TNNW - The Next "Next" Workbench

glenn bradley

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Long ago and far away I posted a thread on my "next" workbench. I called it that because I knew it wasn't my last workbench. This one isn't the last one either (I don't think) but, I have learned enough in the last few years to make a significant stride toward the bench that I may eventually make as my "final" workbench.

This build will go in a couple of phases as I have some things going this month. I figure many of you will be at the gathering at Jonathan's so a break in the action won't hurt.

A workbench is a fairly personal thing. Despite all the books (there are some really good one out there) about workbenches, no one can really tell you, or me, what will work best for them. It is a learning process as, when it comes to this craft, we sometimes end up far from where we thought we might. So here is my third step in the evolution of what works for me. Perhaps some of the ideas will work for others or spark ideas to ponder while designing your own.

Things I will keep:

  • The MDF work surface
    • the current MDF top has taken incredible abuse and still looks great.
    • It was treated with BLO and then paste waxed with the wax getting renewed every year or so.
    • Any serious dings can be filled with epoxy and the dog holes have held up without fail.
  • A laminated sheet goods top
    • the current top is all MDF, I want to use less support in the base structure so I will use a combination of BB ply and MDF
    • two laminated sections of 3/4" BB ply for support and strength
    • two laminated sections of MDF for the balance
  • Drawers
    • I like having drawers under the bench.
    • The current drawer unit will get reused.

Things I will change:
  • The front vise will be a twin screw.
  • The tail vise is to be determined but, I will build for another twin screw.
    • Wonder pups and so forth will suffice at the tail for now.
  • The height will be about 2" shorter.
    • This will make hand tool work more comfortable.
    • My bench-on-bench will take care of any elevated work.
  • The size will reduce from about 30" x 88" to about 27" x 74".

Well, enough yapping . . . let's see some work. Here's is the current bench. He's been great but, his days are numbered. He already has a new home to go to where I know he will be appreciated.

TNNW (1).jpg

I toss some foam board on the floor and rough out the four layers of material for the top

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I rip the top layer to width and use my larger sled to cross cut it.
TNNW (3).jpg . TNNW (4).jpg

I have a strip of wood with a couple of recessed bolts/oval nuts in it that I lock into the miter slot of the router table. This helps to support longer stock.

TNNW (6).jpg . TNNW (7).jpg

The second layer is oversized by about 1/4" each way. I use screws and weights to "clamp" this to the finished-sized layer. The screws are later removed (something I failed to do in my last top). The green tape you see in the lower right corner of the picture with the weights is a shim to assure that the finished-sized layer is dead flat.

TNNW (8).jpg

cont'd
 
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I will then use the finished-sized layer as a template and flush route the oversized next layer to it. Now I know how much we all love to free hand route MDF. I use the vac attachment on my Milwaukee plunge base and rig the hoses and power cords overhead. I don't normally worry about the cords and hose getting in the way but, I will be performing the same actions several times before I am done so, it is worth the effort. This old hook leftover from when I thought I needed compressed air all over the place came in handy.

TNNW (9).jpg . TNNW (10).jpg

Wow! Amazingly little dust considering I just routed a 3/4" high x 1/8" deep section of waste from around the entire perimeter :thumb:.

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I then add the next layer (plywood this time) and repeat the trim routing operation. I do this one more time and end up with 2 layers of MDF and two layers of BB ply all laminated together.

TNNW (12).jpg . TNNW (14).jpg . TNNW (15).jpg

When I set this thing up on edge I hear the theme to 2001 in my head for some reason.

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Most important right now is assuring that the edges are square to the top. Any issues here I want to correct before moving on to the trim.

TNNW (16).jpg
 
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Here is a case of practicing what I preach. You may have caught me sounding off in posts about proper material support being the cure for a myriad of woes when using machines like jointers, planers, tablesaws and sanders . . . pretty much anything that relies on a controlled and accurate feed path to work at an optimum level.

I could muscle this large material across the jointer but, the end result would suffer. With just a couple of roller stands I can maneuver the material accurately and repeatedly without knocking myself out.

TNNW (17).jpg . TNNW (18).jpg . TNNW (19).jpg

I am laminating some think stock to make a blank suitable for the front chop.

TNNW (20).jpg

I am going to break for some lunch now and go back at the trim afterwards.
 
Jay, you sure do eat a lot of popcorn! Are you getting anything else done? :rofl:

Thanks, Glen. I am going to have a make a visit soon, I can see! :cool:
 
I have to go back and tell the tale of this simple glue-up.

TNNW (20).jpg

Two flat boards about 8" x 38" laminated together; how hard can this be? I go through the requisite dry run that assures success in all-things-glue-up so all my clamps are in the right place, my glue and spreader is at hand, I'm ready to go.

I want a nice even layer of glue spread out across the surface. Given the size this is no small amount of glue. It is a little warm in the desert basin this morning so I have to move quickly. I am about 90% done spreading the glue when I realize I am spreading it on the wrong side . . .

--- queue the Keystone Cops music maestro! ---

I speak a few blue words of self encouragement and dash to the sink. I soak a few paper towels and return to wipe off the glue.

Need more paper towels, back to the sink, back to the bench.

Need more paper towels, decide to grab the whole roll. In grabbing the roll off the hanger I bump the router template storage that is over the sink.

The router templates come down like Fibber McGee's closet while I dash back to the nearly cleaned off material on the bench.

I get the glue all cleaned up and set the board off to dry while I restore order to the router template storage.

The way this is going I am now afraid the cleaned up side of the board may not be clean enough so, I lay down some silicone sheet to prevent myself from gluing the whole assembly to my current bench.

I successfully apply too much glue but, that's OK, I will just scoop up the excess with the spreader and toss it in the box I keep nearby for just such emergencies.

I successfully scoop the glue off onto the silicone sheet where it promptly slips under the show face of the assembly and makes a mess.

I clean this up as well as possible while applying clamps before my open-time runs out.

None of this shows in the picture except maybe a bit of waxed paper I put between the show face and a clamp that got caught. All in all a success but, you have to wonder. I have glued up dresser carcasses with web frames with less fuss. Murphy, thou art a cruel one today.
 
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OK what is in the suitcase? Your trombone? My Christmas present? Other?

Enjoy,
Dad

That is the suitcase from the Twilight Zone episode 'Mirror Image'. Come on, I mean, its not like that was an obscure reference or something :D.

In case someone comes back to this once my avatar has changed, Dad is commenting on this:

TZ-Mirror-Image.jpg
 
With all the excitement this weekend my shop time was minimal. I did get the rear and left end pieces of trim glued up (sans Keystone Cops music) :rolleyes:. There's times when nothing will do as well as a pipe clamp.

TNNW (21).jpg

I couldn't find a fourth pipe coupler to save my hide so, to inspire things to get square I had to jury rig a couple of parallel clamps.

TNNW (22).jpg

The left side trim will act as a clamping area with a dog in the vise chop side and a dog in the short apron's dog holes:

TNNW (23).jpg

The front trim / rear vise jaw comes next with the right side apron going on last. Then I can start on the vise chop and vise installation.
 
:lurk:

I'll be interested to hear what you think of the twin screw vice, I've found it useful but perhaps a bit slow and it was rather exacting to install (although I suspect you'll have less issues there than I did :D)
 
Thank goodness for Youtube and the Library of Congress. :) Finally i found out about who the Keystone Cops were. ;)

Glenn I have a question i would like to engage your thoughts on, it goes back in your build to the decision to use solid sheets for your top.

Can you elaborate on why you originally chose this route as opposed to some sort of laminated lengths of wood.

My thoughts go to how i have managed to "refresh" my benches top with a jointer plane after subjecting it to several rounds of abuse. I suppose your bench is primary and for the most part only used for woodworking?
Not looking to "stir" things up would just like to hear your view as to trade offs.

Then how come you mixed Bb ply with mdf and am i correct in presuming the bb ply if for the underside to enable fasteners to hold better when attaching anything to bench slab?

What do u see happening to your other bench is this going to be supplementary or replacement?


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Thank goodness for Youtube and the Library of Congress. :) Finally i found out about who the Keystone Cops were. ;)

Whaaaat!?! Thats like not knowing the 3 Stooges or Buster Keaton. Sacrilege! I sentence you to hours of You Tube viewing :thumb:

Can you elaborate on why you originally chose this route as opposed to some sort of laminated lengths of wood.

My thoughts go to how i have managed to "refresh" my benches top with a jointer plane after subjecting it to several rounds of abuse. I suppose your bench is primary and for the most part only used for woodworking?
Not looking to "stir" things up would just like to hear your view as to trade offs.

The top has survived years of daily woodworking very well with only minor maintenance. It may be due to my only using the bench for woodworking but, it gets its share of abuse. I do use a bench hook or other precautions when doing chiseling operations or other things will mean driving past the material and into the supporting surface.

I made a worktable with a replaceable tempered hardboard top almost 14 years ago. The original top is still in service so, like the current bench, it may be how I use it but, the surfaces I work on survive with little damage :dunno:.

Back to the current bench, the dings or gouges that are bad enough to cause concern just get filled with epoxy during the next time I have some mixed up. This goes for vise jaws and chops as well. this method has worked well for me to date.

Then how come you mixed Bb ply with mdf and am i correct in presuming the bb ply if for the underside to enable fasteners to hold better when attaching anything to bench slab?

I take Larry's sig line about building stout to heart. My current 4 layer top is 3" thick and has a maximum span of unsupported area of about 18". Each end extends 15" past any support and have the vises in those positions. Despite the fact that these extended areas have never sagged, once bitten-twice shy, I still have apprehension.

The MDF surface, treated with BLO and paste waxed, has performed admirably. The dog holes have never failed other than some minor stress marks following the first uses. I expected these stress areas to eventually fail and figured I would deal with them when the time came; it never did. Glue pops right off and spilled finishes clean up pretty well if you don't let them stand.

All these experiences led me to turn to MDF again as a bench top material that is stable, long lived and abuse tolerant. I wanted to have longer spans of unsupported area to make reaching under more convenient. Although I have never experience any sag on this top, I thought I would up my chances for success by layering the MDF on top of 2 layers of laminated 3/4" BB ply. The structure of BB ply will offer much greater support than MDF alone which has no long-fiber structure to it. This may be over-kill but, the cost difference is negligible so, I'll try it and be able to report back on long term performance.

As to fasteners, the new bench top will set on large chamfered dowels. The sheer weight will keep it stable but, I will drive some lag bolts or large pocketed screws in from below just for additional safety here where the ground rocks and rolls.

What do u see happening to your other bench is this going to be supplementary or replacement?

A woodworker in my dad's area is already anticipating delivery of old faithful :thumb:
 
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Well, the hardest part of this is over as far as I'm concerned. I used the bandsaw, a jigsaw and the spindle sander to shape the rear jaw and the chop.

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The twin screw install went like clockwork but, they are quite serious when they say you really need to follow the directions. With the vise jaw and chop working well and all the planned clearances being where they were supposed to be, I can move on.

TNNW (25).jpg
 
Rob

My bench top is approximately 3'x6' made of 1" plywood with a layer of 3/4 chip board with an overlay of 1/4" tempered Masonite. With the plywood & chip board pre-drilled laid upside down on the table-saw chip board first then 1" plywood with glue between & lightly clamped then screwed together threw the plywood into the chip-board. When the glue was set up I removed the screws out around the edges & trimmed it square then it had the 1/4" Masonite layed on top & all banded with some Poplar flush with the Masonite top..
 

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Progress seems slow but, there are always a few more steps involved in each step you think you're about to complete. I use a double-stick taped scab to put about a 1-1/2 degree slant on the front chop.

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I routed the slot for the spline in the rear jaw/trim and the front of the top blank. I pre-drill the holes for the vise screw nuts. Lay out the glue and clamp it up good.

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I was particularly proud of myself for remembering to mount the nuts before I glued things up. They can be mounted after but, this was a lot easier.

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I just have the right end trim left and it will be time to pick up some material for the base.
 
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