Notes from Workbenches book. It’s dense with great knowledge. A must have if you’re building a workbench. Here are just a few of the things I highlighted.
- Southern Yellow Pine, 2x12x12 untreated (2×12 or 2×10’s, not 2×4′ – they are the worst for knots, bow, etc.)
I don’t have Southern Yellow Pine here in OR so I used Douglas Fir – from what I can tell it’s pretty similar:Southern Yellow Pine Doug Fir E Value (stiffness) 1.93 1.95 Specific Gravity (weight) .67 .48 Janka (hardness) 690 660 - Driest wood for anything with a tenon, wettest for anything with a mortise. Wet mortises will shrink on the dry tenons.
So wettest for top and legs - At least 5′ long
- 24″ deep
- 0 top overhang
- make front stretchers flush with top
- face vice on the left
- rear jaws of vice flush with front of top
- dog spacing should be 3-4″, 3″ recommended
- the line of dog holes is usually nearer the front edge than it is to the centerline of the top
- Top of table saw is usually 34″ from the floor, so a slightly shorter workbench makes a great outfeed table.
- Height: From the floor to where your pinky joins your hand.
- Thickness: 4″ or more
- Gallon of slow setting glue like Titebond Extend
- Spread the glue with cardboard
- Make sure grain is running in the same direction since you’ll be hand planning later
- Plan sections so bow faces the inside of the assembly
- Use plywood spacers to create tenons in your legs
- Plane a 1#4″ x 1#4″ chamfer on the bottom edge of the legs to keep them from snagging when sliding the bench
- attaching the top – lots of notes. I found this topic oddly missing from numerous other articles. Tenons go half way through the top and are attached without glue.
- mark high spots with chalk then plane them off
After looking at numerous plans I decided on the $175 Workbench plans as my main guide.
mikehardy.com 