Project Information
First off, I know everyone is building this type of Bench - but now that I have it, I completely understand why. This was such a blast to build - although it took me just about 3 months on nights and weekends. I worked on this for as much time each week that was allowable - i had to make my presence known in the house , or the misses would have not been happy, and I finished this just before Christmas 2018.
So about the bench, I have been planning this bench since about early 2015. I started in late 2015 milling lumber for this bench all 2" + thick slabs of Red and Black Oak. The reason that I was able to afford the Benchcrafted is that my only lumber cost of $150 for the Walnut Leg Vise and Deadman. At the time I didn't have any 12/4 thick Walnut. The oak turned out beautiful, I did have to epoxy a few knot holes here and there but after much heavy lifting, I made it. Don't under estimate how heave this bench was. I initially started the top glue up on one pair of Sawhorses and switched them out because I didn't trust them with the weight.
The Dimensions of this bench are 25" Wide, 34" tall and 7' long. In my shop, I didn't have room to go longer, I would like to have gone a few inches Wider, but I Followed Chris Shwarz plan by the book. I had been collecting large and small Bessey clams for the project for years and I finally found my magic number 10 24" clams and 10 50" clamps. I had just enough to finish the bench without any limitations. If I could remember this, I think a neat thing to do would be to list the tools that didn't survive the build.
The Oak lumber air dried in my back lumber storage area for about 3 solid years - 1 year it was stickered outside and the other two it was stickered inside. The shear weight of this project made me adjust the way I milled the lumber. I don't have a jointer, but I ended up with a pretty flat slab when it was all finally glued up. There is a small 1/32" dip in the middle. but for now its nothing that I need to worry about.
As for the build itself, the hardest part was the front rail that is supposed to be dovetailed into the bench. I tried one time and the dovetails looked way to ugly to stare at for the rest of my life. I did end up just scrapping the dovetails - It was the lesser of two evils. I had enough length on the board to try one more time, but I could not think of a way to do it differently and just lagged the endcap into the front rail. The Benchcrafted Vises are remarkable - I cannot speak highly enough of them and the customer service. I reach out as I either misplaced or lost a small bolt and they had it sent to me free of charge in a few days.
The agility that is added to my work with theses vises - especially the Legvise is superb. I am mainly a powertool users and normally complement my work with handplanes, and this takes using power tools to the next level. I dovetail a complete Hopechest with this and was surprised how flawless the process went.
I know that a lot of people may be sick of seeing theses benches online, but when I am in the shop this bench is just a masterpieces, to me. I have a million pictures of the various processes, but if you are considering building this bench, start now - you won't regret it for one second. The only part I have left is the bottom shelf, which I plan on completing shortly. I just wanted to use the bench first, the shelf can wait a little bit. Just for a laugh, I have included a before picture of the bench - it was a few of the logs utilized for this build.
So about the bench, I have been planning this bench since about early 2015. I started in late 2015 milling lumber for this bench all 2" + thick slabs of Red and Black Oak. The reason that I was able to afford the Benchcrafted is that my only lumber cost of $150 for the Walnut Leg Vise and Deadman. At the time I didn't have any 12/4 thick Walnut. The oak turned out beautiful, I did have to epoxy a few knot holes here and there but after much heavy lifting, I made it. Don't under estimate how heave this bench was. I initially started the top glue up on one pair of Sawhorses and switched them out because I didn't trust them with the weight.
The Dimensions of this bench are 25" Wide, 34" tall and 7' long. In my shop, I didn't have room to go longer, I would like to have gone a few inches Wider, but I Followed Chris Shwarz plan by the book. I had been collecting large and small Bessey clams for the project for years and I finally found my magic number 10 24" clams and 10 50" clamps. I had just enough to finish the bench without any limitations. If I could remember this, I think a neat thing to do would be to list the tools that didn't survive the build.
The Oak lumber air dried in my back lumber storage area for about 3 solid years - 1 year it was stickered outside and the other two it was stickered inside. The shear weight of this project made me adjust the way I milled the lumber. I don't have a jointer, but I ended up with a pretty flat slab when it was all finally glued up. There is a small 1/32" dip in the middle. but for now its nothing that I need to worry about.
As for the build itself, the hardest part was the front rail that is supposed to be dovetailed into the bench. I tried one time and the dovetails looked way to ugly to stare at for the rest of my life. I did end up just scrapping the dovetails - It was the lesser of two evils. I had enough length on the board to try one more time, but I could not think of a way to do it differently and just lagged the endcap into the front rail. The Benchcrafted Vises are remarkable - I cannot speak highly enough of them and the customer service. I reach out as I either misplaced or lost a small bolt and they had it sent to me free of charge in a few days.
The agility that is added to my work with theses vises - especially the Legvise is superb. I am mainly a powertool users and normally complement my work with handplanes, and this takes using power tools to the next level. I dovetail a complete Hopechest with this and was surprised how flawless the process went.
I know that a lot of people may be sick of seeing theses benches online, but when I am in the shop this bench is just a masterpieces, to me. I have a million pictures of the various processes, but if you are considering building this bench, start now - you won't regret it for one second. The only part I have left is the bottom shelf, which I plan on completing shortly. I just wanted to use the bench first, the shelf can wait a little bit. Just for a laugh, I have included a before picture of the bench - it was a few of the logs utilized for this build.