Project Information
I haven't had a new bench for over forty years and having recently taken up working with wood more seriously I decided to make myself something a little better. I've seen loads of fantastic benches on here but couldn't hope to build anything as good as these as I haven't the resources, so I set myself a challenge to build one out of any wood already in my garage starting with the old bench. the only bit of any use there was a piece of Hemlock which had the vice attached to it, it was 4" by 9" and I managed to get 3 legs out of that, the forth leg was made by laminating 2 old bits of pine together. All the stretchers were made from some redwood pine I inherited. The apron was made from a plank of old yellow pine again inherited, the sliding deadman was made from some of the hemlock and lastly the top, it was originally a kitchen work surface made of particle board about 2" thick and Laminated with a green melamine surface (nice), it then became a surface in my wife's potting shed then a work surface in the garage and now it's final resting place my bench worktop, I fixed the leg assemblies to the top by using connecting nuts hammered and glued into undersized holes and bolted into those . The only thing I've had to buy is the hardware because I wanted it to be a knockdown bench as we intend moving sometime in the next couple of years. The knock down joints I saw on the net somewhere and I liked them because you only need to use one bolt per joint.
Well it was never going to be a silk purse, but it's the best I've ever had to work on, Oh! and the art deco vice jaws (lol) were made from three pieces of oak that came from some old drop leaf tables I bought some time back, I only had one long piece and the 2 shorter pieces had dowels in the end so I just went with what I had. Not many people have art deco vices.
Thanks for looking.
Dave.
P.S. I'll tidy up tomorrow.
Well it was never going to be a silk purse, but it's the best I've ever had to work on, Oh! and the art deco vice jaws (lol) were made from three pieces of oak that came from some old drop leaf tables I bought some time back, I only had one long piece and the 2 shorter pieces had dowels in the end so I just went with what I had. Not many people have art deco vices.
Thanks for looking.
Dave.
P.S. I'll tidy up tomorrow.