The Milkman’s Workbench Build – Part 3

In my last post I had cut all the pieces for the bench to their final dimensions - minus the end pieces which I intentionally left long. Today it's time to begin cutting some of the joinery for this little bench. The first task was to cut a groove in the front rail and back half of the bench top that will receive the tenons from the side of the wagon vise block.

The grooves are 3/8" deep and 1/2" wide and must be centered in the stock. I decided to use my Whiteside 1/2" downcut spiral carbide router bit for these grooves. Normally I would do this operation on the table saw, but

The Milkman’s Workbench Build – Part 2

Today I started out by checking the squareness and moisture content of the roughly milled parts for the workbenches. None of them had moved that I could perceive. The moisture content had dropped about 1% since I brought the stock into the shop. At 9% I shouldn't have any issues with unexpected wood movement.

I re-jointed all the parts and then started planing all the stock down to the specified 1 5/8". As I was preparing to rip the parts to width I noticed

The Milkman’s Workbench Build – Part 1

In the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking there is an article by Chris Schwarz titled "The Milkman's Workbench". Chris approached me about possibly making one of these benches for someone in need and I gladly accepted. After I started planning for the build in earnest I decided that I might as well build two of these at the same time.

Fifth Anniversary Shop Tour

It's been five years since my shop building was completed. During that time the shop has undergone a lot of changes. Every woodworker I know likes to see someone else's shop. So I thought that this would be a good time to document the state of the shop and maybe provide you with some ideas to use in your own shops.