Classic Roubo Inspired Workbench Build 2020

By Matthew Painter 2020

Note - These vice positions are normally selected for a left handed woodworker

The dimensions are adjusted:-

To the customer’s spec. (height, width, length)

To the materials locally available.

And to a degree what looks proportional to your eye.

With tight square joints, this bench is very solid and stable.
You have some freedom to tweak the dimensions here. The top is 90mm thick and could be thicker
or you could adjust the tool well position or remove it altogether. This customer wanted an open
channel to make it easier to sweep out wood shavings. These dimensions ended being slightly
different in the actual bench.
I personally would have put the right hand vice fully to the right but this bench will have two people
working together, a teacher and a student, so the closer orientation is by design. I used this vice to
plane down a long board and it worked really well being more centred.

The front slab is the surface where the majority of work will be done, hence why it is bigger.

If you like bench dogs, drill holes where you want.

A half blind dovetail adds a nice wow factor but it actually is the perfect joint for this position and
worth the effort. You could just as easily do a butt joint and extra bolts but it won’t be as strong.

The build video series here shows all the steps to build the workbench.

Here is a link to the Sketchup plans

Modify the plans or examine them more closely in 3D – using the Sketchup Application.

Vice Hardware from Carbatec