Workbench WIP

[Matt_S]

Thanks to those who gave advice and answers to my questions in my other thread. After accidently listing the thread twice and also in General woodworking thought I'd start again in here with a WIP!

So got a day off tomorrow to start on this, first things first get the wood! Simon offered his planer thicknesser but with a new purchase coming my way I'll be able to sort this myself :roll:

But what pine will be best for the bench, and produce best results when cutting M&Ts? The list on the local timber yard is as follows

C/D/Fir, S. Y. Pine & W. R. Cedar.

Two questions which is best? Is there any great price difference?

I'll post up some pics of the design once it is out of my head and in the computer.

 

[ByronBlack]

Chris Schwarz often recommends southern yellow pine (if that is what S Y Pine stands for) for benches, and his roubo bench was built from this, so I guess that would be a fine choice. Although he also recommended as an option fir - but I would go with pine.

 

[Boz62]

You'll find Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir will be double the price of generic joinery grade pine/redwood (these were the two I costed at the time). I'm cheap so went for the generic pine. The mortices and tenons were OK, used a router, but VERY sharp chisels are needed for cleanup as it is rather soft! In practice the result has stood up to workshop life surprisingly well, but I suspect it will start looking bashed about sooner than a harder pine would.

Boz

 

[ByronBlack]

I made my first proper bench out of pine, and it wasn't long before the joints were giving up the ghost and starting to creak and rack - I'd spend a bit extra and go for SYP it's certainly not prohibitively expensive, and is cheaper than beech.

 

[Matt_S]

Thanks guys, I'll find out how much S.Y pine is and hopefully be able to get that.

 

[Matt_S]

So here is avery quick sketch - used this to work out quantities of wood, will need to add in the details.

 

[ByronBlack]

For your stretchers, I would be inclined to by 6x2 stock rather than laminating - it'll save you a bit of time and effort.

1180 seem quite short - I made mine about this size and now regret not making it longer, are you limited by the space its going in? If not, then I would definitely recommened going to a minimum of 2m - it will make working on longer items a lot easier, and will give you extra bench space to store tools/glue-ups/assembly while you work at the other end.

 

[Matt_S]

Space is very limited! I share my single garage with a car (out of choice).

I've had a bigger bench which I have just sold. This wasn't working as the corner with tail vice was too close to the car. I've done quite a bit or rearranging and moved everything round and feel the new layout with a smaller bench will be more useable space than before.

Ordered the sy pine- and could make the stretchers from 6x2. I though laminating would make it more dimensionally stable. First project where I am going to prep stock myself. The thought of all this wood coming in big rough chunks is exciting if a little daunting! No excuse now I have the tools though! Also he mis understood originally and priced for PAR, saved £65 prepping it myself.

 

[WoodAddict]

I'm off work with dodgy back this week, I am a little bored and when I sore your sketch I thought it looked like good practice to feed my new found Sketch Up addiction! :shock:

Looks good to me. Not sure if I got all the fine details right, I left the bottom shelf out as the picture looked more interesting without it, though obviously you'll be putting in for practicalities. :wink:

 

[ByronBlack]

Space is very limited! I share my single garage with a car (out of choice).

I've had a bigger bench which I have just sold. This wasn't working as the corner with tail vice was too close to the car. I've done quite a bit or rearranging and moved everything round and feel the new layout with a smaller bench will be more useable space than before.

Ordered the sy pine- and could make the stretchers from 6x2. I though laminating would make it more dimensionally stable. First project where I am going to prep stock myself. The thought of all this wood coming in big rough chunks is exciting if a little daunting! No excuse now I have the tools though! Also he mis understood originally and priced for PAR, saved £65 prepping it myself.

Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs, but I would prep your timber only half way to final dimension and let it stay in stick for about a week to stabilise in your garage, and then take the final bit off during the build.

I did this with beech that is renowned to move, and by doing it in parts and leaving a bit of time between prep, I managed to get solid unmoving pieces that so far have been very stable.

Are you going to use those bolts that I sold you? Or are you going to brave it and do proper joints?

 

[Matt_S]

I'm off work with dodgy back this week, I am a little bored and when I sore your sketch I thought it looked like good practice to feed my new found Sketch Up addiction!

Paul, thank you! I have some experience with proper 3D and 2D CAD packages and downloaded sketch up with the intention of drawing this up with it as a first go. I lost patience and went back to my basic drawing system My main problem was around this component idea. One for another day! Good to see it in 3D though.

Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs

All basis advice appreciated. Do you mean literally halfway? So if you're wanting to remove 4mm you leave 2mm on?

Are you going to use those bolts that I sold you? Or are you going to brave it and do proper joints?

Byron, a mixture, I plan to M&T the strechers to make the two sides. The use bolts through from each side into the front and back stretcher with nuts hidden in stopped holes from behind.

 

[ByronBlack]

All basis advice appreciated. Do you mean literally halfway? So if you're wanting to remove 4mm you leave 2mm on?

Pretty much - although depending on how wet the wood is when you get it, you might need to leave it in your garage for a week or two initially before you even make the first cut. But generally, yeah, if it needs 4mm, go half way, let it rest for a while to acclimatise and move (because you are exposing fresh and wetter wood with the initial prep) and by the time you come to finish it to final dimension, it should be stable enough so that when you put it together it won't move too much on you.

 

[ByronBlack]

Matt,

If you haven't already prepped your stock, can I recommend you hold off until you have bought Chris Schwarz' Workbench book?

Its only £12 on amazon. I received mine yesterday and I'll be drastically changing my plans for constructing my next workbench.

He goes into great detail on how to select your boards (avoid 2x4 like the plague), how to deal with their respectve moisture contents, and and in which order to work them to ensure you get tight joints and no warping/cupping.

He also explains in great detail the various vices and work holding solutions to common problems (which is awesome), and talks about teh various qualities of the difference species of wood. (Note: SY Pine is a very good chocie).

Also, he has two excellent designs (French & English) and talks about their individual merits. The book is a real eye opener, and I can highly recommend it, it will save you a lot of work and effort and answer almost any question, including construction methods - it's highly detailed.

 

[Matt_S]

Thanks for the tip. I have already got the wood, maybe too late, maybe not. One very long piece of southern yellow pine 2" thick.

 

[ByronBlack]

Thanks for the tip. I have already got the wood, maybe too late, maybe not. One very long piece of southern yellow pine 2" thick.

Not too late - he actually recommends buying the longest/widest pieces possible as opposed to 2x4's and finished stock, so you are on the right track. He has a lot of really useful info regarding aclimating the wood and in what order to use the boards with different MC's.

 

[Matt_S]

This is 2 x 12" by about 4m, which looks huge to me but I've never bought proper wood before. I'll consider the book, sounds like it would be a good investment to make the bench even better. Would also need a moisture meter..... Think I need to talk to the boss, I keep buying but haven't actually made anything for a while! More stuff won't go down too well!!

 

[ByronBlack]

This is 2 x 12" by about 4m, which looks huge to me but I've never bought proper wood before. I'll consider the book, sounds like it would be a good investment to make the bench even better. Would also need a moisture meter..... Think I need to talk to the boss, I keep buying but haven't actually made anything for a while! More stuff won't go down too well!!

He has a number of strategies to estimate the wood without a moisture meter. (There really are no issues left uncovered. I'm very surprised how good the book is).

How much did the SYP cost you, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Oryxdesign]

This is 2 x 12" by about 4m, which looks huge to me but I've never bought proper wood before. I'll consider the book, sounds like it would be a good investment to make the bench even better. Would also need a moisture meter..... Think I need to talk to the boss, I keep buying but haven't actually made anything for a while! More stuff won't go down too well!!

I've got that book if you want to have a look before you buy.

Simon

 

[Matt_S]

Yes please Simon!

 

[Oryxdesign]

I'll bring it to work tomorrow