Recently, an old friend from school (he is a carpenter) gave me a red beech board for free ("These days they all want oak" he said). Planned to make a Roman Bench out of it with round legs. Luckily, my cousin is a blacksmith so holdfasts are there too. Your video now shows me how to pull things together. Excellent resource. Cheers Peter!
I think beach would be a good choice. And I suspect old fasts made by a blacksmith from steel would be better than the ones you buy online. I’ve had a lot of them break. Good luck
Best workbench on youtube. Finally being able to settle into my space. I am going to build your version to get started. Brilliant and beautiful. Thank you. I like your Volcom shirt.
Thanks for sharing. I will stop to use a Workshop and need a way to fit it all at Home... And here are lots of ideas to build a takedown bench with lots of Features. Greatz from Germany and have a nice Day opo
Wow, you've really presented some invaluable ideas to this brand new woodworker. I'm just about done building my first Roman-style workbench, based on Rex Krueger's video. I've glued and screwed nine 6' 2x4s together and I'll be drilling the leg holes tomorrow. My only contribution to the design was to add a series of slots to the underside of each second board in from the outside, to be used as purchase points for c-and f-clamps should I need to clamp boards to the outsides. I first drilled them with the same spade I'll be using for the legs, then sawed out the waste. I hope my description makes sense. Cheers, I'm off to watch some of your other videos, and thanks for the tips!
Oh! This reply is so old and I never replied. Hope it worked out. Good idea about accommodating clamps. People forget that they can be very handy and do jobs that a vice will not.
About the face vise at the end: some people say there is a max thickness for holdfasts to hold, but it doesn't seem to be a problem here. Is it that it actually works despite the thickness or is there some sort of gimmick?
C clamp history: There is archeological evidence of screw-type mobile clamps dating from around 362 AD (or CE if you insist) but the first modern use comes from carriage makers in the 1600’s. So I guess you can claim that c clamps are “traditional “. Great video and ingenious idea resurrecting a Roman workbench (knee high) with combined elements of traditional workbenches and saw bench plus great work holders! I am modifying a bench that was built by my wife’s grandfather into a saw bench and I will incorporate some of your innovations.
I didn't know they were so old. What were they using--bronze? Wrought iron? I'm not actually into traditional tech for it's own sake, btw--I'll use anything! The clamps I reach for most often are actually the Jorgensen hand screws. I love those things. Use them all the time on the bench, most often by using one to clamp down another that can serve as a vice. Be sure to post a picture of what you come up with!
Really great ideas and explanation of them. If you can, try and adjust your audio recording so even more people can benefit from your wisdom experiences! Looks like you have a lot to share. thanks so much!
Thanks for posting this video. Very interesting. I like the heavy under beam idea. The design has a lot of lag bolts holding it together. How is that holding up over time? You find that you need to tighten or replace the bolts very often?
Surprisingly, no problem at all, especially as it's in shop where humidity is not at all constant throughout the year. As I'm sure you know, people more often use rods that run across the full width with threads on each end. But I had a ton of those long thin lags left over from a long ago project and I wanted to use them up. I did a 30x30 platform of the same height and used rods. It's also extremely robust as I use it for heavy stone. But I've never had to tighten up either one. Go figger. BTW, there was an earlier video you might likeru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_Vc9D0WAX7o.html and another one about a shave-horse attachment.
Hello. Actually, I think I'd make it a little higher if I were doing it again. But a lot of people do make them pretty short. Me, I'm not a real Roman.
I use Japanese saws about half the time, usually for lighter work. If I just want to muscle through something, I prefer a plain old Western style saw. The bench is a big advantage for that because the work is below you. It's fine for the Japanese saw too, but not especially an advantage for me. But I find it very convenient to clamp one of those wooden boxes to it and work on that. I've never used Japanese planes, but I know they traditionally sit or kneel for a lot of work, so I'd think the bench would be pretty good for that. Similar position but not on the floor. So far, for me, the big advantage is that it does so many things while being small and portable, which is ideal for a tiny workplace like mine. If you try a version of this with Japanese tools I'd be curious how it works out.
Very though provoking - the most refined Roman Bench I've seen. Do you ever miss a more conventional bench in your work? And if so, what are the tasks that this bench struggles to accommodate?
Actually, for my purposes, the regular, boring, European style bench is essential. I use the low one for a lot of cutting, planing, etc., but mostly for carving. And I use conventional clamps with it a lot. The traditional tricks are handy for woodworking, but a lot of what I do is mounting platforms on it for attaching a carving vice, etc. So far, 80% has been me straddling it and chipping away at some carving held in the vice.
@@petercoates2882 Thanks. I'm making small pieces of cabinetmaking, and in my small workspace it's tempting to go for one of these little benches. But it may be a step too far - I'll have to think it through. If I do end up building a Nicholson-style English workbench I may steal your idea of leaving a gap between the top and the skirt so I can use conventional C and F clamps. I think that this is your invention, and it looks interesting!
@@tullochgorum6323 Honestly, if I had to have just one, it would be the 36" high one. The low benches are at their best if you're using all manual tools. The thing my tall bench doesn't have is the ability to use hold-fasts, because only the front edge is full thickness. The rest isn't thick enough to use them. If you're making one, that's a key feature (at least for me.)
@@petercoates2882 I'm 100% with you on the usefulness of hold-fasts. I was trained at high-school in the '60s in an old-school shop and that's how we worked. If I go for the higher bench, I'm planning a Nicholson-style viceless design with a skirt and dog holes covering the top, sides and legs. Thanks to RU-vid I've found quick and elegant approaches to holding pretty much any kind of work on this type of bench - and it's a lot cheaper than buying a fancy vice!
Fantastic I want one for my new workshop I will be putting together in the near future!! I just signed the deed yesterday!! ;) Are there any plans available!?! Cheers!
Question for you: how would I hold a 1/2" thick piece of oak thats about 4"x4" high and long without a vice, while it stands on edge? I need to shave it with a spokeshave, possibly drawknife, and then plane the edge.
Did you build your shave horse attachment from a set of plans or did you design yourself? Either way, would you share shave horse plans if you have them?
Hi Frank. Yes, I designed it. I have no plans, but I'll take some pictures for you and make them available. Once you see how it works, it will be obvious. It works great but it could have been much more lightly built and still work!
drive.google.com/file/d/14dQIidz0MqxI0UM1tqfegHlMuY_mdJZ1/view?usp=drive_link Thanks. All the measurements are in this PDF file. The measurements in the other direction are more important, btw. Height and length can be anything, but the width actually matters because it assumes that standard dimension lumber will add up a certain way.
Ya Johnson pastes wax, an American staple, but the can's past it time! The can said easy to open lid? BS! If you use often, melt it down and put into a low wide mouth jar with a screw lid, then it will be convenient!
