Subject: Just finished a large maple workbench

From: Christopher Raymond <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 09:00:11 -0800

I've just completed a large (13-1/2 foot x 35 inch x 3-1/2 inch thick
maple top on a Douglas fir base) workbench. The top consists of 3-1/2
inch x 1-3/4 inch x various length maple boards glued face-to-face and
had to solve several problems along the way (built many jigs):

1. How to rip straight boards that didn't have straight edges to start
with (and not melt my 1-1/2 hp tablesaw motor!);

2. How to avoid end gaps on 3-1/2 inch wide boards butted together (in
case of imperfectly square cuts or imperfectly straight boards);

3. How to glue up such a large assembly without the glue drying, or all
dripping out before I get the clamps in place;

4. How to clamp a 13 foot x 3-1/2 inch thick tabletop;

5. How to ensure the front of the bench is as straight as possible;

6. How to mount the tabletop to the base, allowing for wood movement;

7. How to make such a large top as flat and level as possible;

8. How to get all eight legs bearing equally on a slightly uneven garage
floor

I'm new at this (woodworking and newsgroups!) but would be happy to
share anything I've learned/discovered in the process.

By the way, I want to build an airplane someday - thus the huge size of
the bench.

Chris

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From: [email-masked] (Kevin W. Tucker)
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 97 14:37:32 GMT

>By the way, I want to build an airplane someday - thus the huge size of

I think you'll need a bigger bench for that 767. ;D  

Anyhow, that's not so huge - some 18th century cabinetmakers had 16' benches.

Kevin W. Tucker
[email-masked]

(remove the "*" from my address to reply)

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From: [email-masked] (Steve Rehrauer)
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 16:13:50 GMT

>Anyhow, that's not so huge - some 18th century cabinetmakers had 16' benches.

Ignore him, Chris.  You go right ahead and call that behemoth of yours
"huge".  (I know I and my in-progress, 6' long x 2' wide bench will. :-)
-- 
---
All software is bug-free, assuming          | Steve [email-masked]
 sufficiently clever definitions of         | Massachusetts Language Lab
 "feature" and "expected behaviour".        | USDA Zone 5, more or less

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From: [email-masked] (David N. Levy)
Date: 14 Feb 1997 17:49:45 GMT

I just purchased a laminated maple "buther block" that was intended for
a counter top and is 6' x 3'.  I intend to build a workbench around it
that has a Record 53E vice on front and a Veritas twin screw vice as an
end vice.  I bought this thing because I got it cheap, but it is only 1
3/4 inches thick.  I am thinking of attaching a piece of 3/4 inch
plywood to the underside as a thickener, the rationale being that the
dog holes should be deeper than 1 & 3/4" and that this will add
stiffness and heft to the bench.  Any thoughts on this idea or other
suggestions on how I should modify this maple top for my bench?  I
could always buy the other 3' x 6' x 1 3/4 bench top the store had (97
dollars) and attach it to the one I have, but that seems a shame to do.

One other question:  since the top will be 3' wide, the Veritas ts vice
will only cover part of the end of the bench, which is supposed to be a
no no, according to the instructions that came with it, becuase of
seasonal wood movement messing up the alignment of the vice.  I
understand that the wood movement at the end of the vice will be more
than at the front, but why does this mess up the alignment?  Should I
make the back jaw cover the entire 3' end, in that case, even though
the front jaw will be only about 24 inches?  I can't wait to start
building this thing.  Thanks for the info.

David N. Levy
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL 35294-0007

[email-masked]

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From: Mark Frazier <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 15:52:31 -0700

> "huge".  (I know I and my in-progress, 6' long x 2' wide bench will. :-)

You know what they say about woodworkers who need big tools... :-)

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From: [email-masked] (Hackwood)
Date: 14 Feb 1997 23:42:59 GMT

I've got problems extremely similar to yours; uneven wood. I hand-picked
rough sawn maple from the mill that looked great. Ripped the planks on the
table saw into 2.5" widths. Put the pieces on stickers for a few months
(got occupied with other things). Looked at the wood again. Twisted in
every direction. (Wood was kiln dried and now has 6% moisture). If I were
to have made it completely square, I would have lost half the wood.
Solution: Didn't even bother. Bought epoxy by the gallon and slow
catalyst. Put the wood through the Performax sander with 24 grit sandpaper
(these are the instructions; you want the epoxy to mechanically adhere to
the wood unlike yellow glue where you want a glass smooth surface). In
some cases, I used a scrub plane to groove out a channel down the center
of each strip and hand sanded the groove with 24 grit sandpaper to ensure
that there would be plenty of epoxy in place after clamping. Following
instructions, I wet the boards with just the mixed epoxy (no thickening
agents yet). Then I made another batch of epoxy with silica thicking
agent. I added silica until I had peanut butter consistency (again, per
instructions). Let the wet epoxy sit on the board for about 30 minutes or
so to soak in, then added the 'peanut butter' epoxy and spread it
thoroughly. Finally, I clamped the living daylights out of it with a lot
of 'C' clamps until there were no space inbetween the boards. Some epoxy
seeped out, but the majority stayed put. Let it dry for 2 days then
unclamped. BTW: Using slow catalyst in a cool basement gives you a huge
open time. 

I'm also using 1/2" dowels as added insurance. I put deep grooves in the
dowels and soaked to dowels with epoxy and pounded them in. Used an 18"
drill bit.

As far as making the top flat, I'll let a shop do that for me. They claim
they can get it .001" flat across the 32" width. To save shop time
($45/hr), I'll have the top as flat as I can reasonably make it with a #7
plane but I ain't going to go nuts.

I'm planning on mounting the top to the base with just 2 screws in the
center of each support. This should allow for any movement.

Weasel (tm)

"I have something to say, it is better to burn out then it is to fade
away"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
I've just completed a large (13-1/2 foot x 35 inch x 3-1/2 inch thick
maple top on a Douglas fir base) workbench. The top consists of 3-1/2
inch x 1-3/4 inch x various length maple boards glued face-to-face and
had to solve several problems along the way (built many jigs):

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From: Bill Pounds <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 21:22:38 -0800

> dollars) and attach it to the one I have, but that seems a shame to do.

Many benches are only 1-3/4" or less across the span or field. I suggest
you laminate an 8/4 strip onto the bottom in the area where you will
drill your dog holes. An 8/4 x 4" wide piece the full length of the
bench would be nice. And then add an 8/4 x 3 or 4" edging around all
four sides to give it some extra ridgidity (and to make it look more
impressive) and also to provide a better face on the tail vise area.
Other than that, the thickness you have should be fine.

-- 
Bill Pounds
[email-masked]

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* Join the National Rifle Association today. *
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From: StanR <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 22:08:41 -0800

> Chris

This is interesting...what did you do here?

Stan

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From: [email-masked] (David Meiland)
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 03:30:11 GMT

Do NOT attach a piece of plywood to the bottom of that slab. It will
inhibit wood movement and cause the slab to crack eventually. Why
should the dog holes be deeper? I built my main bench out of 8/4 maple
and it has a bunch of fully functional steel dogs. If you really need
extra thickness, maybe attach a scrap of solid maple to the underside
where the holes are (but not crossgrain)

Not familiar with the veritas vise.

DM

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From: [email-masked] (ANDREW BARSS)
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 06:35:51 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (David N. Levy) writes:
>suggestions on how I should modify this maple top for my bench? 

One thing you'll need to work around is that the maple will
move seasonally (across its width), and the plywood won't. So,
you'll need to figure out how to attach the maple to the plywood without 
actually attaching it across the whole surface.

I confronted the same sort of problem with a bench I recently built;
deferring my planned traditional bench that never seemed to get made,
I put together a very solid torsion box out of 2x6 construction lumber,
and three layers of plywood glued and screwed to that.  On top of it
all goes a single layer of ash hardwood.  Ernie Fisch recommended
a smart way to attach the two layers: use a sliding dovetail.  In
your case, what you'd want to do is cut a dovetail-shaped recess
across the width of the maple, near either end, and perhaps in the middle
as well.  Then, attach (screws would work) a strip of hardwood 
to the plywood at each position.  Final step: slide the maple
onto the plywood, so that the dovetail shaped "keys" get captured
in the corresponding recesses.  Then, when all is aligned, attach
the maple directly to the plywood, but just along one edge (the
front, OR the back, or, for that matter, down the middle). This keeps
the two layers closely aligned, while the dovetail keys keep them
together, but allowing some seasonal shifting.

As for the dog holes, you'd be be needing to deal with the fact that
as the seasonal expansion of the maple occurs, the holes in the maple
will move out of alignment with the holes in the plywood.  There's
a couple things you could do: keep the dogholes along the same edge
of the benchtop as the two layers are attached on, thus minimizing
this "drift" is one option.

1 3/4" strikes me anyway as a pretty decent top thickness. If the
sole concern is making the top thicker at the doghole
spots, what I'd consider doing is just gluing some additional blocks
below he top where you'll be cutting the dog holes to make them thicker
at that point.  Or, glue up a seperate unit 6" or so wide, and as
thick as you like, containing the dog holes, and bolt the whole thing
to the front of the main bench (this is what I'm doing).      

 I
>dollars) and attach it to the one I have, but that seems a shame to do.

That's a pretty nice price for maple butcherblock that thick -- you might
consider getting it for later use.

-- Andrew Barss