Shannon’s Workbench – Week of Workbenches

This project was submitted by Shannon, and its the first in a series of workbench projects we’ll be posting this week in our “Week of Workbenches”! So let’s take a look:

I just finished off my workbench. It is 3″ thick hard maple. I laminated 8/4 maple on edge, making 4 rows of square bench dogs holes that span the entire length. I made the square holes prior to the assembly (by doing it this way, I was able to cut the dog holes on the table saw with a home made jig that angled the holes 2.5 degrees towards the end vise). I then routed out 1″ out the top of the dog holes, so the bench dogs can recess flush with the top. The base is solid maple with pinned mortise and tenon at the base, and wedge mortise and tenon for the stretchers. The pins and wedges are black walnut. All base mortises are hand chiseled (not fun in 3″ thick hard maple). The front and side aprons are 7-1/4″ 8/4 maple. I have a Veritas twin screw vise for the end vise (mounted on a 4″ thick maple vise with square bench dog holes), and a quick release front vise made with 3″ thick maple with round dog holes (and 2 rows of of round holes across the bench). It took several days of labor intensive hand planing to get a dead flat top, but it was worth it. I finished it off with several coats of danish oil, and a coat of paste wax. I figure the final weight is around 450-500 pounds.