This is another of those projects that you want to build as a woodworker. In my case, it started out as a pile of wood in a barn in west central IL.
After quite a bit of milling, I had a nice selection of white oak, cherry and walnut for the workbench. The top is 3-7/8" x 24-1/2" x 89" white oak that is stood on end and laminated together and capped with walnut end caps. The legs are cherry, and the rails are walnut. I got a little lazy and a little intimidated and chickened out on the fancy condor tail end caps.
The plans, leg vice, and tail vice came from Benchcrafted, a darn good local IA business. Due to some poor planning on my part the original leg vice had to be replaced to allow the drawers to open.
The chest of drawers(20" tall, 41" long, 19-1/2" deep) is made from walnut, also from the same stash of wood from the farmer's barn. I spent a little time making Mission style inlay or mosaic, depending on your definition. I do this on a lot of my projects. Inspiration comes from looking at pictures of Frank Lloyd Wright, or Arts and Crafts, Craftsman, Mission, Prairie, or even Greene and Greene stained glass. Here are some pictures of the process:
The legs and drawer cabinet were finished with Arm-R-Seal and the top has a couple of coats of Walnut Watco danish oil on it. To finish off the work bench, I also found an American made bench brush. I like to have things in my shop that inspire me. This bench does that.
Thanks to Duckmilk for the holdfasts!!! (especially the duck foot)
Kenny set me up with an original Miller Falls bench stop to go with the Veritas one I got from Lee Valley
If you got this far then you know the tradition is that there is supposed to be a certain pose:
tony a sexy bench needs a sexy woodworker-rrrrrrrrrrr ! man now were talkin,now craftisian is the perfect place to be. that is one of the most beautiful benches ive ever seen.now the big question,earl,how many dings and scratches does that thing have. you better be using it ! for me the real beauty in a work bench is the patina and wear it has.that tells the story.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
That you can make something so beautiful from such a pile of wood. And the last picture got me all excited. ;) And impressed I only took a quick look at the bandsaw.
Well done!
Nice to have such a hand some/y (make your choice) man here on Craftisian.
A well deserved re-run since this bench is a museum piece. I'm with Pottz, show us the first ding if there is one. We can collectively offer our condolences and "told ya so" 8^)
Honestly, way to pretty for shop use but that is what you do and do so well!
I use it almost every time I'm in the shop. Right now, there are a bunch of maple boards stacked on top of it that I'm planing. The leg vise has a few dings as well. Walnut isn't quite as durable as oak plus the the patterns in the oak hides a lot of the dings and scratches. I am careful not to ding the drawers. Still working out a better solution for the middle drawer. The euro hinges and inset door messed up my initial idea. I recently saw a project where the poster stood the drawer box on its side and left the drawer bottom off. I need to work out the details one of these days to do that.
Still waiting on the Bond poses from Nathan and Dave.......
The first Bondo was actually done in 2013 by bondogaposis. It became the standard for workbench introductions on LJ’s. This remarkable event was matched by Mos and his “Blue Girl” pose!
Watch and learn, practice and learn, create and learn
The first Bondo was actually done in 2013 by bondogaposis. It became the standard for workbench introductions on LJ’s. This remarkable event was matched by Mos and his “Blue Girl” pose!
I absolutely remember that. When I said Kenny broke it, I meant broke the streak. Kenny never posed and Earl was the first since then IIRC.
Lincoln - "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Dave in AZ
.jpg)
.jpg)
