Comments on: French Workbench Class – Day 4

By: Jonathan Szczepanski

Jonathan Szczepanski — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:59:51 +0000

“…magic pegasus.” Is that a diesel or hybrid? Never mind, I guess by definition, ALL pegasuses are hybrids.

Jonathan
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By: Christopher Schwarz

Christopher Schwarz — Sat, 21 May 2011 02:47:43 +0000

In the beds of their pickup trucks, in trailers behind their cars and hitched to the magic pegasus that lives on Bald Mountain.

Chris

By: phillipsmiley@gmail.com

phillipsmiley@gmail.com — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:36:17 +0000

What is this “thickness planer and band saw” you speak of? I built my Holtzapffel (using your book as a guide) with my #4 and #8 hand planes to flatten the top. I promise it took me more than 40 hours but it took significantly less than one year elapsed time.

I confess I used my jointer, thickness planer, and tablesaw to dimension the stock (Home Depot SYP) but after that, I flattened the top using my hand planes and I cut, and bored the mortise and tenon joints by hand. I also draw bored all the M&T joints.

It was a daunting task at the time but I highly recommend it to anyone who does woodworking. To invest the time and effort in building something that massive that you will then use regularly for years is a very satisfying exercise.

The other posters are correct. You can do this alone and you can do this on saw horses. I didn’t find it difficult to fit the legs to the top. The hard part, for me, was manhandling those long pieces while dimensioning them.

By: Jonathan Szczepanski

Jonathan Szczepanski — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:37:04 +0000

How are they getting the benches home?

Jonathan
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By: Mitchell

Mitchell — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:36:46 +0000

Hand tools, power tools or a couple of beavers with big teeth, who cares. The videos show a group of people having a damned good time building great looking benches.

By: Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:00:47 +0000

Americans building French workbenches and drinking Belgian beer. Is there a joke in here somewhere?

By: Christopher Schwarz

Christopher Schwarz — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:32:40 +0000

Damien,

With a thickness planer and a band saw I can build one of these in 40 hours by myself. You just build it on sawhorses. You don’t need a bench to build a bench.

When I wrote the line about “four or five” people, that’s how to do it quickly and without having to prop the top up as you glue. I should have written that it takes for or five people to do it “easily.” Sorry I mis-typed.

By: Simon Frez-Albrecht

Simon Frez-Albrecht — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:43:30 +0000

Damien,
I’ve built a Roy Underhill Roubo with the rising dovetail joint on the front and tapered back legs, and with the exception of driving a couple of screws with a cordless driver, all the work was done with handtools. I used pressure treated 6×6 for the top (only two wide though, with a tool tray on the back)and Douglas Fir for the legs and stretchers. I was able to complete my bench in 30-40 hours working alone. Mine isn’t nearly as attractive as the benches that we’ve been seeing in these video clips, but it certainly works excellently.

If you are clever with supporting the top on sawhorses, you can maneuver the legs into place and drop the top down one end at a time onto the base.

By: rhancock

rhancock — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:55:25 +0000

That was my question, too, Damian, but I figure those old benches Chris talked about in the first blog weren’t built with bandsaws. While I would love to build a bench with half a dozen other woodworkers to help lift stuff, I can’t see anything that can’t be done by hand. Looks like about 10 pieces of timber to plane and joint – a good workout, but not impossible. Course, you’d need a friend or two to lift the top on!

I like the simplicity of the design of this one, so I’m already planning on making one in the next while (year or two…) Are there / will there be plans available somewhere?

By: damien

damien — Fri, 20 May 2011 06:51:48 +0000

Great, as beer marketeers say here: Home is where my Stella is.

It was instructive to see the thing happen. I had a question, if it takes “four or five people to do it right” can the lone worker expect to finish a workbench in 40 hours like it was proposed in the first post? There is the added handicap of smaller or no thickness planer, but there, I can always go to a lumberyard.