New-Fangled Workbench: With Six Pipe Clamps and Some Dressed Framing Lumber

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New-Fangled Workbench

With six pipe clamps and


some dressed framing lumber,

you can make


an inexpensive bench
that's as versatile
as a Swiss Army Knife
BY JOHN W H I T E

F
or five years I worked as a cabinetmaker in a shop that used
only hand tools for the simple reason that electricity wasn't
available that far back in the woods. One lesson that I came
away with was the importance of a good workbench—and lots of
windows. I now work in a shop that is, if anything, overelectrified,
but a functional workbench is still important. Just because you're
driving a car instead of a buggy doesn't mean you don't need a
good road to get where you're going.
On a perfect bench, the various vises and stops would hold any
size workpiece in the most convenient position for the job at
hand. Traditional workbenches are adequate for clamping small-
er pieces, a table leg or frame rail for instance, but most benches
can't handle wide boards for edge- and face-planing or frame-
and-panel assemblies.
Recently, I moved my shop and needed to build a new bench. I
began by researching traditional American and European designs.
I found that although our predecessors had many clever solutions
to the problems of holding down a piece of wood, no one bench
D O U G L A S FIR
WORKBENCH
To minimize costs, the author
milled workbench stock from
Douglas fir framing lumber,
sawing clear sections from the
center of 2xlOs and 2xl2s.
The bench is fastened with
drywall screws and lag bolts.
Six pipe clamps in different
configurations are used as vises.

Oak blocks span tail-vise


clamps. The screw ends of the
pipe clamps are screwed to
the end of the bench through
holes drilled in the clamp faces.

Pipes rest on blocks that turn.


Tail-vise pipe clamps are support-
ed by blocks fastened with one
screw. To slide a clamp past, turn
the block.

Front clamps are easy to ad-


just. The clamps fit in holes in the
bench front and are secured with
large washers and speed pins.
planed. Instead, the force of the plane dures, such as chopping mortises, drive the
pushes the workpiece into a tapered plan- work downward through the jaws of a
ing wedge attached to the far left end of the conventional vise, scarring the wood.
bench. This is an ancient device, and for
handplaning it is far more practical than Traditional tail vise
any vise. You can flip the board end for is replaced with pipe clamps
end or turn the other edge up in an instant On the bench's top, two pipe-clamp bars
with one hand. You don't even have to put are recessed into a l0-in.-wide well, re-
down your plane. placing a conventional tail vise and bench
To make a shoulder vise when needed, I dogs. The clamp-tightening screws project
drilled holes 6 in. on-center along the from the right end of the bench, and the
bench's front rail to mount pipe clamps movable jaws project in. above the top.
horizontally. I pair up two clamps with a Both the fixed and movable jaws have oak
drop-in vise jaw, which is just a length of faces. This clamp setup makes it easy to
-in. square hardwood. The jaw can be hold down boards for surface-planing be-
as short as 8 in. or longer than 6 ft. I have cause nothing projects above the board's
several jaws of different lengths. surface to foul the tool. The top clamp bars
The front vise can be used with the plan- have a clamping capacity of just over 7 ft.
ing beam supporting the workpiece from Blocks of wood support the pipes. Each
below. This is useful because some proce- one is screwed to the frame of the bench
Sliding height adjustment. Pipe-clamp tail-
pieces slide on cast-iron pipes held captive in
the top and bottom of the bench. A T-shaped
Douglas fir planing beam rides on the clamps.

solved all or even most of the problems I


had encountered in 25 years of wood-
working. Frustrated, I finally decided to de-
sign a bench from the ground up.
At first I had no success. A design would
address one problem but not another, or it
would be far too complex. I was about to
give up and build a traditional German
bench when I came up with a design that
incorporates pipe clamps into the bench's
top, the front apron and even the legs.

Planing beam slides on pipes


On the front of the bench is an adjustable,
T-shaped planing beam that runs the full
length of the bench. It is supported on both
ends by the sliding tailpieces of Pony pipe
clamps. The -in. cast-iron pipes on which
the clamps slide are incorporated into the
bench's legs. I used Pony clamps through-
out this project because they are well made
and slide and lock very smoothly.
The planing beam continuously supports
the full length of a board standing on edge.
The stock for the planing beam can be as
narrow as 2 in. and as wide as 30 in. The
planing beam can be set to any position in
seconds. Of all of the bench's features, the
planing beam is the most useful. I use it
dozens of times daily when building a
piece of furniture.
You've probably noticed that there is no
front vise to secure the board being
work, such as doors and other architectur- the joints loosen up, you can retighten
al millwork. The design can be shortened everything in a few minutes with a screw-
or lengthened, and it could be reversed driver. I did this about a month after as-
end for end if you are left-handed. sembling the bench, and it has stayed solid
I built the bench out of Douglas fir in- ever since. Don't overtighten the screws.
stead of hardwood. Douglas fir at its best is Excessively crushing the wood under the
a dense, stable wood that machines clean- screw's head ruins the resilience that al-
ly and holds fasteners well, important at- lows a joint to flex slightly and remain tight.
tributes given the way I wanted to The keyhole slots in the legs and stretch-
assemble the bench. er are functional; as the boards shrink, they
Wide planks—2xl0s and 2xl2s—of Dou- allow the wood to flex without cracking. In
glas fir framing lumber will often be sawn effect, they are preemptive cracks that look
right out of the center of the log, and a half a lot better than the ones that would form
or more of the board will be quartersawn randomly otherwise. When you install the
and knot free, with tight, straight grain. lag bolts, drill clearance and pilot holes
By carefully choosing and ripping these and go easy on the torque when you tight-
planks, you can get some beautiful materi- en them up. The joint will be stronger if
al for a lot less than the price of even you don't overstress the threads in the
mediocre furniture woods. Some of the stretcher's end grain.
trimmed-out wood that isn't good enough
Lift-out MDF panels. The panels, cut in differ- for the bench can still be used for other
ent lengths from MDF scraps, make a durable projects such as shelves or sawhorses.
yet disposable center surface for the bench.
If you start with green lumber, sticker it
The panels get removed when the tail-vise
pipe clamps are in use. for a few months to get the moisture con-
tent down. To prevent checking, trim the
ends to get a clean surface and then apply
with a drywall screw. The single screw al- duct tape over the end grain. Even if you
lows each block to swing out of the way of start with kiln-dried wood, give it a couple
the pipe-clamp tailpieces as they are slid to of weeks indoors to stabilize before start-
accommodate long work. ing to cut. Use the best wood for the frame,
The top pipe clamps can also be used benchtop and beam, saving lesser quality
to hold panels in place that have other stock for the leg assembly.
tools permanently attached, such as a vise
or an electric grinder. I have a tilting drill- Screw joinery is fast and strong
press vise attached to a square of medium- My method of assembling the bench with
density fiberboard (MDF) that I clamp to drywall screws and lag screws (and no
the bench for metalworking or for holding fitted-and-glued joinery) is unconvention-
a piece of wood to be carved. I plan to de- al, but I've used this style of construction
sign a drop-in router table for the bench; for years. The finished bench is rock solid,
there's enough space between the pipe- and the joinery goes quickly.
clamp bars to fit a small machine. Most of the screws were counterbored
When the top clamps aren't in use, the with a -in. drill, sometimes quite deeply, Horizontal clamps run full length. A pair of
well is covered by several sections of -in. to bring the screw heads in. shy of the pipe clamps, running under the benchtop, hold
MDF that simply drop in and lay on top of edge being joined. On the 3-in.-wide, work in the same way as a traditional tail vise.
the pipes. Because MDF is so inexpensive, edge-jointed benchtop boards, the coun-
I treat the panels as sacrificial surfaces. I cut terbore is in. deep. The deep bore min- The pipes used with the clamps cut easi-
into them, screw jigs to them, whack them imizes the amount of wood under the ly with a hacksaw or a small pipe cutter.
with a hammer, and when they get too screw head, which in turn minimizes the For the smoothest operation of the clamps,
chewed up, I toss them. To save my back, I loosening of the joint as the stock shrinks. clean up any burrs along the length of each
buy precut MDF meant for shelving; it After drilling the counterbore, follow up pipe with a file and then smooth it down
comes either 12 in. or 16 in. wide. This pre- with a long bit to drill a clearance hole for with emery paper. This is a messy opera-
cut stock is useful for all manner of jigs and the screw shank. Then line up the pieces to tion, creating a staining black dust, so do it
prototypes, and I always have a few be joined and install the screws a couple of away from your woodworking area. Wipe
lengths around the shop. turns to mark the centers, drill pilot holes at down each pipe with a rag and paint thin-
the marks in the adjoining piece and as- ner when you are done.
Douglas fir makes a solid bench semble the bench.
The bench, as I built it, is 8 ft. long and was One of the advantages of this type of John White keeps the Fine Woodworking shop
designed to accommodate fairly large construction is that if the wood shrinks and running smoothly.

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