I have built another bench. My first bench was of the classic European style like the Frank Klausz and Tage Frid benches, but smaller than Frank’s. My second bench was built for my young son David. It was made of pine and was very basic with two record vices and less than $200 total cost. That really should have been my first bench, but that would have put me under my quota for mistakes. I have since built a larger copy of David’s bench with a friend, which also turned out very well.

All this bench building and the attendant pondering had given me some ideas for a new bench. But I liked my first bench and I really couldn’t justify another one.

Then, not long ago, another friend determined to buy the bench we built for David and I saw an opportunity to build the bench I had been thinking about. In a three-way deal, my friend got David’s bench, David got my old bench and I got material money for my new bench. Everybody came out ahead.

This was to be my ultimate bench (has a familiar ring to it, doesn’t it), so I didn’t skimp. I built the best bench I knew how.

The Base

The base of my old bench was made from 8/4 maple, which is pretty strong, but I always thought it looked a little spindly. All the structure of my new bench is twice as thick, made from glued-up 8/4-maple yielding 3.5-inch thick stock. The base looks heavy and is heavy, the stoutest base I’ve seen; there is nothing in any way delicate about it. On my first bench I used bolts to attach the stretchers to the leg assemblies, for no other reason than because that’s the way Frank did it. I’ve never had any need to take the bench apart, nor do I think I will, so this time I used wedged mortise and tenon joinery all around. In case of a tornado, we will be safe under the bench.

The Top

For the top I used 8/4 maple ripped to 4" widths and face glued. This yielded a slab about 7’ long by 18" wide by 4" thick; all effectively quartersawn. This should result in minimal movement across the width, which is nice, but really won’t make much difference with my bench.

This brings me to an unusual element of the design. I consider end-caps to be a weak point in most benches. The end-cap is an integral, load-bearing part of the classic tail-vise I used in my first bench. The classic shoulder-vise is built with the other end cap and the tool tray is mounted between the caps on each end. All this cross-grain stuff has to be bad.

So in order to avoid end-caps, I had to use different vise designs and a different approach for the tool tray.

The Tail Vise

For the tail vise, I used the sliding plate variety. It consists of a heavy steel plate that is screwed into the side of the benchtop. Affixed to the plate is a large threaded sleeve that accepts the bench screw. Two cast iron cheeks ride along the steel plate and the whole thing is built around a wood core and encased in a wooden box. I followed Tom Nelson’s advice in The Workbench Book by Scott Landis and everything went right the first time. I think this design is stronger than the classic tail vise, and since it is just screwed to the side of the benchtop, it is not necessary that the top be thinner at this point as it is in the classic design. It is certainly easier to make and install, but that doesn’t mean it’s as easy as your typical Record vise.

The Face Vise

Face vises are usually compromises.

The classic shoulder vise is great for cutting dovetails; there are no guide rails to get in the way of clamping a board vertically, but a bench slave is required to use it for edge jointing, and if the board is short, this doesn’t work very well. Also, a shoulder vise is not really viable if you want to avoid end-caps.

The quick-action Record type face vice is great for edge jointing, but the screw and guide rails get in the way for dovetails and such, requiring a lot of messing around with shims.

I naturally wanted the best features of both, so I went with the two-screw vise marketed by Lee Valley. With 16" between screws, it allows easy dovetail work and it’s even better for edge jointing than the Record type. The only drawbacks are the lack of a quick release (which I need the exercise anyway) and the cheesy looking plastic cover. What self-respecting galoot would use a plastic vise?  I made a nice wood cover for mine.

Installing the plastic vise cover

The Tool Tray

For a real bench you gotta have a tool tray. I wanted a traditional tool tray without the traditional end-caps. One solution that occurred to me was to extend the width of the bench and just carve out the tray from the solid top. While that would certainly work, it would be wasteful and difficult. But the idea is sound, so I implemented a solution that was functionally the same. I started with some nice curly maple for the bottom, laminated this onto more maple to make it about 1.75 inches thick. I made the ramps a part of the ends: solid blocks with an angled side. The blocks were attached to the ends of the bottom with tongue and groove joints. This assembly was glued to the side of the top and a 5/4 plank was glued to the other side to enclose it. Presto – a nice strong classic tool tray with no need of cross-grain end-caps or cheesy plywood ramps.

Finishing Touches

On my old bench, the vise handles were weak. They were made from dowels bought at a hardware store with round drawer pulls screwed onto the ends. This is a weak arrangement because the screw threads strip out very easily in the end grain. It’s also an ugly design

For my new bench I turned my own handles. My lathe will only turn 10" between centers so I had to do it the hard way. I turned 3 dowels and bored 3/8" holes into the end grain. The ends were turned with an integral 3" by 3/8" dowel that fit into the handle. As a final touch, I glued a leather washer between the ends and the handles and then assembled the handles on the vises. The leather washers work better than I expected for protecting the handle ends and softening all the banging around. They look nice and I don’t expect them to fail with use.

I also added an oil cup like Frank’s. I really used the one on my first bench so I carried the feature over to the new one.

I made wooden dogs for my first bench and I’ve been very happy with the results. For the new one I made the dogs out of hickory because I figured it would work well and I had some extra. Spacing of the dog holes was a problem because of the two-screw face vise, the position of the legs and the length of the top. My solution was to put a dog hole over each of the legs. I was a little worried about this but it worked fine. I had to make special dogs for these positions that included a dowel that extended through holes in the upper support beams. The dogs live in these holes and when you need one, you simply press the button on the underside formed by the dowel on the end of the dog. I drilled the holes slightly out of alignment so that these dogs stay where you put them without a spring.

I finished the bench with shellac, which was quick and easy, yielded a nice looking finish. I wanted something that would really seal the end grain against vapor and I understand that shellac is really good for this. Shellac doesn’t really wear all that well, but since I will resurface the top from time to time anyway, this really isn’t much of a drawback. I haven’t rubbed out the finish yet, since you’re supposed to wait a month, but when I do I will be adding a coat of wax as well.

Using the Bench

My new bench works as well as I had hoped. It is really heavy and stays put even under heavy usage. The two-screw face vise is strong and I don’t worry about cranking down on it if I need to. I can joint a 6’ plank without the need of a bench slave, and boards clamped vertically are completely secure.