Roubo Workbench

Started in January 2009 and finished in March (of that same year!), this bench started me down the path of hand tool woodworking and I haven't looked back. Credit goes to Scott Landis' Workbench Book for inspiration, and Chris Schwarz for re-presenting the Roubo design in his first Workbenches book. The first couple of pictures show the bench in the shop just after the shop floor was completed. The third pic is right when the bench was done and got an initial coat of Danish Oil. The last pic was taken right when I got the underside cabinet built and put in place (Jul 2011).

The top of my bench is a single piece of oak, nearly 3 inches thick, that was originally a threshhold in an old house torn down in the early 1990s and saved for a "someday" project that ultimately became this bench. I sandwiched the block w/ 3" white oak pieces to get uniform thickness AND to get 24" depth for the work surface. The underside still has the gray paint with dados for sidelights. I handplaned the surface with a wooden Sandusky jack before I knew what I was doing, but got through it! I think there were three garbage bags of shavings before all was said and done. The legs are blind-mortised into the top and draw-bored, as are the stretchers. I truly bumbled my way through this build, with no hand tool experience or clear concept of what I was doing at the time; more guts than anything. Chris' book steered me through it at each step of the way, though. I truly relied on that book.

Legs are eastern pine, planed down from large solid-wood outside window sills of the same house. All wood on the bench is salvage, including the leg vise hardware, sliding deadman and leg vise chop.