Wood for a bench build

[tablesawtom]

First off, this is a great place to get information from people with experience with your hobby 

A while back I asked about why Ash would be a good choice for a Roubo bench build.  And I was pleased with the reasons it is a good choice for it even though the person I was going to build it for chose Hard Maple. There were a lot of good reasons for other choices also. Anyway, I backed out of the Roubo bench build, it didn't feel right for me.  But if I were buying I think it wood it would be ash, and it would  also depend on price.

Anyway the local cabinet shop lets me dumpster dive and they had enough  2/14, - 2 1/2  strips pf southern yellow pine(  knot free)  a true one inch thick, 12 foot long, in the dumpster, to build the Moravian bench I have been planning on building. 

Yes I know that tops need to be 4 inches thick for some of the purest out there but I have been wanting a good  portable work bench for some time and I think that the finished thickness what ever it becomes will be a good thickness. And at my age ( 73) weight becomes a big factor for portability. I have heard that yellow pine makes a good top also so I am quite pleased.

It will be a lot of gluing but free works very well for me. I also posted a picture of an old bench screw a while back. Actually I though it came off from an old cider press and someone on this forum confirmed that it was exactly that. I am sure that I can retro it to the bench and $2 for a leg vise screw things are looking good. Now I need to figure out the wagon vise part of the build with out braking the bank. And as I am setting here I think I just figured that out too.


I am going to go over to my shop latter today and check and see if I still have some threaded rod.

Tom

[museumguy]

Interesting developments Tom. Can't wait to see the progress.

[hbmcc]

Sounds like you have done a 270, or 90 turn in your own build plans. Free, and cheaper, are always a rewarding experience. Why have a "You Suck!" award, if not? I fight that problem along with "better design". 

Anyway, I thought a wagon vise from pipe clamp parts would be cheap. However, the people who touted them never got into explaining the tuning nightmares.

Have fun building!

[Mike Brady]

I wouldn't encourage your decision to change from ash to the SYP you seem to be going with.  You are correct that ash is a very desirable bench material because it is very strong and heavy and much less expensive than maple.  It also is available in thick stock at saw mills particularly in the midwest where Tom lives.  The pine you have been given will require lots of laminating and machining to fabricate the top and frame parts you need.  A bench will last a couple of lifetimes, so why not make a modest investment in good materials?  You should be able to get thick ash boards for about $3. bd.ft.
A 6ft. bench should require about 100 bd.ft. of stock for the heavy style bench such as the popular Roubo style.  Actually vises are where benches get expensive, so the wood is a relatively small portion of the cost no matter which of the common species you choose.  There will get a bunch of feedback from people who built SYP benches because Chris Schwarz built one in 2006.  I would guess that was the last pine bench of the many he has built.

[tablesawtom]

I wouldn't encourage your decision to change from ash to the SYP you seem to be going with.  You are correct that ash is a very desirable bench material because it is very strong and heavy and much less expensive than maple.  It also is available in thick stock at saw mills particularly in the midwest where Tom lives.  The pine you have been given will require lots of laminating and machining to fabricate the top and frame parts you need.  A bench will last a couple of lifetimes, so why not make a modest investment in good materials?  You should be able to get thick ash boards for about $3. bd.ft.
A 6ft. bench should require about 100 bd.ft. of stock for the heavy style bench such as the popular Roubo style.  Actually vises are where benches get expensive, so the wood is a relatively small portion of the cost no matter which of the common species you choose.  There will get a bunch of feedback from people who built SYP benches because Chris Schwarz built one in 2006.  I would guess that was the last pine bench of the many he has built.

[tablesawtom]

Why not a 6 foot bench? Because here are a couple of pictures of my 8 foot bench in my shop.

   

   

I have wanted a portable bench for a long time now and it will come in handy if I am doing some work at home, or at my son's or daughter's house. My bench is my most used tool in my shop. When I finish, I will have a good solid  portable bench to work from. I chose a Moravian bench because from the you tub video it knocked down in about 2 minutes.  And a 2 inch solid top should be plenty solid enough for a portable bench.  I also have bench top saw and it can go where my cabinet saw can't, to location.

When a person is on a fixed income $100  for ash is $100 and free is even better. Glue up time doesn't come out of my pocket.

Here is the leg screw I posted a while back, and the other picture is a picture of a screw I bought for the bottom of a leg vise on a previous bench. Rather than having a board at the bottom with holes in it, I used a screw .

   

   

   

Anyway I can mortise and trap the nut in and that takes care of the screw part of the vise.  Much like I did for the moxon vise I built into my bench. I figured I could pull the jaw back by hand but since I have access to a metal lathe I am going to cut a grove in it and make a holder. Here is a picture of a screw I bought from lee valley  and basic ally I am going to do the same thing on a smaller scale. The big nut in the middle will be the small hex nut.

   

I am going to check black iron pipe tees in the next couple days for the handle. I chose the iron tee because of the top thickness. I want stuff to be able to hang over the entire top of the bench.
Here is a picture of how the fabricated wagon vise will look and operate. and I thought I would trow the other leg vise components. Vise hardware can get expensive only because you let it. Being able to spin the vises open and closed adds about $700.

   

   


And I got help from here on the forum just finding the plans. 

Tom

[tablesawtom]

Mike wrote ( for the heavy style bench such as the popular Roubo style. ) for the record I am not a fan of the Roubo style bench. I prefer the traditional style of the European or Scandinavian type bench.  And that is probably because of the influence Frank Klausz has had on me. Nothing wrong with a Roubo bench it is just personal preference. But I will add jokingly they just don't look right.

 But to be truthful, a lot of my bench, or most of it, was inspired by a picture of a 19th century shaker bench that is located in a museum in Hancock Mass. The bench starts on page 33 of the workbench book by Scott Landis. Even the color that I did the bench in, is the color of that bench or as close as I could get to it. Since I am some what but not truly left handed, I thought it would be nice to be able to work left handed at times so I did the back side, the one with the leg vise, left handed, even though the shaker is right handed.

Tom

[Admiral]

 But to be truthful, a lot of my bench, or most of it, was inspired by a picture of a 19th century shaker bench that is located in a museum in Hancock Mass. The bench starts on page 33 of the workbench book by Scott Landis. Even the color that I did the bench in, is the color of that bench or as close as I could get to it. 

Tom

Tom:  I recognized the inspiration from the Hancock bench; I've not read Scott's book, but I've been to Hancock Shaker Village and saw that bench in person, the guy in the woodshop let me across the ropes to play with it.  That being said, I like your's better!

[Bibliophile 13]

Pine is fine. And I know all about making do with what you can afford. My bench is all pine (SYP), and I would do it again.

A movable bench is a good thing to have, especially if you already have a good, stable bench for heavy planing. Planing on a lighter bench will make it scoot around, which is annoying. But a lighter bench is useful for lots of other work. As to the thickness of the top, you can always attach another piece underneath to build up the thickness right where you need it. I eventually did that with my front apron so my holdfasts would work in it.

[DonSlaughter]

First off, this is a great place to get information from people with experience with your hobby 

A while back I asked about why Ash would be a good choice for a Roubo bench build.  And I was pleased with the reasons it is a good choice for it even though the person I was going to build it for chose Hard Maple. There were a lot of good reasons for other choices also. Anyway, I backed out of the Roubo bench build, it didn't feel right for me.  But if I were buying I think it wood it would be ash, and it would  also depend on price.

Anyway the local cabinet shop lets me dumpster dive and they had enough  2/14, - 2 1/2  strips pf southern yellow pine(  knot free)  a true one inch thick, 12 foot long, in the dumpster, to build the Moravian bench I have been planning on building. 

Yes I know that tops need to be 4 inches thick for some of the purest out there but I have been wanting a good  portable work bench for some time and I think that the finished thickness what ever it becomes will be a good thickness. And at my age ( 73) weight becomes a big factor for portability. I have heard that yellow pine makes a good top also so I am quite pleased.

It will be a lot of gluing but free works very well for me. I also posted a picture of an old bench screw a while back. Actually I though it came off from an old cider press and someone on this forum confirmed that it was exactly that. I am sure that I can retro it to the bench and $2 for a leg vise screw things are looking good. Now I need to figure out the wagon vise part of the build with out braking the bank. And as I am setting here I think I just figured that out too.


I am going to go over to my shop latter today and check and see if I still have some threaded rod.

Tom

Those Reubos are nice looking benches for sure...but I've had my custom for many years and it just feels like the one for me.  I laminated 1"x3"soft maple 6' strips to 21"wide top and put them on 4'X4" Douglas fir base frame.  Put 12" Jorgensen face vise on it and a few years later put the 
veritas twin screw on the end. I also added 4 drawers (ash) six inches below the top.  Still have to use custom forged holdfasts but also have the veritas holdfast that works great, too.  I had to flatten mine once in 16 years...a few years after installing the twin screw vise...had about 1/16" sag.  But it's remained flat since then and, now, it has so much character and 'soul' that I wouldn't trade it for 3 of those Reubos!  Only thing I might mention to you before you laminate that SYP.....try to pick really straight grained stuff and 'make sure' you have all the boards with grain running same direction!. There are 2 of mine with grain running the wrong way....if they were on the outside I would remove & replace them..but they're on the inside near the middle.  GOOD Luck...keep us posted! http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f345/D...G_2124.jpg