workshop classic:a bench you can rely on - woodworking · essential projects, tips and...

• Step by Step constructioninstruction.

• A complete bill of materials.

• Exploded view and elevationdrawings.

• How-to photos with instructivecaptions.

• Tips to help you complete theproject and become a betterwoodworker.

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WJ114Published in Woodworker’s Journal “From Shop to Home:Essential Projects, Tips and Techniques”

“America’s leading woodworking authority”™

Workshop Classic: ABench you can Rely On

WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL ©2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

6 Essential Projects, Tips and Techniques

Workshop Classic:A Bench You Can Rely OnA family traditioncontinues with thisno-nonsense mapleworkbench. Granddad wouldlikely approve.

The work-top on contributing editor JohnEnglish’s grandfather’s bench was a pair of

railroad ties with an eight inch gap down themiddle. Granddad, who lived in Ireland, was askilled artisan who built coaches and wagons.

John’s father is pretty good with his hands,too. The bench in his Dublin workshop is bettersuited to the work he does — refinishing antiquefurniture, tuning small engines — thanGranddad's would be. The three inch thick hard-wood top rests on an iron frame, but the vise is ametalworker’s and the top shows scars of butanetorches, solder and even a few hammer blows.

The point is that a workbench is personal — itmust match both the work and the worker.Neither of the benches described above would besuitable for fine woodworking, but the modelshown here is ideal for building furniture andcasework. And it’s easily modified to suit an indi-vidual craftsman’s needs.

Design BasicsJohn built this workbench to fit his six-foot-tall

body. The rule of thumb is to locate the work-topat half the height of the user (in this case, 353⁄8").If you need to build it higher or lower, simplyadjust the length of the legs (see the Leg Sub-assembly Drawings on page 12).

The top of the bench features two parallel rowsof bench dog holes. The front row is close to theedge, but the back row is set in a few inches tohelp support wide subassemblies like drawers orcabinet doors. The top is large enough to clamp astandard five-foot-long kitchen base cabinet, witha few inches left to set down tools or hardware.

Classic Workbench 7

1. If you regularly build furniture or cabinets, the space between thelast bench dog and the wide open vise jaw should accommodate astandard five-foot base cabinet.

3. To ensurestability whenlateral force isexerted on it, abench shouldoutweigh the userby about 50%.

Four Bench Building Basics.

353/8"

291/2"64"

42" 4. One row of bench dog holes should be set in a fewextra inches. This makes it a little easier to supportdoors, drawers and other large parts during clamping.

2. A good rule of thumb is to sizeyour bench so that the top is half

as tall as the primary user.

Another Pitch for Baking SodaHere is an environmentally safe way to cleanpitch from saw blades and router bits: In a plas-tic dishpan with an inch of boiling water tocover the blade, sprinkle a couple of table-spoons of baking soda around the perimeter ofthe blade. Light deposits of blade gunk shouldstart to dissolve within a minute. For heavierdeposits you may need to charge a plastic bris-tle brush with more baking soda and do a bit ofscrubbing. Once the blade is clean, dry it thor-oughly and wipe on a thin coat of wax or oil toinhibit rust. Now, your saw blades are cleanerand so is the environment by not using a caus-tic or volatile blade solvent!


3452°

1"

4"

6"

1/4"

61/4"Trim to fit

3/4"

3/4"43/4" 61/4"

1/2"8" 17/8"

13/4"1"

51/4"

5"

8

17

17

8

1615 1417

12

1/2"

101/8"3"

T x W x L1 Work-top (1) 11⁄2" x 241⁄8" x 60"

2 Inside Liners (2) 3⁄4" x 4" x 60"

3 First Spacers (2) 3⁄4" x 4" x 6"

4 Common Spacers (14) 3⁄4" x 4" x 61⁄4"

5 Last Spacers (2) 3⁄4" x 4" x 51⁄2"

6 Outside Liners (2) 3⁄4" x 4" x 60"

7 Work-top Sides (2) 3⁄4" x 4" x 60"

8 End Caps (2) 1" x 4" x 30"

9 Spline (1) 1⁄2" x 1" x 30"

10 Lag Screws (14) 3⁄8" dia. x 31⁄2" Long

MATERIAL LISTT x W x L

11Washers (14) 3⁄8" ID

12 Leg Cleats (4) 3⁄4" x 3⁄4" x 20"

13 Large End Vise (1)

14 Vise Support Endcap Cleat (1) 3⁄4" x 13⁄4" x 12"

15 Vise Support Leg Cleat (1) 3⁄4" x 1" x 12"

16 Vise Support (1) 3⁄4" x 10" x 9"

17 Laminated Jaw (1) 2" x 73⁄8" x 30"

18 Round Dogs (2) Brass

19 Round Dog Button (1) 31⁄2" Brass Hinge Pin

20 Square Dogs (2) Steel

Bench Dog Hole Layout(Side View)

ViseSubassembly(Section View)

Leg

Work-top

Endcap(Front View)

Laminated Jaw

(Top View)

Slotted holes

Roundbench dog

location.

(Front View)

See full-sizepattern for jaw

profile.

Jaw Lamination

(Section View)

1

1

11

2

23

4

67

7

8

9

9

10 13

16

17

18

19

20

Before even sharpening a pencil for this pro-ject, make sure you have your vise and benchdogs on hand. Open the vise fully and measurethe opening, then subtract the thickness of thejaw (see the Material List on the previous page).This is the maximum spacing you can allowbetween the dog holes in the bench top, but youmay want to downsize a little: traditional benchbuilders have discovered that a space of six orseven inches works best for most projects.

A Butcherblock TopWhile designing this bench, John recalled

something from his days in the kitchen cabinetbusiness: one of the most common kitchen reno-vations is countertop replacement, and more andmore homeowners are discarding their gorgeousold solid maple butcherblock tops. He got luckyon his third phone call: a shop in the city’s histor-ical district sold him an eight-foot-long section of11⁄2" thick butcherblock for just $10. It took only afew minutes of trimming to make the work-top(piece 1). He rough-cut theblank a bit oversized with a cir-cular saw, after first scoringwith a utility knife to helpavoid tear-out.

Then John clamped on astraightedge and trimmed thetop to final dimensions with astraight bit chucked in hisrouter. During this process hecut across the grain first, thenwith the grain: this approachvirtually eliminates blowout onthe corners.

If you prefer to build a topfrom scratch, make sure thequartersawn (tight) grain is vis-ible, and the more open, wavy plainsawnbecomes the gluing surface. Glue and clamp threeor four overly long pieces of ripped and jointedstock together at a time. When they’re dry, glueand clamp these subassemblies together to formthe completed piece. Biscuits help to line up allthese edges as you clamp. After the glue dries,take the entire piece to a cabinet shop and askthem to run it through their wide drum sander, toreduce it to final thickness. Another option is toorder your top glued-up and made to order at alocal home center. This is a little more expensivebut often results in a more secure and stable top.

The Bench Dog HolesAfter trimming the top to size, chuck a 1⁄2" rab-

beting bit in your portable router to cut thespline groove in each end of the work-top (seethe Exploded Drawings on page 8 and as shown inFigure 1, above.

Rip a 3" wide strip off one side of the top andset it aside, then biscuit, glueand clamp the inside liners(pieces 2) in place. Place thework-top on a couple saw hors-es while attaching these liners,so your clamps have plenty ofroom to operate.

The liners need to be flushwith the top of thebutcherblock when it’s fin-ished, so it’s a good idea to setthem in place a hair proud ofthe top rather than shy of it.

The bench dog holes areformed when a series of spac-ers (pieces 3, 4 and 5) areattached to the liners. The

business edges of these spacers are cut at a 2°angle (verify this angle by reading the bench dogmanufacturer’s instructions), and they’re notchedto allow the bench dogs to be stored below thework-top surface. All of these dimensions areshown on the Elevation Drawings, and the cutscan be made on a bandsaw. Dry-fit and mark thespacer locations on the inside liners, verifyingeach placement with a bench dog (see Figure 2).Score a shallow line about a 1⁄4" in from the edgeon both sides of each spacer — use a sharp knifeor a rotary tool - to create a glue well: this willlimit excessive squeeze-out.

Classic Workbench 9

Figure 1: The spline grooveson the endcap arestopped, while thoseon the ends of the topare through cuts. Afterrouting the grooves inthe top, a three-inch-wide strip is ripped off.This piece sits outside ofthe liners and spacers.

Figure 2: Dry-fit the bench dogs and spacers,leaving gaps that are the size recommendedby the dogs’ manufacturer. When everythingfits, trim the final spacer to length.

Attach the spacers to the insideliners with glue and clamps. When they’re dry,you can glue and clamp the outside liners (pieces6) in place. Use biscuits and glue to attach theremaining 3" wide butcherblock strip to one of

the outside liners (see the Exploded View on page8 for its location), then glue and clamp the work-top sides (pieces 7) in place.

Splined EndcapsAs woodworkers well know, wood has an

annoying habit of shrinking and swelling acrossthe grain. To cope with this tendency in a largeassembly such as the work-top, the endcaps(pieces 8) are splined and attached with lagscrews driven through oversized, slotted holes(See the Elevations on page 8 for marking the slot-ted hole locations).


22 24 23

21

3/4"

115/16"

115/8"

23/8"

3/4"

3/4"

43/4"

33/4"

21/8"

3/4"

3/4"

113/8"

15/8"

39

3/8"

3/8"

Side(Inside View)

3⁄4" wide by 1⁄2" deep rabbet.

3⁄4" wide by1⁄4" deepdado.

3⁄4" wide by 1⁄2"deep rabbet.

Back(Inside View)

Divider(Inside View)

Top and Bottom(Inside View)

Set up your routertable with a 3⁄4"straight bit and makemultiple passes forthese rabbets,grooves and dadoes,removing a smallamount of stock witheach pass.

Chamferone end of

each drawerslide.

Toolbox Elevations

Drawer Slide(Top View)

Figure 3: Use your drill press to bore two step slotted holesin the endcaps: these will allow the benchtop to adjust tovarious levels of moisture in the workshop.

Getting Started: You should have the vise and bench dogs onhand before construction begins, in case youhave to adjust the plan to fit the hardware.Beech and hard maple are the traditionalspecies of choice for the frame and top, andwalnut makes an excellent accent. During thecourse of construction you’ll use a table saw,biscuit joiner, band saw, drill press, portableand table-mounted routers and a belt sander.

Chuck the rabbeting bit (the one youused earlier to create grooves in thework-top ends) in your portable routerand, with the workpieces held securely,create a stopped groove in each end cap.Then mark the locations of the lag screwholes in each groove.

Trim splines (pieces 9) to fit around the lagscrews, then move to the drill press to bore thetwo-step elongated and round lag screw holes, asshown in Figure 3. Note that the endcaps are notidentical, but are mirror images of one another.Use the drilled endcaps to locate pilot holes inthe work-top, drill these holes, insert the splinesand attach the endcaps with lag screws andwashers (pieces 10 and 11). Don’t glue the splinesin, otherwise the work-top will buckle or crack ifit’s not allowed to move.

Brace-up for Some BracketsTurn the benchtop upside down and mark loca-

tions for the leg cleats (pieces 12), using thedimensions on the Section View on page 8. You’lluse these locations as a reference as you build upa support structure for the large end vise (piece13). Begin by screwing and gluing a vise supportcleat (piece 14), to the endcap, located 3⁄4" upfrom the bottom (see the Elevations and DetailDrawings on page 8. Drill pilot holes and screw asecond cleat (piece 15) to the vise support (piece

Classic Workbench 11

T x W x L21 Toolbox Top and Bottom (2) 3⁄4" x 153⁄4" x 351⁄2"

22 Toolbox Sides (2) 3⁄4" x 153⁄4" x 16"

23 Toolbox Divider (1) 3⁄4" x 15" x 15"

24 Toolbox Back (1) 3⁄4" x 16" x 36"

25 Toolbox Trim (1) 1⁄4" x 3⁄4" x 120"

26 Door (1) 3⁄4" x 113⁄8" x 143⁄4"

27 Door Stiffeners (3) 1⁄2" x 3⁄4" x 143⁄4"

28 Hinges (2) European Style

29 Toolbox Top Trimmers (2) 3⁄4" x 11⁄2" x 161⁄4"

30 Knobs (4) Brass

MATERIAL LIST

26

27

28

29

30

21

21

22

22

23

39

24

25

16) at the location shown on theElevation Drawings, then dry-fitthe vise support to the endcapcleat and finish drilling yourpilot holes. When all the screwholes have been established,remove the screws until the legsand the laminated jaw (piece 17)are installed. At that time, you’llalso address the bench dogs(pieces 18, 19 and 20).

The ToolboxStability is perhaps the num-

ber one requirement in a work-bench, so the storage area onthis bench is designed to addweight and lateral stability to thelegs, while also providing threedrawers, a cupboard and a largeshelf for tool storage.

The toolbox top, bottom,sides, divider and back (pieces21, 22, 23 and 24) are cut fromone sheet of 3⁄4" hardwoodveneered plywood. John usedbirch ply, a good color and grainmatch for the maple in the restof the bench, and far easier tofind as a stock lumberyard itemthan maple ply. Use the ElevationDrawings to lay out rabbets onthe appropriate edges of thesepieces, then mill them with a 3⁄4"straight bit chucked in yourrouter table. For clean and safecuts, make several passes to milleach rabbet.


34

33

35

31

3/4" 3/4"

23/8"

21/4"

3"

1"

35/8"

341/2"

27/8"

11/4"

(Side View)

Customizethe heightof yourbench byadjustingthe lengthof your stile laminations.

Mount thetool box soit’s flushwith the topof the bottom rail.

LegSub-assembly

(End View)

T x W x L31 Feet (4) 3⁄4" x 31⁄2" x 31⁄2"

32 Stile Center Laminations (4) 1" x 33⁄4" x 331⁄4"

33 Stile Outer Laminations (8) 1" x 33⁄4" x 241⁄2"

34 Top Rail Outer Laminations (4) 1" x 45⁄8" x 20"

35 Bottom Rail Outer Laminations (4) 1" x 45⁄8" x 231⁄4"

36 Rail Center Laminations (4) 1" x 45⁄8" x 10"

37 Foot Inserts (4) 1" x 45⁄8" x 27⁄8"

38 Top Inserts (4) 1" x 45⁄8" x 27⁄8"

MATERIAL LIST

31

32

33

33

34

34

35

36

36

37

37

38

38

12

12

Pinup Shop Drawings


17

Workbench

Laminated Jaw(Full Size)

19Round Dog

Button

Use a simplebrass hingepin to makethis piece.

29

Top Trimmer(Front View)

ScrewLocation


Use the same bit to plow dadoes for the draw-er slides and divider, then glue and clamp the topand bottom to the sides. Dry-fit the back, checkfor squareness and glue it in place.

The front edges of the case are trimmed withwalnut (piece 25). Apply this with glue and 3d fin-ish nails. Set the heads and fill them after the gluedries, then scrape or plane the trim flush with theplywood. Now you need to build and install thelegs before coming back to finish up the rest ofthe toolbox — the door, top trimmers and knobs(pieces 26 through 30).

Stile and Rail LegsetsThe bench’s legs are standard stile and rail

construction, with a twist: both stiles and railsare built-up laminations. This allows you toassemble the legsets with mortise and tenon join-ery without ever having to chop a single mortise.

After cutting all the leg parts (including the feet,pieces 31) to the sizes on the Material List, dry-fitthe stile center laminations (pieces 32) to the out-side laminations (pieces 33): their dimensions areshown on the Leg Elevations on page 12. Face-glueand clamp each set of three laminations together to

T x W x L39 Drawer Slides (6) 3⁄4" x 3⁄4" x 151⁄4"

40 Top Drawer Sides (2) 3⁄4" x 3" x 151⁄2"

41 Top Drawer Front and Back (2) 3⁄4" x 3" x 22"

42 Lower Drawer Sides (4) 3⁄4" x 51⁄8" x 151⁄2"

43 Lower Drawer Fronts & Backs (4) 3⁄4" x 51⁄8" x 22"

44 Drawer Bottoms (3) 1⁄4" x 147⁄16" x 217⁄16"

45 Drawer Trim (1) 1⁄4" x 3⁄4" x 228"

46 Top Drawer Face (1) 3⁄4" x 35⁄8" x 231⁄2"

47 Lower Drawer Faces (2) 3⁄4" x 53⁄8" x 231⁄2"

MATERIAL LIST

42

45

43

47

43

44

47

30

1/4"

3/8"

45°

4230

4745

3/4"

21/4"1/4"1/4"

3/8"

3/4"

115/16"

3/8"

3/8"

Drawer Side (Side View)

DrawerCorner

Joint(Top View)

To create the drawercorner joints, use thetechnique described

in the sidebar onpage 16. Only one

set up is required tomake both the rab-bets and dadoes for

each corner.

Drawer FaceLocation(Top View)

create four individual legs, then set them aside.Don’t be overly anxious about perfect match-

es or glue squeeze-out — after the glue dries,you can scrape off any excess and then joint theuneven edges.

Use the Elevation Drawings to lay out the topand bottom rails’ outside laminations (pieces 34and 35), then cut these to shape on your bandsaw. Dry-fit these and the rail center laminations(pieces 36) to the legs, then temporarily clampthem in place. Use this setup as a template to layout and mark the foot and top inserts (pieces 37and 38), as shown in Figure 4. Trim the inserts tosize on your band saw, glue and clamp eachlegset together and set them aside to dry.

Attaching the Legs to the TopSand the work-top thoroughly, then turn it

upside down. Use your drill press to create slotsin one face of the leg cleats (pieces 12) and pilotholes in the other face of the piece. Attach thecleats flush to the top of the legs with glue andscrews driven through the holes — not the slots.When the glue dries, attach the legs to the tool-box (flush with the top of the bottom rail) bytemporarily clamping everything in place. Predrillthe inside of the toolbox for 2" screws and, wheneverything is lined up, drive them home.

Round up some strong help and set the legassembly upside-down on the underside of thework-top. Complete the assembly driving screwsthrough the cleat slots into your predrilled holesin the underside of the work-top. This secures thelegs and toolbox to the top.

Installing the ViseYou have already made all the parts for the

vise support assembly. Now, begin the vise instal-lation by positioning the vise on its support atthe location shown on the Elevation Drawings.Next, use the vise as a template to mark mount-ing holes on the support. Predrill these holes (seethe manufacturer’s instructions), then install thecleat subassembly you made earlier with screws(See Section View on page 22). You can now beginto mount the vise to the bench.

Again using the vise as a template, gently windin the jaw until the two guide rods just touch theleg rail. Mark the rod locations, and the locationsof the screw holes in the guide rod bushings thatcome with the vise, as shown in Figure 5.

Remove the vise and platform, then use aForstner bit to drill slightly oversized holes in theleg’s rail assembly for the rods and screw to passthrough. You may want to remove the legs andperform this step on your drill press to ensuretruly vertical bores. Then screw the bushings inplace.

The Laminated JawThere are two good reasons to use five sepa-

rate boards to laminate a blank for the moveablevise jaw (piece 17): it will be more stable than asingle board, and it will be far stronger. Followthe Jaw Lamination layout on page 8 to face-glueand clamp the blank together.

Using the Pattern Drawing on page 13, cut thejaw to shape on your bandsaw, and sand out thesaw marks with a 2" drum sander. Shape the out-side bottom and side edges with a 1⁄2" radius guid-ed beading bit chucked in your portable router.

To locate the holes in the jaw for the guiderods and screw, remove the screw and guiderods, clamp the jaw in place and use the vise


Figure 5: The viseattaches to boththe endcap andvise support.With two screwsholding the unitin place,establish thelocations for theguide rod andcenter screwholes in the legs.

Figure 4: Dry-fit the legset parts together, then use this as atemplate to determine the shape of the foot and top inserts.

mounting plate as a guide to locate the threeholes. Drill these holes 1⁄8" oversize.

Slip the laminated jaw over the guide rods andthe screw, then gently wind the vise closed.Position the wooden jaw flush with the top andsides of the work-top’s endcap, drill pilot holesfor the mounting screws and drive them home.

Building the DrawersChamfer the leading edges of the drawer slides

(pieces 39), as shown on the Elevation Drawingson page 10, then glue them in their dadoes.

After cutting the drawer sides, fronts and backs(pieces 40 through 43) to size, use the dimensionsshown on Drawer Corner Joint Detail, page 14, tocreate the locking joints on their corners (see thephoto series sidebar on this page). These joints arecut on the table saw. It’s a good idea to make apractice joint on scrap wood to establish the sawsettings before milling the actual workpieces.

Stay at the table saw to cut grooves in the insidefaces of these pieces for the drawer bottoms(pieces 44), as shown on the Exploded ViewDrawing, page 14. Glue and clamp the drawerstogether, checking that they’re square and flatbefore setting them aside. When the glue is dry,trim the top edges of the plywood drawers withsolid hardwood (piece 45), gluing and nailing at 6"intervals. Fill the nail holes and sand the fillerflush, then install a dado head in your table saw tomill grooves in the drawer sides for the slides. Testyour setup with scrap, using three pieces to repre-sent the three drawer sizes, and make any minoradjustments needed to ensure that the drawerswill slide properly. After milling, test fit the sides inthe case to be sure they move easily on the slides.

The Drawer Fronts and DoorJohn cut the drawer fronts and the door for his

bench from a single wide board, to take advantageof a very attractive grain pattern. You may have toglue up stock for this process. Cut the faces(pieces 46 and 47) to size, then shape their frontedges on the router table with a chamfering bit(see the Elevation Drawings for dimensions).

You can now return to the door and finishmachining it. The grain pattern on John’s door(piece 26) ran horizontally. To prevent cupping,


Step 3: Dry-fit the joints and then switch to a 1⁄4" dadohead to cut the grooves for the bottoms.

Step 1: Install a 3⁄8" dado head and a zero-clearanceinsert in the saw and cut a rabbet at the end of eachdrawer front and back.

Step 2: Without moving the rip fence, switch to themiter fence to form matching dadoes in the drawersides.

Step-by-step drawer joinery

he plowed three dadoes from top to bottom in itsback and glued in three stiffeners (pieces 27).After sanding, he chamfered the door’s frontedges to match the look of the drawer faces.

European style hinges with a 1⁄4" overlay(pieces 28) are completely hidden when the dooris closed. Follow the included instructions formounting these hinges.

On your bandsaw, shape the walnut toolboxtrimmers (pieces 29) to the profile shown on thePattern Drawings, page 13, then sand them smooth.Screw one to the legs at each end of the toolboxtop, to stop tools from falling off the shelf. Finally,chamfer the top and bottom edges of the feet andscrew them to the bottoms of the legs.

Finishing UpDisassemble the entire bench, then sand all

surfaces with 120-grit, 180-grit and finally 220-gritsandpaper. Wipe it down with a tack cloth andapply four coats of natural Danish Oil to thelegset and toolbox, and an additional couple ofcoats to the work-top. Sand each coat except thelast, using 400-grit paper, wiping it clean beforeand after sanding. When the finish is dry,reassemble the bench and mount the knobs onthe drawers and door.

Install a pair of bench dogs (pieces 18) byusing the Elevation Drawings to locate their holesin the top of the vise jaw. Drill the right-hand holevertically all the way through the jaw (back upthe exit area with some scrap, to avoid tear-out).Drill the left hole to a depth of 41⁄2", then use a bitextender or a long twist bit to drill a second holein the bottom of this boring (see the ElevationDrawings for dimensions). This hole is for a brasspin that’s actually a door hinge pin, available atmost hardware stores. This pin is used as a but-ton to push the top of the bench dog up abovethe surface of the jaw when needed.

Pop the square dogs into their holes at thistime, then fill the top drawer in the toolbox withall those project plans you’ll need over the nextfew decades. After all, once people see the greatjob you did on building your workbench, they’rebound to have all sorts of great ideas that willhelp you use it!


Instant Workbench ViseMost workbenches have more than one vise sothe user can work either along an edge or at theend of the bench. If your workbench has onlyone vise, you can provide a second means ofclamping using a length of metal T-track, t-bolts,wingnuts and a few hand screw clamps. Rout adado in your benchtop to recess the T-track,bore a hole through the thickness of the handscrew clamp and assemble the parts. Install asecond hand screw for holding long work, whennecessary.

Bolts in the T-track hold yourscrew clamps in place, turningthem into instant bench vises.

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