Work Bench Build #14: Glue Up and Final Assembly

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This is part 14 in a 16 part series: Work Bench Build

Well this is the day, the final assembly of the legs, the stretchers, and the bench top. We held a quick briefing and took note of the time. The glue was not diluted so we had about 40 minutes until things would start to get difficult. The crew was set and hyped having followed the project for a month now. My son and his room mates are the best at giving their all to any thing they work on and work very well together on any task. The legs and stretchers were first to get glued up on the bench to build a bench. Then the base was carried into position. Next was the top of the legs glue up all around the joints. Then came the roll over of the top and rough placing on of the top. Finally a few light taps and a few small tops and everything was in place. A few taps with the hammers here and there, and drive the dowels home in the draw bore joints to tighten the bottom, and some clamps for the top. The paint from the portable table and some glue from the bench top glue up will have to be scraped off once the first day of drying is completed. Overall it went very smooth. Time, 34 minutes from start to the final pics. I still have a number of things to do before it will be considered finished, but from now on, it is a useable workbench. Thanks guys! As always, thanks for following along, any questions or suggestions, fire away.

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

12 Comments

That’s a really beautiful bench. Congratulations on your hard work. It shows the pride, forethought and effort you put onto it.

Losing fingers since 1969

Congratulation Thorreain!

It was a great adventure following your blogs.
I gain quite some knowledge in bench building thanks to you.

You got a great crew there!

Abbas, Castro Valley, CA

Well done organising that…glue ups are both fun and nerve wracking. The bench is beautiful. I can’t wait to see it with the finish on :)

-- Alec (Friends call me Wolf, no idea why)

Big congratulations on completion of your wonderful bench Thorreain. I’m sure your son and probably his son and grandchildren will be eventually be using this bench as it is so solid it should last forever! It was fun to follow along with your build and you got fantastic result.

Mike, an American living in Norway

Thank you all for the great comments. I still have about 30 tasks to complete before putting the finish on. I will add a final blog entry in about a month or so once these are done, I’ll take some pics along the way. Once again I want to thank the crew. In the 2 photos of us all, we have from left to right…me on the far left, Watsy, Kurt, murph, and, on the right is my son Jeff. The project took about 70 hours so far. About 5 litres of glue. The cost is enough to give wifey a heart attack, but it includes 4 Vises and about 40 tools that I have been wanting for a while. So I will just say that it has been well worth the time and effort for a bench that should last a couple hundred years. And lastly, thanks to everyone that has followed along, posted questions and suggestions, those kind works of encouragement went a long way. The build was a lot of fun for me and doing the blog helped me to stay focused. Thanks for following!

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

Wow, that was a day to remember for a long time, and best of all it will be a good memory. The end is in sight and your bench will be (is) just beautiful. I certainly hope you all sat on that couch and had a beer when it was all done. :-)

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Ya the crew had a few and watched Miami kick buffalo in the arse. Lol…my wife drove them home happy and full of wobbly pop!

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

After glue is dryer and scraped off, bottom shelf added.

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

Thanks Pat. The mortises wont take long. Are you going to draw bore the joints? I did mine on the inside only so you cant see the dowels under the shelf.

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

What a luxury to have 4 vises on one bench. After I quit smoking I am down to just 3.
Great looking bench.

Tor and Odin are the greatest of gods.

Thanks Madts, I needed all 4 based on the things I missed having a Vise for over the years. I figured I will only be doing this twice (bench to build a bench) and won’t be saying I wish I had…

CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!

Nice Pictures , Great to see you and your Son and his friends
all coming together for the completion of this beautiful bench !