"boorite" wrote in message
ups.com...
BobS wrote:
Ernie Hunt still maintains this site where he posted some work bench
plans I
made up a few years ago. Someone asked how to make a workbench with
specific tools that they had available to them and these plans, based on
a
FWW design, were the result.

http://www.huntfamily.com/work_bench.htm

Very cool plans. In the interest of speed, laziness, and general
ineptitude, I can't resist the urge to offer for consideration a
dumbed-down but still solid version. Mainly my goal is to rival the
simplicity of butt joints while avoiding horrors like putting screws
into endgrain. Wondering what you'd think.

So... for the frame, I'd glue and screw the rails straight to the edges
and faces of the legs, thus avoiding my inevitable struggle with M&T
joinery. The result wouldn't look like an heirloom, but it would be
just as sturdy, I think.

For the cross-members, I'd think about cutting notches in the rails 1
1/2" deep by 3 1/2" wide to receive the 2x4s on their faces. Or maybe
I'd notch both the rails and the cross members 3/4". Although that's
twice as much work, it's still butt simple compared to M&T. Cross laps
aren't as nice as M&T, but glued and screwed in, they'd sure stop the
frame from ever twisting or racking, and they'd take the bounce out of
any top you attached.

Even if you wanted to place the cross members on edge for even less
bounce, I guess you could still cross-lap them. I suppose I'd
counterbore the hell out of the screw holes so I could use shorter
screws. Seems like this design wouldn't resist twisting as well, but
with the top attached, it's not going anywhere.

Those are my so-called thoughts on how to do this with less time and no
skill. I'd be interested to hear if you think it'd work.

Thanks for the neat plans.


You're welcome but to clarify a point.... the workbench plans and my post
about making a top (essentially a torsion box) really do not relate to each
other and the frame in the plans does not lend itself well to adapting to a
framed top without a lot of modification. Two different designs but....

The M&T joinery as shown in the workbench plans is butt simple too. The
lower frame is made by laminating milled 2x4's and 2x6's (nice flat
surfaces), gluing them together and then cutting the M&T's using a tablesaw.
Racking is a big concern for any workbench that isn't attached to a wall and
the joinery shown in the plans is designed to prevent that - for the long
term. Yes, your ideas will probably work but not having any details other
than your explanation - I would say the joints you propose will not last for
the long haul.

I made a version of that workbench for my own shop and it's now over 15
years old and still standing strong. I've had a ~ 300lb jointer plus me on
top of it and no racking or wiggling at all. I have two vises mounted on it
and can take a long board and hand-plane it and that bench doesn't move. As
I said, the design came from a FWW article way back when and they used solid
hardwoods - throughout, and not laminated 2x4's and 2x6's. The cost to
build it back then with a maple top was over $600 for the top alone plus
another $200 or so for the frame as I recall. The design is simple and has
stood the test of time and some hard use over the years.

You can research the relative strength of almost any joinery technique you
want to use but you will find that most of the time, M&T is selected because
of it's strength. You can certainly use other techniques, such as those
you've pointed out. Do you think it will hold up to hard use or will you be
building another one 6 months from now? A workbench is a really good
project to start learning with. It's a workbench - nobody will notice the
mistakes or care but you will learn a lot by making it the best you can -
and it will serve you well for many, many years to come.

Bob S.