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Question: I’ve been using sawhorses and an old door for a few years and curse every time I start a project that I need a real bench. So I’ve been mulling over my options for some time and have decided that I needed to build my own bench because I thought ready made benches were too expensive, had spindly legs and weren’t as massive as I’d like. This fall I was starting the process of gathering varying designs to see what I liked and didn’t like and make a combination of sorts that I thought would be the ultimate bench. Then I saw your magazine with the Roubo on the cover and knew it was the one. It’s everything I was looking for , relatively inexpensive, fairly easy to build, didn’t have an apron, didn’t have spindly legs and (although I could really use the storage) I’d opted for nothing more than a shelf as well.
I’m planning on making my top out of maple and the legs out of poplar. Was even thinking of using some bloodwood for the row of dog holes but we’ll have to see how much that adds to the cost.
Anyway, I’ve been looking at a few other designs and was thinking of making a change but wanted your opinion first. In a bench design I saw in another magazine built by Ian Kirby, he used a bridle-jointed stretcher between the front and back (short sides) legs at their tops. Then he lag screwed through these stretchers to attach the top. Seems to me this might be an easier way to put the whole thing together but I realize it might take away some of the strength gained by having the top shrink on the tenons, thus creating the A-frame in the original design. Based on your experiences do you think this is an acceptable modification?
– John S. Szalkai
Answer: I’ve given your plan some thought. It will work, but I think you’ll need another modification to make it work long-term. What you propose seems simple on its face, but it would actually transfer the strength of the bench from the top and into the base. That’s how most benches are made today, and it is more like a dining room table than this French thing.
If I lag bolted the base to the top, I would want to make the long stretchers considerably wider , I’d say 7″ wide would do. Otherwise, I fear the narrow stretchers below would not survive the racking forces being transferred from the top to the floor.
This would especially be an issue if you are going to do hand planing on this bench. If it’s mostly going to be a big assembly bench, like a modern bench, then you could get away with 5″-wide stretchers or so.
The Kirby bench is a nice one , quick to assemble and simple to build. So it’s a good source for bench ideas. But I’d consider this change carefully. Mortising the base into the top is really a cinch, if you need some encouragement on that front.
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