First workbench build

[Stevewoody]

I’m currently setting up my single garage with racking / shelving etc and have allocated a space of 1500mm at one end to accommodate a 600mm deep bench.

I’ve seen dozens of bench photos on tinternet and am still a little unsure of how best to construct one for the best rigidity. Its for general home diy projects/ assembly etc.

I was thinking of using and obsolete Howdens (heavy) oak internal door for the worktop. I need to lay something flat on top of that to overlap the frame, would 18mm ply be overkill? I’ve ordered 4x2 cls for the frame and legs.

Tia

 

[Sideways]

So very many ways to skin a cat ...

If you want to hand plane on your bench, you need real stability and a resistance to "racking" when you shove hard, sideways with the plane, on something clamped to the top of held in the vice. The bench design is influenced heavily by this. The easiest way to stiffen a bench against racking is to put a "back" on it between the back legs. This could be a sheet of ply. Mine was a softwood plank 12 ish inches wide bolted to the legs at the corners. I don't like "aprons" at the front but they are another classic way to resist racking.

If you don't intend to hand plane, then the bench can still be good and strong, but becomes more about just staying flat when you put something heavy on it.

I started with a simple bench, built to cope with planing. Softwood frame, top was a made from a full sheet of 18mm birch pky, ripped into 600mm widths and doubled up. 36mm of birch ply is mighty strong bench top. Throw some 6mm MDF on it as a sacrificial surface. My bench was 6' long. I didn't have space for 8'.

After a few years I changed it to something that was naff for planing but made great use of the space under the bench for storage. I cannibalised the frame but the top stayed the top.

Then I made a small, heavy but luggable benchtop that could be propped against the wall out of the way but had weight and vices to let me hand plane small stuff again.

I use MDF sheet on toughbuilt trestles to give me biggish flat surfaces to tracksaw, rout and assemble things on for glueing up. Single garage isn't a lot of space. I often wait for a nice day and put up the trestles and worktop outside.

My indoor workbench these days is a flat surface for powertool working on, doubling up as the outfeed table of the table saw.

This is just to show that needs can change, and the design of the bench at any time depends on what you want to do with it.

 

[AJBaker]

I'd recommend some version of the joiners' bench. Rex Krueger on YouTube has some good ideas, and there are decent plans from the 'English Woodworker' (Richard Maguire). Some of the old diy books from 100 years ago also have decent plans, I'll see if I can find some pictures.

The main thing is just to make it and get on with making more things. Good luck!

 

[Eshmiel]

I built a bench many years ago as a woodworking rite of passage. I read lots about bench designs beforehand then settled on a design. The prime design parameter was that it had to be tough, rigid, heavy and otherwise able to cope with any woodworking operation, since I had no hard & fast plan for what I wanted to make other than, "everything .... eventually".

Mine has a 3" thick solid sugar maple top and an undercarriage made of thick iroko legs, with thick top and bottom stretchers. Between them is a large cupboard & drawer cabinet. It weighs a ton, can't easily be moved unless disassembled (its knock-down courtesy of huge bed bolts) and is ultra-rigid. Whatever style of bench you choose to make, I recommend the aforementioned features.

If you watch YouBoob vids of woodworking, you'll notice most benches shake, wobble and otherwise show jerky-camera shudders as anything is done on them, especially planing, as Sideways mentions. Such judders and shakes detract a lot from your efforts, not just with planes but with anything involving large forces such as chiselling, routing and sawing; and with precise operations.

Think also about bench height to suit your height and what you typically do; and about the work-holding devices you'll probably need. Two vises (face & end) are worth having as are well-spaced dog holes. The top needs to be flat but not so dead flat as many WW gurus suggest.

 

[Cabinetman]

Hi Steve, you should consider fastening it to the wall and maybe the floor of the garage, this will give it some rigidity. Also largish triangles (12”) of 18mm ply screwed across corners will make a huge difference and stop the bench wracking.
This will no doubt be superseded at some point by a better one so just do it use it and learn from the experience. I’m on my 7th!
Ian

 

[Eshmiel]

This will no doubt be superseded at some point by a better one so just do it use it and learn from the experience. I’m on my 7th!
Ian

7th! Are you vicious to the bench or have you just learnt by a lot of mistakes? I hope never to have to replace mine, now twenty-summick years old and scruffy but still as good as when new.

 

[Cabinetman]

7th! Are you vicious to the bench or have you just learnt by a lot of mistakes? I hope never to have to replace mine, now twenty-summick years old and scruffy but still as good as when new.

Haha lol, no just old and moved around a bit, my last one a beautiful Beech one 10’ long only got one small saw mark in 15 yrs, and it still annoys the hell out of me!
Now in the States and building my first freestanding one out of solid Ash ( they don’t do Beech here). There will be a full reveal when it’s finished. And yes I’ve learned a lot over the years, I think people will be surprised by some of the features on it.

 

[thetyreman]

if I was making another one I'd go with richard mcquire plans, and also use solid ash not pine, I have found 6 foot at times not long enough for a serious workbench, I think I basically prefer the roubo style of bench with an end vice, but I do like having a tool well as well, workbenches are subjective and need to be built based on your own unique requirements depending on what you make, if you make chairs or guitars then a pattern makers vice is incredibly useful because there are a lot of tapered shapes.

 

[AJBaker]

I'd also recommend looking at Chris Schwartz's book on the anarchist's workbench. The PDF is free on lostartpress.com.
He goes over a lot of the advantages and disadvantages of various styles, and gives a step by step guide for what he considers the best possible bench.

 

[Cabinetman]

I'd also recommend looking at Chris Schwartz's book on the anarchist's workbench. The PDF is free on lostartpress.com.
He goes over a lot of the advantages and disadvantages of various styles, and gives a step by step guide for what he considers the best possible bench.

I’ve never considered it before but you could almost produce a flow chart for the right bench based on simple questions about preferences, timber, working methods and work produced.