GnomeZone
Member
Hi all,
I posted on here a while ago asking for advice on a wood purchase I was looking to make for a workbench. You were all so helpful, and I was recently reminded I did not update you as to my progress, so here goes!
I decided to order the Southern Yellow Pine on 4.8m lengths PAR, instead of having it cut down to size: this meant it was £330 instead of £480, and I got to keep all of the offcuts for other bits and bobs. The 4.8m lengths were a bit tricky to deal with at first, but once I'd cut them down to 2.4m lengths they were easier to handle.
When choosing my bench design, I needed something which could easily be disassembled to flat: I'm still a student so end up moving house every year. It would be a nightmare trying to fit a full sized non- disassemblable workbench in a car! As such, I decided to go for a knockdown Moravian bench design, taking a lot of inspiration from Will Myers. I made a few changes to the design, chiefly going for two worktops instead of a worktop and a tool tray, as well as using half lap dovetails on the legs instead of mortice and tenons. Will Myer's videos were also very helpful when doing the tusked mortice and tenon joints.
One difficulty with this is that all of my work needed to be done in my bedroom, which isn't that big: with my old plastic workbench up there wasnt much space for me to put the other bench together. I had to spend a couple of weeks with the two pieces of benchtop sitting next to my bed whilst I worked on the rest of the frame. Now that I've got my workbench with a shelf below it my room is much tidier, and I dont have to have a box of clamps taking up space on the floor!
Overall, I found Southern Yellow pine really nice to work with: it's hard enough that joinery isnt a problem and that you dont need to worry too much about denting it, but not so hard that its hard to work with. I also like the aesthetic of the grain, especially when you have several pieces glued next to each other. I learnt a lot throughout this project, and got a huge amount of sawing practice in. Some of the joints have small gaps in them, and there are several things I'd do differently if I was to do it again, but I now have a rock solid workbench which makes everything so much easier; planing on my old plastic bench was impossible.
Here's an imgur album with pictures from throughout the build: please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks again for all your help!
I posted on here a while ago asking for advice on a wood purchase I was looking to make for a workbench. You were all so helpful, and I was recently reminded I did not update you as to my progress, so here goes!
I decided to order the Southern Yellow Pine on 4.8m lengths PAR, instead of having it cut down to size: this meant it was £330 instead of £480, and I got to keep all of the offcuts for other bits and bobs. The 4.8m lengths were a bit tricky to deal with at first, but once I'd cut them down to 2.4m lengths they were easier to handle.
When choosing my bench design, I needed something which could easily be disassembled to flat: I'm still a student so end up moving house every year. It would be a nightmare trying to fit a full sized non- disassemblable workbench in a car! As such, I decided to go for a knockdown Moravian bench design, taking a lot of inspiration from Will Myers. I made a few changes to the design, chiefly going for two worktops instead of a worktop and a tool tray, as well as using half lap dovetails on the legs instead of mortice and tenons. Will Myer's videos were also very helpful when doing the tusked mortice and tenon joints.
One difficulty with this is that all of my work needed to be done in my bedroom, which isn't that big: with my old plastic workbench up there wasnt much space for me to put the other bench together. I had to spend a couple of weeks with the two pieces of benchtop sitting next to my bed whilst I worked on the rest of the frame. Now that I've got my workbench with a shelf below it my room is much tidier, and I dont have to have a box of clamps taking up space on the floor!
Overall, I found Southern Yellow pine really nice to work with: it's hard enough that joinery isnt a problem and that you dont need to worry too much about denting it, but not so hard that its hard to work with. I also like the aesthetic of the grain, especially when you have several pieces glued next to each other. I learnt a lot throughout this project, and got a huge amount of sawing practice in. Some of the joints have small gaps in them, and there are several things I'd do differently if I was to do it again, but I now have a rock solid workbench which makes everything so much easier; planing on my old plastic bench was impossible.
Here's an imgur album with pictures from throughout the build: please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks again for all your help!
