re: Final Pictures

Start to finish this project took around 3 months. Their were some challenges and changes along the way, some good some not. I will attempt to go over some. First the table top wood was rock hard maple, I would liked to have a thicker top, the final thickness was 3-1/2", I wanted it to be 4" and seeing it now I wish I had made it 5-1/2" the size of the legs. Next, I found a video on u-tube with a better designed joint for the legs that has even wedges for the top. This was the first time doing any joinery of this type and it turned out better than expected, but the size of one piece of the oak laminate threw the mortises for the sliding dovetail off a bit. I should have gone and got another piece of oak the same dimension. Next, was the way the general cabinetmakers Vise fit. I like that it is even with the top of bench. The metal is part of the bench top, whereas most people would have dropped it down a bit so the bench top was only showing, on mine it allowed me to trim it out in Purple Heart like all the other vises. Next, when doing the top glue up it was my first time laminating such a large devise. I should have only done one set of four boards then added to them instead of making the two sets and trying to space them together as they would not bend after glued. This ended up making some cracks in the glue lines bigger than I would like, but functionally they are alright. I added a pair of stretchers right under the table top to make sure they won’t get any bigger. In a true split top they are part of the design, I just added them after the fact. I had changed the sizes of the plane stop holes, this was a great improvement. To then trim them in small pieces of Purple Heart worked out well too. I wish I had enough oak for the stretchers to match the legs, but the birch was much larger dimensionally and makes it look more massive and adds weight. I had purchased handles for the vises, they had goofy knobs on the ends and I ended up building one anyway but could have just made them all myself for way less cost. I had originally planned to cap both ends off with boards using dovetailed joints. After doing some milling with my small saw and router I decided it was best to just bolt them on with lags and cap the holes with dowels, this worked out well but it’s not as decorative as some benches. I am very happy with the way all the vises and battens work, it is great to finally have a woodworking bench purpose built. As always, any questions I will try to answer as best I can. Thanks for following along.