Thursday, July 9, 2009

Workbench: Top Glue Up

Some of you may remember me rambling on about building a workbench a while back. Life got in the way, but I'm back on task. The details of the bench are somewhat up in the air. I think I will build a plain bench with no vices, bench holes, etc. Then I will decide what kind of hardware I will need. The bench should resemble Chris Schwarz's Roubo workbench (below).



I have started milling and gluing up the bench top. I plan on my top finishing on 2'x8'x3". I wish it was going to be a little thicker but I'm working with what I've got. I am using red oak which I hope will give quite a bit of heft to the project. I'm gluing up the top in 5 sections. Each section being about 5 1/2" wide. This way I can still run it through the joiner, if need be. I'm using #20 biscuits between the boards just to hold them in place during glue up. I am also trying Chris's Method of applying glue. It's been messy but effective. I believe the building the top will be the most stressful part of the build. Trying to get 9 foot long pieces of wood perfectly straight on a 6" joiner can wear on a person. Since I only have enough clamps to do one glue up at a time, it may be a week or two before I have something that resembles a workbench top.
I'll try and get some photo's together and post them.

David

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