I took a photo at the Hancock Shaker Village this past summer when my dad and I went there. He loves the photo so I thought I would build a frame and print the photo for him for Christmas.

My Dad’s home back in Massachusetts is a timber frame, so thats where the inspiration for the frame came from. Joinery is through mortise and tenon pegged with 1/4″ rosewood. It has a 45 degree stopped chamfer on it (matching all the timbers in the house).

It was my first time using Mahogany. I really enjoyed its ease of machining. It was also my first time trying this joint. I love the look and I think it will fit in great with the house.

Also as a side note, I couldn’t bring myself to using plywood or any crappy metal fasteners so I made up some shiplap pine boards and made my own fasteners.

This workbench is built out of hard maple. For a long time I couldn’t decide what kind of workbench to build. I was thinking about a MDF top and some less expensive legs. The inspiration was Fine Woodworking magazine (workshop solution). Their’s was little different. I used screws covered with nice wenge plugs instead of dovetails. The legs are mortise and tenon joints, through tenon is reinforced with walnut wedges. The size: 63″ long, 26″ wide, 34″ tall. There are two workbench vises from grizzly, top slab 1 3/4 thick (on sale at woodcraft) front and side apron 1 3/4″ x 5.5″. The total cost was around $450 for materials.