Comments on: LVL Workbench: What Was I Thinking?

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:44:42 +0000

Anyone have plans for this thing??

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:52:49 +0000

ditto the apartment woodworker comments…

I have a 6′ roubo on sketchup that I’m going to build as soon as I can locate some SYP in Brooklyn(I’m considering taking a weekend roadtrip to some southern state where flowers bloom, birds sing, and there are beautiful blonde girls with orange vests stacking 16′ long clear SYP 2×12′s….)

I’m starting to consider lvl, but how hard is that to work with only hand tools?

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:32:42 +0000

I too am most interested in the bench for apartment dwellers, albeit from a different perspective. As a Las Vegas woodworker, it’s currently too dang hot to work in the garage so I’ve decided to build a small bench that can live in my den, possibly disguised inside a base cabinet when not in use. I’m interested in something heavy, non-racking as Roubo-like as possible, yet something that can slide relatively easily into and out of it’s base-cabinet home when not in use. Sounds like a tall order to me but I’m convinced it can be done.

By: nik palmer

nik palmer — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:28:55 +0000

The bench looks great and sturdy, and it was pretty cheap. I just wanted to pass on a couple of comments. I have built a bench bottom similar to this and i saw someone ask if lag bolts were used. I did use lags bolts and although the bench is steady and strong, it is difficult to stop a slight swat when planing with my longest jointer. You have to tighten up the lag bolts periodically.
The microlam/LVL; i have used for a set of speaker stands (heavy, solid, no tonal quality) and they work great. As i like the "quartersawn surface" rather than the "flatsawn" i even used microlam q/s in a veneer form over the flatsawn. BUT in general microlam/lvl splinters like hell, and doesn’t like to be handplaned…so how are you going to reflatten the benchtop in the future Chris?

kindest

nik

By: Lee Laird

Lee Laird — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:45:33 +0000

Can someone point me to a distributor of LVL. I’m having some problems finding a source.

Thanks,

By: Jim Anderson

Jim Anderson — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:01:08 +0000

A friend an I were discussing some of the merits of this bench and he brought up an interesting observation. Over time as the wood layers in the top are worn away leaving higher ‘glue ridges’ will they be more apt to scratch the surface of project pieces, the glue being harder than the wood. No doubt this would take some time but might be something to watch for. I do like the idea of the bench though. – Jim

By: JC

JC — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:28:26 +0000

i REALLY like the paint, but is there any concern that the paint may rub off onto your work when you use the leg vise?

By: JC

JC — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:26:59 +0000

i REALLY like the paint, but is there any concern that the paint may rub off onto your work when you use the leg vise?

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:07:30 +0000

You can see a color picture over on the Popular Woodworking blog here:
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/how-to-get-work-done-when-you-have-too-much-to-do

By: Christopher Schwarz

Christopher Schwarz — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:17:45 +0000

We used "red" from The Real Milk Paint Co. Looks great.

Chris