The English Workbench

  In Chapter One we make a start on our workbench by getting the legs and rails cut to length in preparation for building our trestles. My deeper top rails are starting out rough sawn and so I go through the steps required to prepare these for use.One face is...

  In Chapter Two we cut the joinery for the trestles. Since we've taken some short cuts with the prepping one of the most important jobs now is to take care with the marking out of our lap joints, paying close attention to our face and edge marks. To cut the lap...

  In Chapter Three we complete the trestles and get them all glued together. Before the trestles can be glued up there's a notch to cut at the top of each leg, which will accept the deep aprons along the front and back of the bench later on. This is also the time...

  In Chapter Four we start work on the aprons, getting them housed in to the legs and notched out for our bearers. The housings in the back of the aprons are shallow but are there to lock the legs in position and they add an incredible amount of rack resistance. If...

  Chapter Five is a long one. We get prepared for our face vice, assemble the bench and complete the frame ready for our top. Before the whole base can be glued together we need to prepare the aprons to accept the face vice. Whatever face vice you opt for now's the...

  Chapter Six will give you arm ache. We're preparing the underside of our top boards, getting them fixed down and then giving the whole top an initial flatten. We won't true the top boards up perfectly before fixing them down. All we're looking for is to flatten, or...

  In Chapter Seven we build and install the face vice. Before this though we get the front apron tarted up. The front apron on an English workbench becomes part of the working surface and so we can't leave it all rough sawn. The first job here is to square it up to...

  In Chapter Eight We Give The Top A Final Flatten And Complete Our Workbench. Before we can say Job's a good'un, we're going to add some final details. First we drill a series of holes along the front apron which will be useful for work holding once the bench is in...

  Before embarking on your workbench build I thought it would be wise to give a few thoughts to choosing your dimensions. Our plans will allow you to follow through regardless of the dimensions you choose so get this right for your own personal needs.My recommendation...