21st Century Workbench Build

[Big Dave]

I love these kinds of posts...



Nice work!

[MarkSingleton]

NICE. Very nice.

[smithgl12]

Big Dave said:

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I love these kinds of posts...
Nice work!

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Thanks Dave and Mark! Glad you enjoy them. I love these kind of posts too. I have learned a ton from woodnet and pic heavy build posts like these through the years. I finally took some photos so I can contribute.

More pics to come. Holes are drilled on the front faces. 10" Eclipse vise arrives on Friday.

24" Veritas Twin Screw install is next. I'd love to hear tips from people who have installed one. Pitfalls to avoid etc.

[smithgl12]

Holes drilled.


And a coat of BLO on everything

[Ricky]

You got a great deal on that oak. Looking forward to seeing the finished bench.

[smithgl12]

Thanks Ricky. Definitely couldn't pass it up. One thing that made it a bit less of a deal was the mental gymnastics I had to do to convert it to the required dimensions. Some of the laminated 4/4 yielded less than required thickness so I tweaked the design a bit to accomodate and maximize wood usage. Worth it but took longer. I still need to buy the wood for center tool trays and shelf. I'll feel the sticker shock there. probably spend 150 on that.

[smithgl12]

Gettin' there.

Vise was a little longer then I expected. Had to shift the top on the base 4 inches to accommodate.

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Flushing up the top rails.


Holdfasts work nicely
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this turned out to be much faster than block planing end grain.

bring the top rail and leg flush. Didn't take much.



showing the drill guide block of wood for the legs. This didn't work so well and the hole are a bit large. hold fasts don't work as well in the larger holes. " />

Startin' to look like a workbench. This was exciting. I sat and stared for too long.
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Some BLO on the bottom of the top.
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blocks for the end vise.

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I decided on undermount lags here. If they ever loosen or give me trouble, I'll drill it out and through bolt from the top but this keeps the workbench top cleaner and feels rock solid so far.


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still need to build the chop faces but overall I'm very happy with this Eclipse 10" vise. QR action is incredibly smooth. for the price ($130) best value in a woodvise by far, IMHO.
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next up: Twin Screw front vise install and build the tool trays.

[Ken Vick]

It is going to be a beauty and I am impressed with all the hand tool work. Ken

[smithgl12]

Thanks. I'm learning there's much more room than I thought for handtools as the superior tool for many jobs.

[Ken Vick]

Yep, when I found out how to get hand tools really sharp it opened up a whole other way to do woodworking. Ken