New Workbench - Part 1

Time for a new workbench. For some reason I woke up one morning and that is the thought that popped in to my head and I just went with it. Could be something to do with the fact that my current, scrapped together, workbench has finally overstayed it's welcome in my shop. Could also have something to do with the fact that I recently finished reading Christopher Schwarz's book Workbenches: From Design And Theory To Construction And Use. Good book by the way. I've also had a new vise sitting around for about a year that I was planning to put on a new workbench - retrofitting the old one to fit the vise was not really an option. Sort of like putting new wine in old wineskins.

Initially I thought I would use all reclaimed materials but I opted to use some Southern Yellow Pine that was on sale at a local home center for the top. I'm still using reclaimed lumber for the base which includes the legs and the stretchers.

The photos are some of the 2x4's that I pulled from a small barn/shed late last fall. They were pretty rough but a few passed throught the planer did wonders.

Reclaimed 2x4's before removing the nails and planning. One important thing to note here is that I use a Lumber Wizard III to check for any remaining metal or nail fragments that may have been missed when pulling nails.

Legs beginning to take shape. Here they are cut to size and aligned so the grain is going the same direction for further planning.

Leg blanks getting glued up in one shot.

Reclaimed White Oak and Walnut Box

White oak and walnut – all reclaimed. Finished with BLO and beeswax/orange oil combo. All the parts came from a single piece of oak and a single piece of walnut. Many, many thanks to Doug Stowe for the books on box making and the inspiration.
The spline crosscut sled is directly from one of Doug’s books that I bought recently. The thin piece of walnut on the jig is a story stick used to gauge where the stop block is placed.

Almost forgot, the lid strap is made from scrap leather and the inside of the box is deerskin. I found a couple of deerskins at a yard sale recently for really cheap and thought they would be good for box interiors. I used spray glue to attach it to a thin piece of cardboard and then fit it to the box.

Be sure to click the link below to keep reading and to see more photos...

Harvest Table

All the wood for the table is 100% reclaimed barnwood – yellow pine I think. The legs were milled out of a 3×12 beam which I’m assuming was fairly old considering I pulled a dozen or so square/cut nails out of it. The table top is made from 1 inch thick planks of barn siding.  The table is 42×80 and will seat eight people. We found the chairs at a local discount chain and we’re still waiting on the final three to come in. I tried matching the stain on the table to that of the chairs which I think came out pretty close.

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