Wednesday 26 February 2014

The Foundation of the Wood Shop

As every woodworker knows, as well as most other professionals for that matter, or at least learns really early on, you need somewhere to work.  You not only need "space" but you also need a structure of some kind to work upon.  I suppose a person could work flat on the floor but that's really not practical for the majority.  Most people prefer to work on something, a bench preferably.

For many years, because I wasn't woodworking regularly nor was I shooting for any great degree of finish quality, I worked on a humble Black & Decker Workmate model 200.  My first workmate I got as a gift...Christmas or Birthday, and I kept it for decades.  Later on, I found that I needed a bit more space so I bought myself a larger Workmate 400.  With the two, I was able to do much more, and work on larger projects.



Since my old Workmates have long since gone to the great woodworking shop in the sky, when I decided to take this woodworking thing more seriously, I knew the first thing I needed was a workbench.  At the time, I was enamoured by the "Woodsmith Shop" TV show...as my long suffering wife will attest.  Woodsmith had an episode where they built two styles of workbench.  One was a classic Shaker style bench, which looked a bit out of my league at the time but the other was what they called a "Weekend Workbench"...meaning, a person could likely build it in a weekend...a normal person...perhaps not me.  

Woodsmith's Shaker Style Workbench
 


The bench is constructed of Douglas Fir "two-by stock" and MDF...two of the heavier materials known to man.  This combination produced a bench that wouldn't break the bank, would be heavy, stable and yield a reasonably flat work top surface.


Perhaps not in a weekend but I built the weekend workbench and I love it!  The bench is big and tough and HEAVY...it's surprising how heavy it is.  I bet it's closing in on 500 lbs!  It's no Roubo and it wasn't built in a weekend but I think it turned out just fine.  I added a good quality Jorgenson vice with hard maple chops and a replaceable 1/4" hardboard work surface (akin to projects built by Norm Abram)


Roubo style workbench...revered as the "ultimate" woodworking bench (especially for hand tool woodworking)


The next project was to install some bench storage.  Since I don't have any shop storage to speak of, yet, I wanted somewhere to put things, somewhere near the bench, where they'd be handy.  Once again, Woodsmith magazine came to the rescue.


I modified their workbench storage plans into one that worked for me.  All in all it turned out just fine, and now I have some nice drawer storage in my workbench.  Oh, I also added retractable wheels so I can move it around the shop when need be.



I think this bench will serve me well for a long time.

1 comment:

  1. That's a really nice work bench. Solid! I like the drawers too, to help keep things organized. Good job!

    ReplyDelete