| |
Back in the spring of 1988, I spent most evenings and weekends working after-hours in a commercial cabinet shop where I built kitchen cabinets during the day. My main project then was building a traditional, dual-vice hardwood workbench for myself. The plans called for hefty 2 and 4-thick parts, which I cut from mammoth slabs of rough-cut, air-dried beech and hard maple I'd bought from a farmer friend. Back then, ready-to-install bench tops and fancy accessories weren't available off the shelf, as they are now. All you could get were plans and vice hardware. Yes, you could buy wonderful, ready-made workbenches, but they cost too much for my budget. And besides, what kind of a woodworker buys a bench?
The surprising thing about that project was how the work dwarfed the industrial-duty equipment I was using. Wrestling those rough slabs into submission and coaxing them together with mortise and tenon joints took every ounce of machine power I had at my disposal. And this got me thinking: How would I do this job without the benevolence of an obliging boss with a great, 8,000 sq. ft. workshop? How do other woodworkers build great benches?
The Bench Is Still King
With power tools gaining a stronger presence in the workshop, you might think that workbenches don't matter as much as they used to. Not true. The heart of any workshop is still the bench because so much revolves around it. And thankfully, the range of workbench choices is wider now, opening opportunities for people not blessed with enough workshop horsepower to propel a battleship.
Since the home woodworking bench serves many different functions, its design needs to be more adaptable than benches found in commercial shops. The ideal home-based bench is a breed apart. It needs to be stable, portable and versatile. The exciting part of the new workbench possibilities is the ease with which you can create all these features, and get on with workshop fun.
Feature#1:
Stability by Design
Nobody likes a bench that wiggles, and that's why workbench stability is vital. Stability in this case springs from two features: weight and a rigid support structure. Bolting the bench to the wall isn't an option because it restricts access to one side. My traditional workbench is stable largely because lifting its 4-thick hardwood top would qualify as an Olympic strength event. But had I to build it over again, without access to an industrial workshop, I'd consider buying a length of ready-made, hardwood countertop instead of jointing, planing and laminating one from scratch. Even though ready-made wooden countertops are usually only 2 thick (only!), by adding a wider skirt of hardwood around the edges you create a first-rate benchtop at a great price. Convenience and heft, all in one.
Michigan Maple Block http://www.mapleblock.com/
is one leading supplier.
Feature#2:
Make It Portable
When I say a workbench should be portable, I don't expect it to fit conveniently into the trunk of your car. That's asking too much. I do think it
|
|
should be easy to slide around in your shop, though, and be knockdown friendly so you can move it to another place now and then. Portability depends on being able to take apart the base, yet have it remain rigid when together. The system of 1/2 dia. bolts and threaded inserts or nuts shown here does this, and it also frees you from the chore of cutting all the mortise and tenon joints you'd otherwise need to for a one-piece bench base. This option is solid. There's no reason to consider any other approach.
Feature#3:
Master Of All
If you're like me, the time you spend in your home workshop is varied. One minute you're sanding, next minute you're ripping on the table saw, then hauling out your benchtop jointer that's stashed in the corner. Unless your workbench is a useful part of this variable work flow, it'll be a nuisance. That's why you have to make it a team player. And the most important feature in this regard is height. The instructions that came with my traditional bench plans explained that the top of the bench should be level with my wrists. That was fine in the days when lumber was planed entirely by hand. But nowadays there's more to consider. Any home workbench should be about 1/4 lower than the height of your saw table, as well as sized to fit your physical height. This means you can use it as an outfeed table when cutting big planks and sheet goods. And if your workbench has to be a lot lower than your saw for some reason, make a set of outfeed rollers to slip into one of the vices to raise the support surface. Your benchtop should also be designed to secure 3/4-thick plywood base plates bolted to the underside of all your benchtop tools, like the jointer, drill press and stationary sander.
Benchtop Functions
A good home workbench needs to do more than just support your work off the floor and help with machine operations. It also needs built-in vices to hold all shapes of workpieces securely. It must also be easy to clean, and should have a built-in storage area for tools in use. My traditional bench uses dogs -- lengths of metal, rectangular in cross section, made to fit into rectangular holes built into the benchtop -- against which workpieces can be gripped. These square holes were made by crosscutting grooves in the strips of wood that eventually became the completed top. Shortly after I finished the bench, I wondered: Why square holes and dogs? Why not just bore some round holes and uses hardwood dowels for the dogs, perhaps with a length of piano wire epoxied into a groove in the side to stop the dog from sliding down into the hole by gravity? Round holes can be bored anywhere you want, even after the benchtop is assembled or purchased without holes. I mustn't have been the only one thinking about round dogs at the time, because since my bench came to life, a whole range of round bench dogs and accessories have emerged.
Check out Lee Valley Tools
800-267-8767
http://www.leevalley.com/
They have a line of round brass dogs, benchtop hold-down clamps and steam-bending equipment that all fit into the same 3/4 holes.
|
