…begins with a single cut.  In this case, some 8/4 hard maple. The main bench should be about 9″ deep (not including front vise chops) and 48″ long.  For comparison, my current workbench, a Milkman’s Workbench, has a main bench 6.5″ deep and 30″ long.

The Nobex Champion 180 miter saw makes rather quick work of it.

While it will clamp onto my dining table with angle iron just like the Milkman’s Workbench, instead of wooden screws the new bench will have a beefy moxon-style front vise using two veneer press screws that have been kicking around the workshop for a while.  I’ll also re-purpose the Veritas inset vise from the planing slab to avoid having to make a carriage vise.

The action on these screws  is surprisingly smooth.

One other serious deviation from the Milkman’s Workbench is that no part of the new bench besides the front vice chops will overhang the table.  This should increase the chopping surface significantly.  A major flaw of the Milkman’s Workbench is the unsupported area under the dog holes (which can be springy) and I intend to fix that flaw this time around.

I intend the front vise to have at least 24″ between the screws, and I think it makes sense to run two sets of dog holes down the length of the workbench so I can use a Veritas planing stop (in both tail vise and front vise configurations).

There isn’t much twist in the boards (less than 1/8″ over the 48″), so I’m hopeful the final thickness will be at least 1.5″ (and most likely 1 5/8″) when planed to final thickness.  Time to sharpen up!

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