Building a work bench Part 2

[tablesawtom]

In my opinion the most important part of the bench is its height. I had quite a lot to say about height in an earlier post ( Building a Work Bench) Be sure to read what others wrote about it also. The pictures you see are from my 4th bench build. If I had built it to fit me the first time I wouldn't of had to build 3 more. Please make the height of it to fit you, don't let someone else dictates its height sizes for you.

The next step is to decide on a size for the legs. I like to have my benches look missive, But over time I have found that I like 3 by 4s for the leg sizes. I like the looks of a 4 inch wide leg when looking at the front side of the bench. That would mean the depth would be 3 inches. A 3 inch thick leg ( 4 pieces of 3/4 material glued up) works good for me. I do not have a 12 inch compound miter saw, and my table saw will only cut 3 1/8 inches. So anything thicker need to be cut and then flipped over and recut. I confess I have trouble getting the cuts to match perfectly so anything between 3 and 3 1/8th works for me.

My disclaimer is the size of the legs doesn't really matter. You can find plans that call out many different sizes. You can make them any size you want. The reason I like this size is One cut for length. don't have to flip. A ball park figure, the bench is to be 24 inches wide and you want the width of the end to be flush bench top. Then the length of the stretchers holding the legs apart is 24 -3 -3 = 18 inches. Lets say the height of the bench is 34 inches high. The top is 4 inches thick and the bottom stretcher is 10 inches off the floor. You will need 4 legs 30 inches long 4 stretchers 18 inches long, And All of this math can be done in your head, no drawings necessary. I will come back to the height of the bottom stretcher latter.

Why is the leg size so important? has to do with hole layout.

The top of the bench has to fit in the space allowed for it. Only you will know the space limitations. but make it as long as possible. Other questions are do you want it to be split top, have a tool tray etc. A good place to start is one arms length. Or 3 hands wide, see building a work bench of an explanation.

And lastly how thick dose the top need to be? I like 4 inches thick because of using bench dogs and holdfasts and for founding with a hammer. But it is your bench make it any thickness you want..

I am writing this for someone who would like to build his or her first bench. It can be a little intimating If you disagree with any of this, it is just fine with me, but please state your reason as to why. Also remember this is so someone else will feel less intimated and possibly start a build of their own.

[tablesawtom]

If you go back to my post Building a work bench, you will see some pictures of my bench. The legs are basically 4 by 4 legs. and are out of Cherry. The following dimensions are from blueprints of benches found at the back of Scott Landis's The Workbench Book.

Frank Klausz's primary legs are 3/1/2 by 2 3/4. The Fortune/Nelsen bench are 2and 5/8ths square, and Kirby's are 3 by 3.

The size of the legs for benches can be found all over the place And you can make the size of your legs anything you want to. Pine is fine for legs. You that are building the bench can use any wood you want. One can glue a 2 x4 together and come up with a leg that is 3 x3 1/2.

I know I am going to hear about this ( it is a work bench not furniture) but I believe that the bench should be the show piece in your shop. When people visit your shop, the bench should call peoples attention to it without you even having to say a thing. My wife loves showing my shop. Women are just a mases and the most frequent question asked is do you actually work on it. And I say it is the most used tool in my shop and it is. Also a nice looking bench also should make you feel better about using it and hopefully take you time and do better work. I loved this response in the other post. If I would have known how many hours I'd have in it I would have bought better wood. I used 2X DF #2 for legs & stretches & Hem Fir for the top, it's all hand done draw bore M&T joints no glue or fasteners. After building it the old saying of "gold plating a turd" came to mind. But the good thing is it's really rock solid & didn't cost much.

I wrote about 4 legs being 30 inches long and the stretchers being 18 , but if you want 1 inch tenons on then then they need to be 20 inches long. These are general sizes and they can be kept track of in your head.

If I were making the legs using 1 1/2 inch thick stock I would make the boards flat and then glue them together then I would joint one side ( jointer) and then plane the other side ( planner ) Because I know I need 30 inches in length I would cut them longer so I didn't have to deal with snip if you get it. Then longest edge and then to length.

My order of cuts is to do the largest surface first, ( flat ) make the board parallel ( planner ) then longest edge (jointer ) and saw for other long side. I like Forrest blades and I usually do not go back to the jointer but one can leave a little and go back to the jointer. From experience, Since I do the largest surface first, The grain doesn't always run correctly to joint the longest edge because the grain may be running in the wrong direction. But I can get the face against the fence for the correct direction if both surfaces are planned. My jointer has straight knives and yes a spiral head cutter supposedly less tar out and yes grain can change directions and Blah Blah Blah. These are generally the way I do things, yes there are time when I have to go at it a different way.

If I were doing it I would rough out every piece then semi finish every piece and then I would finish all of the pieces at the same size and at the same machine setting . One can have 3 legs semi finished and still go to the store to buy wood for the 4 the leg.

Tom