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A year ago I mused about my future Roubo workbench. A month after that I mused some more. Now that I’m planning my lumber purchase (for real this time!), I want to update my musings with a third post.
- The most significant change to my plans is that I’m planning on using 4/4 for the top, if not for the entire bench. The Schwarz mentioned that this is a good solution for a hand tools-only woodworker since the boards will require less work prior to glue-up. I’m all for less work. It’s also better suited to my F-clamps, which aren’t really powerhouse clamps for serious glue-ups.
- The bench will be 7′ long – a foot longer than previously planned. The space I have for the bench is 8′ 6″, so a 7′ bench should leave enough room for working the wagon vise. Which brings me to modification #3:
- The bench will have a wagon vise! I had originally decided against it, but you all have made a believer out of me. It’s in.
- I count 18 mortises in the bench (8 on top for leg tenons, 8 on legs for stretchers, 1 for wagon vise and 1 for planing stop), and I’m still planning on creating all but four of them (short stretchers) with voids in the glueup. I know it could be problematic, but I really can’t see why it couldn’t work. I could insert the matching tenon into the void during glue-up and remove it once the clamps are all in place. Am I missing something? Or is this doable? It will save so much time if I can get it right.
- Likewise, I will create the slots for the planing stop, for the wagon vise chop and the hole for the wagon vise screw by creating voids. Especially for the screw hole, which typically involves drilling through end grain, this will be a big time saver.
Well, I’ve finally bought The Schwarz’s workbench book – a friend was coming over here from Canada so I had one shipped to him real quick. Arrives tonight! So I’m sure I’ll have more musings, but I am seriously looking forward to finally digging in to that book.
Appreciate any comments y’all might have!
There was (and still is) a book called The Inner Game of Tennis, and while I never read it, I remember one of the claims the book made. The claim was that the more one thought about playing tennis (and playing it well), the better one played tennis in real life. The parallels have been drawn in many other sports and indeed, in many other facets of life. So why not woodworking? I am convinced that my workbench will be far better, and the construction far smoother, because of my ruminations. With that, here are my latest thoughts, with questions in bold face:
- I think I need to build a bowsaw or frame saw before starting my bench. I think that will be a much better way of cutting the legs (and later, the benchtop) to size. My ryoba is great, but is so thin it could easily wander while cutting a 6″ square leg, or a 2′-wide benchtop.
- I’m not sure in what order people build benches, but I get the idea that it’s better to build the base and then the top. For me, I’ll have to do a little of each. The center of my bench will be made up of the the thickest stock I can find (probably only 3″ or 4″ laminated to about 12″ total). I’ll have to see what that total thickness is before figuring out how long my short stretchers will be. So here’s what I’ll do: First I’ll build the legs, then I’ll laminate the thick stock for the middle, then I’ll build the stretchers, and lastly I’ll laminate the three outer boards (8/4) on each side of the top (with mortises for the leg tenons).
- Where should I position the legs on a 6′ bench? Should I allow 6 inches of free space on each end? Or 1 foot? Or other?
- Do I need to add anything to my F-style clamps? They only have smallish pads unlike parallel clamps. Will they be sufficient for laminating my 8/4 stock for the top, or for the 12/4 stock for the legs? Or do I need to use cross pieces to better distribute the clamping pressure?
I hope to buy all the lumber this week!
I’m out of town for a few days and have a little evening free time, so I thought I’d jot down my thoughts as to what kind of Roubo I’d like to build (yes, there are many styles of Roubo!):
- I plan to have the legs tenoned straight through the top, including the dovetailed outer tenons. It looks cool, but more importantly, fewer mortises to chop!
- I’m considering ironwood for the top. It’s very heavy, very strong and very durable.
- Most people do laminations of 8/4 boards for the top. I’m considering using a few thicker (12/4? 16/4?) boards in the middle, and then on the outside where my mortises will be I’ll use 8/4. Fewer laminations in the middle, and fewer mortises on the outside. It’s all about saving time.
- I’m not concerned with the legs being square (in shape). I think I’ll laminate 4 boards together for the legs. Outermost is dovetailed tenon, then shoulder, then regular tenon, and then another shoulder. This is shown in one of Roubo’s illustrations. Whatever the thickness of that is, is what it’ll be.
- I plan to use a typical leg vise, but I’m still considering angling it (without angling the leg). I have metal and wooden vise hardware but don’t know which one I’ll use (the wooden one is a $10 eBay find that needs some rehab).
- Not sure yet about holdfasts. I got an offer to try out a couple made from crowbars that someone would ship to me (free I think except for shipping?), and I also may try to find a local blacksmith who can make some.
- The bench will be about 6′ long. That’ll fit in a spot that’s about 8 1/2′ wide. Enough leftover room for planing and crosscutting.
- I like the planing stop and plan to have one, but am not a fan of the chamfered top. I’ll either find a metal solution or just leave it unchamfered.
- No tail or wagon vise.
- Almost all the mortises will not be cut, but will exist via gaps in the glueup. The only mortises that I’ll need to cut will be in the short stretchers, and perhaps for the parallel guide on the leg vise.
There. Shouldn’t be that hard to do, right? This bench won’t be much more than just gluing a bunch of boards together!
P.S. How many of you are going to quote that last paragraph back to me in about a month or two? :^)
I’ve been a blogger since 2004 (this is my third or fourth), but I’ve never been one to track blogging milestones. But today when I logged into my WordPress dashboard, I saw that I had written 99 posts on Adventures in Woodworking. So hey, 100 posts! And I’ve received 274 non-spam comments here, so that’s a pretty good return, I’d say!
But my main reason for posting today was to talk about the big news: We have a house! We put down the deposit yesterday, and today I took possession of the keys. This is fantastic. In our 10 years as a couple, we’ve never had a place to really call home. We’ve moved 12 times in our 10 years of marriage (counting places where we’ve stayed at least two months). The longest we’ve ever stayed at one place was 1 year and 9 months. And while we still will go back to the States every couple years or so, we’ll maintain this place so there’ll always be “home” to come back to.
And the big ramifications of this event is that at last, I can invest my time and energies into having a workshop! Like most places we’ve been, my space will be very limited. Fortunately, though, for a neanderthal like myself I only need a couple dozen square feet and I’m set. :^)
We’ve identified the area that would be best for my workbench (my wife has very graciously included “proper shop space” into our wishlist when househunting), and I’ll have pics later. I’ll be in the kitchen, but really – it’s better than it sounds!
So now I’m planning my bench. For the longest time I had dreamed of a Roubo, but gave that dream up recently and switched to the idea of a Japanese bench like The Schwarz profiled on his blog. But now, I’m thinking that the Roubo would really be ideal, so I’m thinking about it during every spare moment.
We’ll start moving non-essential stuff this weekend and next week, and then after I return from an out-of-town trip next week, we’ll complete the move. Then I can get started on my bench! Oh, after I see if I can complete the Sawdust Chronicles challenge…
Hey, I had to do something while figuring out my plane problems! It’s not a bad-looking Roubo, is it?
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