow pine

[gasman]

Being delivered this morning to my house - 10 boards each 12" x 2" x 4.9m ... to make a roubo bench for me and a mate - should be plenty. £430 inc VAT delivered - I thought that was an amazing price. Will let you know how I get on
Best regards
Mark

 

[Baldhead]

Mark

Are you doing WIP pics?

BH

 

[PeterBassett]

Blimey! I also would like to read a WIP for this...

 

[gasman]

10 SYP boards stacked in the drive yesterday

At 4 am it started raining so I had to get up and carry each one into the garage! Silly
I have the Schwartz book, have the basics of the design sorted, need to get a whole day with my mate to cut and machine all the boards.
One question I had is how much movement to expect with SYP when I cut the board longitudinally? As each board is 300 mm wide, I am hoping to cut each into 3 and, after flattening, end up with 90 mm thick bench top. However if as I cut each board it curves due to internal stresses then I wont get as much out. How much deviation should I expect with SYP?
THanks
Mark

 

[MickCheese]

This looks like an interesting thread. Looking forward to it.

I too am going to build a new workbench when I get the time.

I am not too far from you. Can I ask where you got the boards as that seems a good price. I will understand if you cannot reveal your source.

Regards

Mick

 

[gasman]

Hi Mick I got it from Clarkswood who have outlets in Bristol and Uxbdidge.. ON line the price was £18 a cube + VTA but when I called the Bristol branch they quoted me £14 +VAT - which is where I got the £430 for 26 cubic feet.... however they only had 4.9 m lengths at Uxbridge (and I wanted that so I can get 2 full 8 foot lengths out of each piece). I am pretty sure I got that price for it.
MIck you are more than welcome to come over and see it / chat about benches etc etc if you want.
Regards
Mark

 

[carlb40]

Not sure on how much movement to expect. However i would rough cut it to length. Put it in the place where it will be used to acclimatise. Then machine up to almost final sizes. Leave it again for a few days or more to settle, then finish to final size and start the build.

Looking forward to this as i will be doing my roubo bench this year.

 

[MickCheese]

Hi Mick I got it from Clarkswood who have outlets in Bristol and Uxbdidge.. ON line the price was £18 a cube + VTA but when I called the Bristol branch they quoted me £14 +VAT - which is where I got the £430 for 26 cubic feet.... however they only had 4.9 m lengths at Uxbridge (and I wanted that so I can get 2 full 8 foot lengths out of each piece). I am pretty sure I got that price for it.
MIck you are more than welcome to come over and see it / chat about benches etc etc if you want.
Regards
Mark

Thanks for the info. I don't work far from Uxbridge so may pop in to see what price they can do. Just need to find the time to do all the things I want without my wife stealing all my free time.

Mick

 

[Tierney]

Hi,

SYP has good stability and shouldn't move much once dry, according to a book that I have. No personal experience.

Another book talks about shrinkage rates in workshop of up to 3.2% tangentially for Beech, which is recognised as moving a lot. So that should give you a worst case scenario.

If you could check the moisture content, that might give you a better idea of likely movement.

Regards,

DT

 

[fluffflinger]

OK purists look away now.

I laminated up a bench top for a work colleague out of 8x2's off a building site, not exactly SYP I know but they were "free". I was worried that although they were reasonable straight and required little machining that they would twist horribly the moment I ripped them. So having cut them to just over length, I simply cleaned them up roughly with an electric planer (bit scared of foreign objects lurking), popped them on sled to pass through my thicknesser (too wide for planer) alternated the grain in each board and glued them up as 8x2's (actually I glued them three at a time). Then ripped them down the centre on the bandsaw, glued these up immediately and at the end I was amazed at how flat the whole structure ended up and still is!!!

See I told you you'd be appalled.

 

[Halo Jones]

I did the same. My bench is construction timber that had already been used. A nearby college was being stripped and they recycled all the studwork. Got all the wood for my workbench for £17! Once I machined it all it looked surprisingly good.
Half way through the build now. After the initial machining I am doing everything by hand.

 

[dannykaye]

Mine was a load of 2*2.5 timber that had ben temporary windows on a restoration project. A friend saw them going in a skip and grabbed them for me. I have ebbn using it for about ten years now, cost £0

 

[wabbitpoo]

OOI, what would the cost of the thing you are building be if you went out and purchased one? Or can't they be bought?

£430 for a pile of timber might be good value but it seems like a lot of dosh to me! lol

 

[Andy RV]

You can buy a nice bench from Richard Maguire, however for a heavy sturdy model you're looking at 2-3K.

Heavy robust benches require large amounts of material, and good quality material isn't cheap, gasman paid £14 +VAT per cubic foot which is cheap, imagine building it in a hardwood paying £30 - £40+ per cube.

I'm looking forward to more pictures!

 

[gasman]

26 cubic feet of SYP will make 2 x roubo woodworking benches - I reckon 11 cubic feet each will be plenty. So it will actually be £215 each bench - as Andy RV says to buy one would be £2-3K plus I already know this is gong to be one of the most rewarding jobs I ever did in my workshop. Wood is now stacked and 'acclimatizing' before the real work begins
Regards
Mark

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've never understood why anyone would pay a small fortune for a bench. If you need one, presumably you have the ability to make one - so pay for decent materials, take time and make something that makes you feel good and gives you a little pride when you use it. I am, of course, thinking of a one off job, not commercial or educational purchases.

 

[No skills]

@ Phil - Same reason people pay for expensive cars, because they can.

I always like a bench build, regardless of cost or materials. Hope Gasman has the time to do some pics while he works.

 

[gasman]

OK I will do a WIP for this - first we have to find a day for my mate and I to do the basic machining - ie cut up these big planks into usable sized timber - might be a couple of weeks
Cheers
Mark

 

[gasman]

So far the plans are as follows:
- a roubo-style bench similar to the one in Chris Schwartz's book. The top will be about 2400 x 650 x 90mm (but I need to get 3 widths out of the 300 mm SYP boards - I think it will be OK. Legs will be 125 x 125, height 900mm. I am going to put in a Veritas twin-screw vice instead of the leg-vice
- at the moment probably a Veritas tail vice which `i will make either a shoulder vice or more likely wagon vie from.
I can't find the PDF of how to install the Veritas tail vice - does anyone have a copy?
Was toying with a Moxon but actually am more tempted by a little bench on a bench - to do my inlaying etc on
Best regards
Mark

 

[gasman]

10 June is set as the day my mate is coming up to start machining the timber - sorry about the delay I am as keen as anyone to get on with it. I have given a lot of thought to the vices - think I said I have got the veritas twin screw vice which will be on the front. I have really splashed out and bought the veritas tail vice too - but it did not appear to come with any instructions or diagrams how to construct the tail / shoulder. Can anyone help?
Thanks
Mark