The Ultimate Workbench – Part 2

This is a continuation of my progress on my new hard maple workbench I am making, with my SawStop PCS table saw, using a jointer and planer for the first time. This is a Roubo style workbench, based on the book Workbenches Revised Edition: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use and The Workbench Design Book: The Art & Philosophy of Building Better Benches both by Chris Schwarz. I read both of these books and then decided what parts to include or change for my workbench.

I have now glued up one leg, and have a video of me gluing up the first top section, which is 4 boards wide, or about 7 1/4″ wide, which will still go through my jointer one more time before I glue up the larger sections into the entire top.

After gluing up the leg and seeing how the clamps were pulling the boards out of alignment, I made a couple changes. First, I bought three of the Bessey K-Body REVO Fixed Jaw Parallel Clamp, 31″ which is a much better (and expensive) clamp, as it is supposed to be great at only putting 90 degree pressure on the boards. I was hoping that would make the clamps stop pulling the boards out of alignment as I glued them. Also, I got some short 2×4’s ready to use on the ends, I thought I could clamp one on each end (above and below the boards), then clamp those on, putting pressure on the boards to keep them aligned. I ended up not needing to use the short 2×4 pieces, either the Bessey clamps did the trick, or maybe it was the longer heavier boards.

I bought a gallon of the Titebond Franklin International 9106 1-Gallon Extend Wood Glue and then filling up the FastCap Glu-Bot Glue Bottle (16 Ounces) with it. The glue bottle is nice, it has replaceable top and tip, and you do not have to tilt the bottle to squeeze the glue out the tip.

Most of my previous clamps are the IRWIN Tools QUICK-GRIP Bar Clamp, 36-inch (223136), which are a pretty sturdy bar clamp, especially compare to a couple other types I’ve had for years. However, the Bessey REVO clamps seem a far step above even that, and do a great job at clamping from what I’ve seen so far.

These 4 boards were all jointed and planed. The boards were the same height, the width probably varies a little, but each board was a little more than 1 3/4″ thick. They are 81″ long, my bench will be about 80″ long when complete. I ended up putting the planed board thru the jointer one more time, to get the snipe the planer was leaving off of the board.

The gluing went pretty well. Using an old credit card, or one of those fake cards they send you in the mail all the time works great to spread the glue. I probably needed a bit more glue on the first board, I didn’t get squeeze out everywhere.

So I will put this through the jointer one last time, and clean it up. After I cut up one more large maple board, I will have enough pieces for another top section like this one, and one more leg.

My next video will probably be when I glue up the entire workbench top out of the larger sections. At that point all the legs should be glued up as well. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and you will be notified of my future videos.

Here’s a list of what I used in this video. These are Amazon links, if you use these, it will help support this website, and the costs to you on Amazon will be the same (you will see absolutely no difference on Amazon).
Bessey K-Body REVO Fixed Jaw Parallel Clamp, 31″

Titebond Franklin International 9106 1-Gallon Extend Wood Glue

IRWIN Tools QUICK-GRIP Bar Clamp, 36-inch (223136)

FastCap Glu-Bot Glue Bottle (16 Ounces)

Workbenches Revised Edition: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use

The Workbench Design Book: The Art & Philosophy of Building Better Benches