Fine woodworking s roubo bench with bench crafted vises plan fine woodworking project plans. Christopher schwarz, in his abovementioned books popularized this massive and sturdy workbench. Ever since i first got a glimpse of roubos books, with their exquisite oversized engravings of woodworking tools, benches and practices, i was. If you use roughsawn planks with the live, or forest, edge intact, or a species of wood with a lot of sapwood like oak, for instance, then the volume of wood needed can be significantly higher. This simple workbench plan from fine woodworking requires only a circular saw and drill along with easytofind materials from your local lumberyard. Fine woodworkings roubo bench with bench crafted vises plan fine woodworking project plans book supplement illustrated, october 11, 2012. This site features a gallery of his work and biographical information. Another of roubos legacies still used today is a design for a workbench, which. Roubo bench with benchcrafted vises printed plan buy now. Roubo on furniture is filled with insights into working wood and building furniture that are difficult or impossible to find in both old and modern woodworking books. One of the most important early books on woodworking has been indecipherable to everyone who cannot read 18thcentury french. With a clever arrangement of our planing stop, roubo s does foot and the crucible holdfast, youre able to mimic the function of bench dogs and a tail vise, albeit in a more rudimentary manner. Roubo bookstand eduardo acosta highland woodworking.
Home chris schwarz blog expanded drawings for the roubo bench. Vintage antique wood table legs workbench, kitchen island, desk, industrial old. Lucky for all of us, one of the bestlooking workbench designs is also the simplest to build and most useful, no matter if you have a love affair with your plunge router or your router plane. Enjoy the latest content from your local pbs station.
Luckily theres a write up of roys roubo bench in his new book the woodwrights guide. The main difference between my bench and franks is the front vise. If youve never built your own woodworking bench, but want to, i recommend this book. It excels at holding work in the three most necessary positions. Roubo workbench hardware and supplies highland woodworking. Roubo s folding bookstand by eduardo acosta cordoba, argentina click on any picture to see a larger version. Read about the construction of the roubo workbench, from andre j. Fine woodworkings roubo bench with bench crafted vises plan. This workbench plan includes a supplies list, blueprint, and even an instructional video. The bench features our classic leg vise, planing stop and crucible holdfast as workholding devices. As a reader of roubo myself i find the theme presented throughout roubo on furniture making is one of unity, unifying what i know about the character of wood, what i know about the processes of fashioning wood into pieces for functional performance, and unity of the eye, heart and soul in seeking beauty as the end result of bench work.
And it has a single piece of wood for its top something that george nakashima would love if it had a bit of bark on it. After the auction i bought workbenches by chris schwarz and was planning on building the andre roubo bench he built in the book. Woodworking books, plans and cds allow you to study the methods of woodworking experts to reduce the learning curve on woodworking projects and save valuable time in the workshop. Likewise, a longer version of the bench can be made by simply increasing the length of the top. The idea of using southern yellow pine to construct the bench came from chris schwarzs book workbenches. Roubo wrote several highly influential books on woodworking. Andre jacob roubo 17391791 was a french carpenter, cabinetmaker and author. Building a roubo work bench out of southern yellow pine. Antique carpenters workbench table kitchen island tv console server. Roubo worbench lumber package bell forest products. Please submit links to howto pages and videos, pictures of beautiful and amazing pieces you made for us to admire, or help you finish. This workbench is based on a design by the 18th century french carpenter and author andre jacob roubo. The bench is made of eastern white maple with walnut accents, garry oak legs and red oak vises.
Hes a handtool enthusiast though he uses power tools, too. Fine woodworking s roubo bench with bench crafted vises plan fine woodworking project plans by jeff miller oct 11, 2012. The return of roubo by christopher schwarz an 18thcentury french workbench is quite. The bench can be built shorter by simply decreasing the length of the legs. Many online tutorials have been created for building the roubo workbench, but here are two that are pretty good. This is a feature found on many modern work benches. This nifty drawing was prepared by louis bois, a reader, mechanical draughtsman and allaround interesting fellow. I built this split top roubo style woodworking bench out of affordable lumber from the home center. Fine woodworking s roubo bench with bench crafted vises plan fine woodworking project plans miller, jeff on. This massive hybrid bench part french roubo, part german holtzapffel, and part english nicholson gives you the ultimate in work holding abilities. In my case, im going to make a rouboinspired bench, so i could have stopped.
The split top roubo is constructed with massive components. I saw the roubo s folding bookstand rfb for the first time at a workshop with roy underhill in april 2002. Use my list to save your favorite shows and videos for later. Heres the nearly completed shot of the handmade roubo workbench that will be. A roubo bookstand is made from a single piece of wood. For the last two years ive been editing a book called woodworking in estonia, which is about the preindustrial woodworking cultural heritage of a small northern european nation. After almost two years of dreaming about building a workbench for woodworking, and sitting on a cache of wood for the project for nearly a year, were building a roubo workbench.
For the last month, ive been revising and expanding my first book. Roubo was born and died in paris, and was the son and grandson of master cabinetmakers. Then a couple of months ago while attending woodworking in america conference in berea ky, i saw roy underhills version of the roubo bench and fell in love with it. Workbench backlash woodworking bench, easy woodworking. The glide leg vise excells at working the edges of boards. Use a massive single plank for the top, tree trunks for legs and all the traditional. The legs are 312 thick by 538 wide with the remaining base elements 3 thick and 4 thick. Searching the internet for roubo bookstand will keep you busy for many hours. To build a roubo workbench you will need between 0,35 to 0,4 of a cubic meter of good quality, clear hardwood dimension lumber. Publisher of woodworking books and videos specializing in hand tool techniques. A craftsmans guide to workbenches for every type of woodworking landis, scott on. Roubo bookstand, eduardo acosta free woodworking tips available online at highland woodworking. You see, the original bench published in plate 11 of lart du menuisier shows a bench that has beautiful exposed joinery throughdovetails and throughtenons in the top. Find out more and purchase with all the precision possible.
This was the first slabtop workbench i built, and i made it entirely by hand save for one long rip when i defaulted to the band saw because i thought i might pass out. In my case, im going to make a rouboinspired bench, so i could have. I have a small shop and plan to build a roubo split top bench. This video is an overview of the entire process of building a roubo workbench.
Seasoned, welldried wood is good, but not for all things. This years woodworking challenge given by my woodworking club was to build out side of the box. The design is actually much older than andre roubo he wrote in the 1770s, it is a traditional form for supporting the family quran. Roubo wrote several highly influential books on woodworking, an achievement which was especially notable given his relatively poor background and selftaught methods. The bench, although lighter than our fullyoutfitted split top roubo. This package includes enough lumber approximately 220 board feet to build the ultimate heirloom workbench. Revising my first book, workbenches popular woodworking. Chris is the former editor of popular woodworking magazine. The best workbenches we have more than two dozen articles and videos about workbenches, including full project plans. Here is a close up walk through of my woodworking bench and all its features. Woodworking workbench build part 1 the base youtube. Reading a woodworking book is the easiest and least expensive way to learn from woodworking.
The perfect woodworking workbench how to build the. The deconstruction of bench destruction, 6 months later. Please note that we only provide the wood needed to build the project visit this link to purchase detailed project videos and plans. Andre roubo s landmark fivevolume lart du menuisier is difficult to find reprints are available mostly in europe and at tools for working wood and even harder to actually use. Download a free chapter from lon schleinings workbench book 8 tips to make your bench work harder. If you wish to see the steps in greater detail, follow the link below to the first video of the nine part series. Below you will find a solidworks live model for the roubo style workbench i built for the autumn 2005 issue. Book depository books with free delivery worldwide. He continues to blog and publish woodworking books at lost art press. The best digital woodworking journal in the craft a twicemonthly, multimedia format with video and articles embedded right on the pages. The personal site of christopher schwarz, a woodworker, writer and publisher at lost art press.
This style of bench is named after andre jacob roubo, a french woodworker who lived during the 18th century and wrote a massive three volume series on the subject of working wood called lart du menuisier the art of the joiner. Fine woodworkings roubo bench with bench crafted vises. And it has a single piece of wood for its top some thing that george nakashima would love if it had a bit of bark on it. The split top roubo is widely used by professional furnituremakers, teachers and schools, as well as amateur woodworkers. A while back i stumbled on to a set of plans to build the roubo book stand. A craftsmans guide to workbenches for every type of woodworking. Lately there have been discussions about workbench designs on forums and. Unlike many woodworking writers of the 18th century roubo was a traditionally trained and practicing joiner. I looked at it, and thought that it would be interesting to do some day. Having followed his suggestions as to how a woodworking bench couldshould function, i built the roubo bench and have found a whole new level of enjoyment in woodworking. Norman reid is a woodworker, writer, and woodworking instructor living in the blue ridge mountains with his wife, a woodshop full of power and hand tools and four cats who think they are cabinetmakers assistants. Ive always wanted to build a roubo workbench by the book. The benchcrafted tail vise and leg vise were not so affordable but definitely worth the. Building the end all be all workbench antique woodworking.