I've had the plans for Rex Kreuger's English Joiner's Bench for quite a while, but couldn't decide if I could afford the room in the back basement for another bench. After a recent project that had me banging chisels and shaking my first bench mercilessly (knocking everything off of it in the process), I decided I could make the space and set up a bench dedicated for my projects, leaving my other (excellent) bench for utility and storage. Between the plans and the instructional video, I was able to make this bench over the course of two months, getting a few hours in most weekends.
The trestles/legs were the first part - pieces of 2x10 with the 4x4 legs attached, and some 2x4 cross-braces. Cutting the half-laps was straight forward, but pretty slow cutting - mabye me, maybe my saws.
Finished trestles - these were very heavy and sturdy just on their own - good sign for the final product. All bits attached with screws and construction adhesive.
Next up, attaching the trestles to the front and back aprons. The apron facing out (me) is supposed to be pretty straight and flat, as it will eventually be used to clamp wood for working. I gave this one a cursory scrub, but honestly it seemed pretty flat to me.
The trestles attach to the aprons with carriage bolts - and by not using any adhesive between the trestles and any part of the bench top, it can be dismantled for moving.
Next up - ribs, horizontal braces, and lots of adhesive. This part went suprising well, except my very first notch - too wide. Filled it in with adhesive and some shims. Unfortunate, but all the other notches were a nice tight fit.
Almost there - two diagonal braces in the front for more stress transfers. These were futzy to get in. Not only another set of slow half-lap cuts, but getting a tight fit between the leg and the horizontal brace inside took a lot of test fit/trim.
Home stretch - I started second guessing what to do for the top, but decided to just get this finished and put the two plus a half 2x10 boards on and smooth it down. Nice deep countersinks to keep the plane blades safe!
Final product. Probably this could be done in a weekend or three, but I did find some of the work pretty tiring - the half-laps in particular. I was happy when I could get 4 - 6 hours on a weekend on it, and some weekends didn't get to it all. A lot of the long lumber I used got fairly twisted, made some of the fits difficult and sloppy. The apron facing me when I stand in front of it actually has a slight bow outwards. Closer to me in the middle, than the ends - maybe a quarter inch at most. Could be a problem when I add a leg vise to clamp boards to the apron, but I think I probably won't really notice it much.
