A collaborative effort--Shaker Bench

Last year I got a call from Ron Brese of Brese Plane. He wanted to discuss a new bench for his woodworking shop, and incorporate Benchcrafted vises into it. Over the past few months Ron designed his new Shaker-style bench and built the red painted cabinet base pictured above. At Ron's generous invitation, I went down to Thomaston, GA for the last phase of construction; building the top and installing the vises.







After almost a week of long nights, Ron and I got the bench about 90% finished. As I mentioned in an earlier post a couple weeks ago, watching Ron at work was a real pleasure. It's not often you get to see an accomplished tool maker use his own tools to construct a piece of furniture.

Christopher Schwarz says in his excellent book Workbenches... that the Shaker bench has an "indescribable appeal". The legacy of the Shaker craftsmen seem to be expressed in this bench design more than any other bench style. Continental benches (trestle base, overhanging top) are too ubiquitous to carry such an aura. English benches are rather plain and never gained the widespread popularity of the Continental style. How many modern-day bench makers offer an English-style bench? Maybe it's because so few Shaker benches still exist, or ever existed (due to the short span of that community) that this feeling has developed. Perhaps its also that Shaker benches are maybe the only truly American style bench.

In The Workbench Book (Taunton) author Scott Landis writes about the distinctive feature of the massive Shaker bench at Hancock Village:

"The order and cleanliness provided by the enclosed base cabinet had many practical dividends for the workbench. The problems of racking and sliding, which are inherent in an open-frame base, are automatically resolved by the rigidity of the casework and the sheer weight of its structure. Loaded with tools, as it presumably was, the cabinet anchored the whole bench to the floor and to move it would have taken a small army."



The cabinet on Ron's bench is as rigid as any Roubo base I've seen, including the several I've built.

Ron comments:

"My former bench included an enclosed case for the base and this works well in my limited space. For me this is sort of the ultimate version of that style bench. Seeing the famous workbench that resides at the Hancock Shaker Village in person verified to me that this was the bench that I wanted to build. The advantage to this style construction is that it really simplifies the build of the top and I like the look of the top made of 3 wider boards as compared to a lamination of several 8/4 thicknesses. Having a stout cabinet to support the 2" thick top really makes this possible. Besides the wonderful work holding capability of this bench I visually enjoy the contrast of the red base to the natural color of the maple top. I was quite lucky in that the maple that I purchased for this project possessed a nice honey to medium brown color. This bench is the first thing I see when I walk in my shop everyday, standing at the ready to assist me with my work."



A recent J-style smoothing plane perched on top of Ron's new bench.

There are some aspects to the Shaker bench that prevent options for every workholding situation. The most significant is the ability to use holdfasts in the top, since the cabinet below would interfere with the shaft. There are ways around this. See the Lee Valley Hold Down with short shaft. Ron's top overhangs the base by several inches all around, and provides ample clamping opportunities. Ease of construction is also a plus of this bench design. The top is 2" throughout, with a front section at 4-1/4" containing the dog holes and vises. The cabinet base, with its several solid, vertical dividers provides lots of support for the top. The back of cabinet is finished with lapped solid pine boards.





An interesting note about Ron's Glide Leg Vise. He opted to install the roller brackets on the inside of the cabinet's end, making the vise hardware completely invisible from the outside. A handy access panel at the end of the base cabinet allows ready access to the guts of the vise. Ron reports his innovative arrangement works as smooth as silk.

I'll never give up my Roubo, but as a second bench I am seriously considering building a Brese-Shaker style bench. I enjoy the open base of my Roubo for storing bench appliances, but the cabinet base of Ron's bench offers oodles of storage, and that's something that any shop can use more of. Plus, I'll readily admit it (I take pride in being a practical woodworker, perhaps falsely so), who would not be inspired by having a bench like Ron's greet you whenever you head to the shop.

Ron and I shot some video during the build. This is an HD video. To get the full experience, click on the "full screen" icon in the bottom right, then make sure "HD ON" is selected (bottom right) once the window fills the screen.


Brese Plane Shaker-Style Bench Video, Part One



Brese Plane Shaker-Style Bench Video, Part Two

Brese Panel, Bench discoveries

I've been building a trio of small Shaker end tables with my niece and nephew over the past few months. Sadly, they don't have an industrial arts or woodworking program at their school, so I though it would be a good idea to give them some shop time and get their feet wet in some old-school woodworking, the kind that I was exposed to growing up. It's hard to compete with Call of Duty and Ipods, but I think these sessions will plant a seed and hopefully blossom at a later time when the lures of youth start to fade. During the past couple sessions (I'm building a table too to walk them through the process) I've found myself reaching for a plane that I've been babysitting since early October.



Ron Brese's latest creation is a stainless steel panel-size plane with an atypical infill. It doesn't really have an infill at all. I first saw this type of arrangement while browsing through some old plane patents, and later when I read an article about the Sindelar Tool Museum which featured joined-body planes with lever-caps and separate totes and knobs. Ron's plane echoes the classic lines of the old Norris planes, with its sidewall profile and traditional lever cap. The panel plane always interested me, mostly because I didn't know what it was used for. Is it a smoother? a Jack? Well, it's basically telling me what it is in using it the past couple months. I'm finding myself using it to remove jointer and planer marks on smaller workpieces where I can flatten and smooth without changing tools. I just take a couple more strokes (my shavings are about 2 thou).



The ergonomics of the tool are great. I think the sidewalls are a tad too high (this is a prototype after all), but Ron's tote's always fit my hand perfectly. I also greatly prefer the front knob to a the square bun arrangement typical of infills. There's one feature I discovered right away that I really like. See the curve in the top of the steel frog where it transitions from the inside of the side wall to the side of the tote?



This area is perfectly for my index finger. It's almost like the plane was made for my hand. I feel like I'm in total control when I place my finger here. It's great. More info later as I continue to have fun with my "loaner".



Last month I took a Sunday afternoon and made a bench dog for every hole in the top. Why didn't I do this before? I don't have to search for a single dog anymore, plus something very nice happened. New workholding opportunities are presenting themselves. I was planing some narrow boards using Chris Schwarz's leg-vise planing stop (I love using this accessory) and I needed some lateral support. Bingo, pop up two dogs and I have restricted movement in two planes almost instantly. Love it! I can even reposition the stop so the first dog lands right at the beginning of the board, preventing any kick-out at the beginning of the stroke. Here's where I could see a real advantage to having a row of dog holes a bit farther back from the front edge for working wider boards. That's a trade-off though too. No bench is ever perfect.

Roubo Bench Mystery

I was looking at some hi-res scans of L'Art du menuisier and found an interesting element just below the top to the right of the left leg. I've never noticed this before, and am curious as to its function. If anyone has any idea what this thing is, please comment below.



Follow up: I found another instance of this object hanging on the left wall with other layout tools and gauges. This one clearly has a round hole in it and is hanging on a nail on the wall. I'm wondering now if it might be a pattern. See the item to the right, it looks like pattern for an ogee shape. This wouldn't be a layout tool, since its shape and size specific. Hmmm...

Sunday Afternoon

I often find myself drawn to the shop on quiet Sunday afternoons. I feel the need to build something or make progress on the latest project, but oftentimes I end up cleaning or rearranging things instead. I rather enjoy making my workspace more efficient. It makes the real work happen quicker and easier.

This summer I added a couple tools to my kit. I don't collect woodworking tools, although I've felt the lure on many occasions. I just don't see the point in having tools I don't use. Subsequently, I often hesitate to buy new tools, convincing myself that if I didn't need it until now, why should I ever need it? Once I convince myself to make the purchase, if I don't use the tool, I'll get rid of it. I've haven't had to do that much, so my system must work okay. It also forces me to get as much as possible out of the tools I do have. Consequently, I've developed ways of accomplishing some tasks that would likely be easier or faster with the "perfect" tool.

The new tools however have begun to pile up, since my previous tool rack was created to store a relatively fixed number of tools.

The top picture shows my shelf and tool wall just after the previous renovation. See how neat the plane shelf was? That didn't last long.

My plane shelf has been doing double duty as general storage after picking up some Glen-Drake chisel hammers and some new old stock rulers, among other things. I like to keep my plane shelf for planes only. They are my favorite tools, and I like them to have plenty of elbow room.



Here's the detritus that is fouling my plane shelf. What a mess. I don't own a ton of planes. Just a few in fact. I know woodworkers who own dozens of planes, in all varieties and brands. I own maybe a dozen total, and no repeats. Again, I'm not a collector.



In the interest of getting organized I decided to make a new tool rack to get some of these tools off the shelf.



I always like the slot idea for storing tools. It's quick to make, simple, and versatile.



I have in the shop at the moment the latest tool from Brese Plane. It's a stainless steel panel-size plane with a 2 -1/4" iron bedded at 50 degrees. This is a unique plane. It's not stuffed with wood, unlike Brese's typical fare. But it has all the mass and solid feel of a traditional infill plane, with the ergonomics of the more common man's Bedrock-style plane. This is the first project I've had the chance to use this plane on, and so far I like it very much. I like to be able to pinch the toe with my left hand when planing edges. I also like this size of plane for small projects like this. The heft of the plane (just under 8 pounds), combined with the longer sole (it's about the size of a 5 1/2 bench plane) means I can clean up my power planer and jointer surfaces without having to switch from a longer jointer plane to a smoothing plane. Yes, I have to take a couple more strokes since I have the plane set for a fine cut (finer than I have my jointer set), but then I'm done. To read more about this plane, see my friend Al Navas' blog.



I also picked up a few files and rasps this summer from Slav Jelisejevich, famous file monger. Thanks to a couple Benchcrafted Mag-Bloks, I have all my files and rasps effectively stored and displayed for quick access. They are top center right under the big wood jointer. I also moved my carving tools (also stored on Mag-Bloks) up to make room for more frequently used tools.





I also added a couple 12" Mag-Bloks to face of the new tool rack for holding miscellaneous smaller tools. A quick slotted board, fastened vertically and kerfed on the bandsaw holds my most frequently used rulers. Some mini Shaker pegs get my Glen-Drake Tite Hammers off the shelf.



I'm not sure where the next improvement will lead. My tool wall is between two windows and is already pushing its limits. Hopefully my tool kit will expand very slowly.

The Lie-Nielsen Time Machine

It's funny what happens when you can't sleep. I have a netbook on my nightstand, and when I can't sleep I check a couple woodworking forums, e-mail. When I'm bored with that (and I haven't fallen back asleep watching old episodes of The Woodwright's Shop) I grab a magazine from the lower shelf and read it again for the umpteenth time. Last night it was a Fine Woodworking from 1997. One forum thread was discussing a sale on Lie-Nielsen tools at a local Woodcraft. The topic turned to the price of Lie-Nielsen tools and how they've gone up drastically in the last year. So when I saw the above ad in the 1997 magazine I thought I'd do a little research and see just how much they've gone up in the past 12 years. The #4 in the above ad is priced at $225. Accounting for inflation (I used this calculator), this plane should fetch about $302 in 2009 dollars. The plane, in iron, is in fact less than this today. It sells for an even $300. But I was really shocked when I saw a similar ad (from 1998) for the L-N adjustable mouth block plane. Price was $150. With inflation, today's price should be $198. The plane sells today for $165. I like a good deal as much as the next guy, and using these two of L-N's most popular planes, a good deal they are indeed, since both planes have gone down in price over the years.



And it isn't just Lie-Nielsen. On the next page was an ad for (now defunct) Bridgewood Machinery. I bought a PBS-440W in 2006 (brand new, from Wilke, before the Bridgewood name was discontinued) for the exact same price as listed in this 1997 ad. No inflation calculator needed for that one.

I also did a comparison with a Grizzly shaper. The shaper (same model number G1026) from a 1991 magazine ad was $850. Today's price is $925.

Roubo Bench - One Year Later

It's been a little over a year since I finished building my workbench based on the Roubo design. In that time I've had the opportunity to build a number of projects with the bench, so I'd like to share some thoughts about how the bench has performed in the last year.



One of the first projects the bench saw was a cherry bathroom cabinet with a rather large single door. The sliding leg vise, which I built specifically for holding this type of work, did a fantastic job of holding the door for working on its edges and ends. The sliding leg vise is a beast of a vise when coupled with the stationary leg vise. It's huge capacity and raw holding power have convinced me that it was a wise decision to build this vise. The wood screws from Big Wood Vise have also proven their worth over the past year. They hold extremely well, turn very smoothly, and move very rapidly. I'm really satisfied with them.



The one thing I don't like about the wood screws on the sliding vise is the length of the hub. When planing the edges of boards held between both leg vises, it's a nuisance to step around the hub of the vise during the planing stroke.



The sliding leg vise is a trade-off. It's perfect when needed, but otherwise I want it out of the way completely. Most of the time I keep it stored on the shelf of the bench. I'm glad I made it easily removable-it can be dismounted in about 10 seconds.

I also made the back side of the bench so it can receive the sliding leg vise. This has come quite handy. I can slide the vise all the way to the left and in effect I'm left with a double-sided bench with leg vises at opposite corners. I keep my bench in the middle of my shop, so I can access both sides at all times.



What can I say about the wagon vise? I love it. I have yet to find a time where I've used it and been frustrated, impatient, or found it lacking in any way. It's met and exceeded my every expectation. I've only had to make one or two adjustments over the entire year. This summer I had to remove the dog block and take a couple shavings from one side to let slide freely. That's it. Wood moves as shop conditions change, and I'm quite amazed how the vise has handled the four seasons. The capabilities of the vise are quite basic. Clamp between dogs, or clamp between jaws. But its ease of use make it the best tail vise I've ever used.

This wagon vise (like any wagon vise) does not allow open-front clamping like a traditional "moving block" tail vise. I was a bit apprehensive about losing this capability. But in the past year, I've only moved to my old bench (which has a traditional tail vise) for its open jaw maybe half a dozen times. I was a bit surprised how little I actually used this feature, since I had imagined I'd used it much more frequently. I'd say that 90% of my work can be handled by a wagon vise. Nevertheless, I'll still keep a bench with a traditional tail vise for those other occasions.



Another project that put the bench through its paces was this large console cabinet. The project presented a lot of workholding challenges, and the Roubo came through with each of them. Removing the leg vise entirely makes for an uninterrupted surface at the front of the bench and allows an unencumbered work area for assembling this massive frame member. The stiffness of the top combined with the length of the top made joining this assembly rather enjoyable. My previous bench would have been a real source of frustration with this project. To get a better sense of scale of this project, here's the finished piece on my two saw benches.





The framework of the bench is built using drawbored mortise and tenon joints. After a year of use and 4 seasonal changes, all are as tight as the day they were assembled. The flush surfaces have moved slightly, but not enough to affect performance.

The open grain of the Ash was always a concern for the top of the bench. I've said a few times that I had wished I'd used hard maple for the top because of its closed grain. Yeah, I've had to pick out some stray metal particles from the Ash top, but I've only once run into a metal bit that caused me a slight problem. Nothing serious. In all, I'm really satisfied with the Ash. It's rigid as heck and very resilient. The latter point is a matter of debate, since it makes sense that a benchtop would ideally be softer than the project wood, thus allowing the bench to take the brunt of dings and scratches. Nevertheless, I'm satisfied with the Ash as a bench wood.



Even with the level of satisfaction I achieved with the bench in the past year, I've made a couple changes recently that have transformed the bench into an even better tool.

With the development of the Glide Leg Vise I've retrofitted the bench with this hardware. I was totally satisfied with the hardware from Big Wood Vise (and I still use it on my sliding leg vise), but the Glide has proven to be a real pleasure to use. It's fast, requires little effort to use, and has oodles of holding power.



Some people think that the hand wheels look out of place on such a traditional bench, since shiny metal hand wheels are more common to power machinery. First off, the wheel is a pretty old idea. Secondly, a hand wheel is a manual control device that lends itself to the movement of advancing and retracting the jaws of a woodworking vise (just like advancing and retracting a part of a machine like a table-saw trunnion or planer bed). Tommy bars are not very ergonomic, quick or pleasant to use, but they do offer a huge mechanical advantage by means of a long lever. If the need for a long lever is eliminated--by better engineering of the vise's holding capabilities--then the replacement of the less-ergonomic control device becomes possible, in this case with a better device-the hand wheel. I think the Glide looks fantastic on the Roubo bench.

By the way, using a hand wheel on a woodworking vise is not a new idea.



This is H.O. Studley's bench. He's more famous for his tool cabinet.

Getting back to the sliding leg vise. Most the time I don't need it. But occasionally I do need some support for long boards or wide panels when I don't want to mount up the sliding leg vise. So earlier this week I built a deadman.



The great thing about the deadman is that is stays flush with the front of the bench until you need to plug in a holdfast or clamp to secure the work. I built mine from 12/4 stock so it ended up extra thick-about 2-1/2". It doesn't need to be so thick, but I didn't see the point in planing away all that wood, or resawing. The extra mass provides lots of stability and weight, so the deadman slides easily.



The deadman engages the same slot in the underside of the bench as the sliding leg vise, which has a thicker rear section. I attached two cleats behind the deadman to engage the slot using some cap screws threaded and tapped into the deadman from behind.



I built deadman so it doesn't interfere with my benchdogs. So I can slide the deadman freely along the bench at any time and with the dogs in any configuration, up or down. I don't like things interrupting the flow of my work. The sliding leg vise has this problem, and I decided to fix it when I built the deadman.



The bench as it exists now is hands down my favorite tool in the shop. I love hand planes, but those only perform to satisfaction with a fine bench below them. If you're reading this, and considering building a new work bench for fine furniture making, I can't recommend this bench design enough. It has given me a renewed sense of enthusiasm for woodworking and furniture making, and I get pleasure and satisfaction from working on it every time I'm in the shop.

Another Roubo Bench

It's been about a year since I finished my first Roubo bench project. I didn't think I'd do it again in my lifetime. But here I am a year later and I've just completed a third massive Roubo-style bench. I'm using this bench to display Benchcrafted vises at the Woodworking In America Conference in St. Charles, IL next month.

This bench will be used lightly over the course of the weekend, and Sunday afternoon when the conference ends, the bench will be available for pick up.

The top sections, base and shelf are of soft maple. The top measures 7' 3" long x 24" wide and is 4" thick. The height is 35". The top joins to the base on 1" tenons at the top of each leg, plus 4 Spaz

The bench is outfitted with both the Glide Leg Vise and Benchcrafted Tail Vise.

The Glide features a hard maple chop that is over 2-1/2" thick. The vise chop is 9" wide and opens to a maximum capacity of 9".

The Benchcrafted Tail Vise is installed for maximum capacity of 11-1/4" between the jaws. Maximum holding capacity between dogs is 75". All vise jaws and dog faces are lined with perforated suede leather for fantastic grip.

The 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" base legs are drawbored mortise and tenon to the short stretchers and complete the base with two long rails through knockdown fasteners: 1/2" bolts and 1"dia. custom steel barrel nuts.

The shelf in the base is 21" x 49" ship lapped curly maple.

The sliding deadman/board jack is hard maple and is outfitted with a Veritas Surface Clamp. The right leg and tops are drilled for Gramercy holdfasts (two included) or other accessories that fit 3/4" holes.

The bench weighs 285 lbs.











The gap between the tops is wide enough to accommodate a K-Body clamp. The bench features an accessory strip that fits between the tops that can serve multiple functions. In it's flush position (below) it seals the gap and prevents all but small tools from falling through. The slot in the strip can be used for storing tools (see below).



Flip the strip over and it protrudes above the bench about 1/2", serving as a planing stop or sawing stop when slid to one end of the bench. The strip simply rests on the top rails of the base in both configurations and can be removed instantly if desired.















If you're interested in purchasing this bench at the WIA show in Chicago, please drop me a line. The price is $3195.