Having cut my teeth on a copy of the "good, fast, cheap" bench that I built in 2000, I'd been thinking about my next bench. Who wouldn't? In the summer of 2005, a good friend was moving and doing some significant downsizing. He announced that he would not be completing the bench he'd begun some years before. The materials came to my shop, where I began assembling them in the late autumn of 2005.

My friend had already completed some work on the bench. The top was glued up planks of 6/4 hard maple, six feet long. The base was of maple and hickory with poplar stretchers. The wood we had "rescued" from the barn of a friend-of-a-friend on a snowy winter day many years ago. I put some thought into a few re-engineered features that I particularly wanted for the bench. I don't plan on building another for quite some time, so I wanted a few things just so.

First, the top. I wanted a massive top, at least for the front 10 inches or so. What I decided on was to make the top hybrid- plank along the back, laminated thick stuff along the front. After a bit of drawing and measuring, I discovered that there was enough board-footage of the maple to do so. So with some sawing and gluing, I created just such a top. The front portion is 4" thick and roughly 10" wide. The back half is the plank thickness, 1-5/8" (a strong 6/4) and roughly 11 or 12" wide. The length of course was fixed at roughly 6 feet.

The foremost laminated piece got a series of 11 dados- slots- for bench dogs, spaced 5" apart, measuring 3/4" deep and 1-1/2" wide. They are sloped very slightly, leaning towards the right hand side of the bench (towards the end vise). I cut these slots by hand and it was extremely enjoyable. The front face of the bench is a piece of 4/4 soft maple with some pretty grain to it.

The inner "cheek" of the Record 52-1/2 face vise needed to be let in, which I did, effectively burying it behind the front face of the bench.

Another feature I wanted on this bench is that the front face of the legs be flush with the front edge of the bench top. Also, the moving outer "cheek" of the face vise (clad in some of the gorgeous hickory) overlaps the left hand front leg. Both of these features are for clamping purposes.

My friend had planned on a fairly tall bench by my standards. I "shrank" the leg assemblies as much as I could. I took a bit off the bottoms of the legs and of course had to saw a "step" in the top stretchers to account for the "step" in the thickness of the top of the bench.

I bought four industrial strength levelers that work by using a wrench just near the foot. I didn't actually *want* them, as the height of the bench was already a tad higher than I wanted it to be and they add a minimum of 1" of height to the bench. But there was a tad of twist in the legs that needed to be accounted for, as well as the potential of uneven floors and moisture. So I'm happy with them. The finished height of the bench is 33-1/2", about 1-1/2" taller than my old bench.

I have designed the bench to use a sliding dead-man along the front, but have not built it yet. I want to be sure I need it before I build it. This would support long pieces of stock clamped by the face vise, for edge jointing. It would slide along a rail on the top of the lower front stretcher, with a tongue at the top that fits into a groove along the bottom side of the bench top. Christopher Schwarz has a good example on his Roubo bench. Anyhow, I may just bore a few holes in the legs to effect similar support.

The end vise, of the sliding steel plate variety, gave me many, many hours of cogitation, trying to figure out just how to build the core around the iron and steel plate and screw, and the box around it. It seemed simple enough, but every time I thought about it I got cold feet. Finally I decided to "just do it"- put tool to wood and build the darned thing. It took several hours, but is finally done, all but the cover plate. It, of course, has dog slots to match those on the bench, leaning very slightly to the left. The end vise is *very* robust.

I finished the top with an interesting finish I read about in one of the magazines. I dissolved some shaved beeswax in turpentine, then added boiled linseed oil. The BLO penetrates the wood of course and the turps evaporates, leaving the beeswax behind. I've put three or four applications of this on the top and it looks very nice.

The bench is MASSIVE. I have no idea how heavy it is. The 10" wide, 4" thick, 6' long portion of the bench top was so heavy it was nearly all I could manage to lift. Add the plank portion of the top, the cast iron (significant) weight of the vise hardware, and the base, and I'm sure it weighs at least 300 pounds, if not more. It is rock solid.

As of November 2005, the bench is 98% finished. I have yet to bore any holes in the top for holdfasts. I want to be sure of their position before I start drilling! I have to complete the top cover for the end vise and turn a handle for it. I also need to make a few bench dogs.

Finally, here is one small detail to the front face of the bench top, right where the end vise closes, for posterity:

I am very thankful to my friend for supplying me with the raw- and some not so raw- materials that I used in constructing this bench. When I use it I'll think of the kind old man and that cold January day we "rescued" the lumber from his barn. I love this bench and will smile every time I work on it. It is the centerpiece of my shop.

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