My workbench celebrated his first birthday this past January. To celebrate, I decided to give it the equivalent of a relaxing day at the spa – give the top a flattening and a fresh coat of oil. I had noticed some movement in the planks so this was necessary sooner rather than later either way, and I thought I’d take a look back at a year in use, the good and bad, and any changes I’m thinking about making in the future.
Following on from the build series, the first modifications I made were to
1. Add a QR vise
I procured an old Record 52 ½ vise from a friend and essentially followed Paul Sellers’ tutorial on installing it. This is an awesome vise, plenty of holding power and works great. At times, it would be nice to have the vise flush against the apron like a wood-screw vise would be as Richard builds it (or other vises available that install this way), but this isn’t a deal breaker and not a criticism of the bench itself.
2. Add some dog holes for holdfasts
Honestly I love my holdfasts and find them essential on every project. The thin top does make installing them a bit tricky but it’s well worth the effort. I drilled only three holes along the length in positions I thought I’d most need them – I like to start minimally and work upwards. I tested the holdfasts (Gramercy, from Lee Valley) in these holes and they just didn’t stick so I decided to add hardwood blocks below to thicken the surface for the holdfasts to grip. I used some 2”x2”, 3/4 “ thick hard maple, glued and screwed them to the underside of the bench then drilled through them continuing the holes in the top. This worked a treat.
3. Add a shelf for storage between the trestles
Space is low in my dungeon of a shop so I’ll take any opportunity to add a storage surface off the floor. The shelf is simply three 1×4 scrap boards screwed together with batons across the ends. I didn’t want to install a permanent fixture so made it removable by adding a rebate on the batons to rest on the stretchers of the trestles.
4. Planing stop
I installed a classic planing stop from Lee Valley and use it quite a lot for some planing operations, but also as another general workholding device and stop, sometimes in conjunction with the holdfasts.
Now, what about the bench itself? How do we decide if this is a good or bad workbench – what criteria should I use for a review? It’s difficult to rate this objectively, after all it’s the bench I built with my own two hands. And DIY benches very much come down to the maker, and the customisations to suit the maker’s shop and process, so no two will be the same, or rated in the same way. Some general things to look out for in a bench are the solidity / stability, workholding, and durability over time.
Since this bench is DIY and customisable, a lot of criteria are irrelevant as it’s up to the builder to decide. Size, workholding, even the quality of the build, are all up to the craftsman. I’m happy with these things on mine. The size at 5’x2′ is on the smaller size but perfect for the projects I make. The height works for me, I’m on the shorter side and do a lot of planing. I have to stoop sometimes when cutting dovetails in the vise but not so much that I wish I built a taller workbench – this is such a tiny part in any project. When I’m paring or chopping I pull up a stool to the bench to bring me closer to the work. If you have no stock prep to do by hand and use a jointer and planer, you’ll probably want a higher bench. It’s been completely solid with the glued and nailed construction, and given that it’s all pine and a smaller size it is on the lighter side when it comes to heavy planing. Adding the cast iron vise and loading up the shelf below helps add weight and weigh it down. One criticism I’ve seen about the English style bench is that you’re unable to clamp to the benchtop because of the wide aprons. I have not seen that to be true with a long enough clamp. Neither end has that problem so it’s easier to clamp on the end if necessary.
The only downside at times is the thin top, and this only becomes apparent when mortising. Mortising or other heavy chiseling really has to be done over the leg for the solid support beneath (which is generally true of any bench) because anywhere else on the bench is too springy and doesn’t absorb the blow as well.
One other criticism is not the bench itself but the vise. When it opens further than say 8”, it sags a little from the weight which causes it to bind. I have to lift the face to alleviate the weight but this is easy with the quick release.
Are there any changes to make in the future? There are a couple of things I’d like to figure out for peace of mind in new projects. When I’m working on a longer board, say over 4-5ft long I will need some kind of support at the opposite end to the vise for edge planing. If I’m dovetailing wider boards I’ll have to create a support behind the full width of the panel between the panel itself and the bench, since the vise holds about an inch away from the bench and not flush against the apron. Maybe some dogholes for holdfasts are in order along the apron for this purpose. I have one dog hole drilled on the top (the third one), under which I haven’t yet added a block for a holdfast so that’s in the future too.
So do I recommend this bench? Absolutely. I still advise anyone interested to purchase the series and build along with Richard Maguire. It’s affordable and completely solid, and to reiterate the quality and functionality ultimately comes down to how you build it for your shop.
On flattening the top. I had noticed some movement in the planks, most of all the inside edge of the front plank had cupped up which caused a severe rocking in anything placed across it. The inside edge of the back plank had cupped somewhat too. So I grabbed my straight edge and winding sticks (plus some longer straight-ish scraps I had) and assessed the top first. I used my jack plane and jointer, first using the jack plane to work down the high spots along the grain, checking with the straight edge. When the high spots were nearly even, I checked with the straight edge along the length and used the winding sticks to check for twist. I started with the jointer, and took a light pass end to end perpendicular to the grain. Then I went from end to end tangential to the grain. I repeated this a few times until it got to about 85% flat.
There were still a couple of low spots but I could live with that instead of thinning the top further. Checking for twist, it was slightly out of plane end to end so I worked one corner lightly to bring it closer and levelled it out along the length. I didn’t want to go too far since this could also be caused by unevenness in the floor. I got it closer but not perfect, but that’s good enough for me and the work I’m doing.
One point to mention – I removed the planing stop for the flattening process and when reinstalling it, it was now slightly proud of the surface. I had to deepen the mortise for it to sit flush so I deepened it a bit more than necessary so it sits a few mm below the surface when closed.
Wipe on a coat of danish oil, and it’s ready for another year of hard work.
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