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Workbench

werkbank The image shows my workbench. It's the first work piece I've made. It was not my intention to get involved into woodworking. I just wanted to rescue a plank of ekki (azobé, Lophira alata) my father left in the garage after he died. I decided to make something lasting of it, but had no idea what to build.

I was inspired and challenged by Scott Landis' The Workbench Book, where he wonders how you can build woodworking experience if you don't have a workbench (page 2). That remark got me going. Sure you can, I thought. I decided to make a workbench on a kitchen table, just to prove you can build a work bench without having one. So I did. I've proven Landis' presumption false. But I don't advise anybody to prove it again.

The base was made of cheap pine (Picea abies). The bench top is azobé, the sides dressed with wengé because there wasn't enough Azobé and it contrasts beautifully with the white pine. The best feature is that the sides are flush with the legs and the side of the benchtop. I've drilled 3/4" holes all over the piece: the legs, the top and the sides, because I like to work with the Veritas holddowns, bench dogs and bench pups.

The wengé and the maple on the vises I bought at the de Arnhemse Fijnhouthandel (AF). The 7 cm top brings a lot of weight and stability. I do get sometimes a request for the design, but I don't have any drawings.

My next bench will be a little bit higher. The current is 90 cm high, but I'm thinking of 96 cm. Maybe a Charlesworth bench, with "a few" 3/4 inch dogholes (19 mm).