I LOVE my Roubo Workbench!

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I'm still plugging away on the humidor, but on Sunday I had a bit of a "Honey to do List" rush order. We have a spot on our kitchen counter that is a real waste of space, and as our kitchen is small to start with, well I had to make a little shelf kind of thing that will help.

It is nothing much, but it has to look nice and be durable. There will not be a lot of weight on the shelf, so I made it without a back, it is all jointed together with dados, and should be fine.

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Now I just need to do some sanding and then put a finish on it.

To cover the edges of the plywood, I use some thin strips of hardwood, I put them on then I use a sharp #4 hand plane to bring everything flush, this works really well, but to make it even easier, I put the whole shelf in the leg vice on my bench and then a clamp to the sliding deadman. the shelf is held ROCK SOLID and this makes the hand planing fun!

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(The top of the shelf goes right up against the bottom of the upper cabinet, so you won't see the end of the side piece of plywood, that you can see now)

The one shelf is adjustable, and I wanted to put the half holes in the underside of the shelf so the shelf registers on the pins.

I dunno how your guys do this but this is what I do.....

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If I had a whole bunch to do, maybe I'd make some kind of a jig to use the router, but for just the one, this works.

Now on to sanding...... :rolleyes:

Man I love that workbench, it sure was worth the time, money and effort to make it!
 
Ah, the joys of doing something for others in our well equipped man-caves. Well done Stu and congrats on the growing relationship with that fine workbench.
 
Nice little project Stu, and high grade workmanship as usual. That bench is sure earning it's keep.

Now, I'm looking at how you've laid out the dog holes and haven't quite figured out your rationale there, relative to the vise location. We need to have a discussion about that next time;)
 
Nice little project Stu, and high grade workmanship as usual. That bench is sure earning it's keep.

Now, I'm looking at how you've laid out the dog holes and haven't quite figured out your rationale there, relative to the vise location. We need to have a discussion about that next time;)

I use the dog hole with the face vice I have on the end of the work bench, or just with the holdfasts.

When you coming next?
 
Nice bench Stu. I've been thinking about one of those for a few years now. You've already gotten quite a "patina" on yours. I'm pretty sure i'll be building one of those in the next couple of years. Now that you've been using it for a bit, any thing you'd do differently?
By the way, i'm digging the leg vise.
paulh
 
Yeah a couple of things, one is I'd make the very bottom of the leg vice a good inch off the floor, the way I have it, I have to cut out a section of the mats I have on the floor to allow it to work. Second thing is I'd not bother with the cross pins through the top of the leg into the bench, waste of time, once these legs are driven home and gravity sets in, they will never move, IMHO :D

Also I left the wood as thick as possible for fewer glue joints, this worked, but made extra work, if I did it again, I'd still buy the large timbers, but I'd cut them down so that I could easily make the leg joints using the circular saw, much easier and a much more consistent piece of work.

Other than those two, not much, take your time with your dog holes, they can be added at anytime.
 
Finally got this done, had a time crunch, and just could not find the time to get another coat of lacquer on it, but it is done now!!

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Before, well the space there had a bunch of stacked up rather badly.

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After, a much better use of the space, I think my lovely wife will be pleased with this little job.

Cheers!
 
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