Note: This bench sold before lunch yesterday. Thanks for everyone’s interest.
This week Will Myers, John and I are building a massive slab workbench in the Roubo style for an upcoming video (more on the video later). We’re just about done with the shoot and are offering the finished bench for sale at a very good price.
But here’s the non-negotiable catch: You have to come get it (we’re in the Cincinnati area). We cannot ship this bench.
The bench is a massive single-slab oak top – 5-1/2” thick and 9’ long – made from red oak harvested and cut in North Carolina by Lesley Caudle. The joinery is all traditional. The base is all drawbored mortise-and-tenon. The top is joined to the base with the classic through-tenon and sliding dovetail joint found on French benches. The bench is 34″ high.
The leg vise features a Benchcrafted classic vise screw with a Crisscross mechanism. The planing stop is handmade by blacksmith Peter Ross. The holdfast is from Crucible Tool. The bench is finished with boiled linseed oil.
Right now the bench components are still a little above equilibrium moisture content for the Midwest. Some bits are 12 percent; some of the thick bits are at 16 percent. But the bench will dry quickly in the next few months if stored indoors. Like all slab workbenches, you’ll need to flatten the top once it settles down. But Will and I think this slab is really mild – it was dead flat when we started with no twist.
The price is $3,000, cash or check. It goes to the first person to say: I’ll take it and I’ll come get it. If you want it, please send an email to help@lostartpress.com. If we don’t find a buyer, we’ll just throw the bench on the large pile of benches behind my shop.
— Christopher Schwarz
That would be an epic dumpster dive.
Got my copy of Mortise & Tenon #2……….It’s NOT a magazine…..IT’S a work of art…..Well done!!!!!!!
Width? 24″?
20″
3K?!? Dang. Just sent a kid off to college. A week ago you would have given me a real moral quandary.
Seriously, if I had not just blown my yearly budget on a Nova drill press, I’d be all over it like pigeon poop on a park statue.
Did you get the DVR? It’s pretty cool…
Yes, I did. And I’m as pleased as punch. For a skinflint like me, that is high praise. 🙂 I plan on buying one floor drill press in my lifetime, and this is it.
“…for sale at a very good price…”, is quite the understatement. That’s a great price. And like tsstahl I too have a kid going off to college so no joy. I’m kind of surprised you aren’t keeping it for the storefront. A 9ft bench would look right at home and come in very handy.
If it doesn’t sell, have Will bring it home.
I am heating my home this year with his bench top cut-offs. That thing would keep me warm for a week.
I’ll get back to you soon.
I don’t think they would let me take that as airline baggage unfortunately. Like a lot of things I’d like, it won’t fit in the mail either.
Will,
If it doesn’t sell, bring it back home. I’m using some of your bench top cut offs now.
9 FEET. That’s a freakin’ monster. Nice. Good luck to the person that takes it home. 🙂
Awhile back, I believe I heard/read you saying that you didn’t care for red oak. I don’t remember an explanation being offered at the time, but anyway, I’ve noticed you working with it lately and wonder if you’ve changed your mind about red oak and why… Or maybe I’m just misremembering everything. I do have CRS disease.
I recall reading Chris comparing it to a junk weed. But perhaps the deal is that a workbench and furniture simply have different requirements.
Hey Ryan,
I do think red oak is a pretty homely species and has been overused in commercial construction.
That said, any species is OK for building a workbench. And red oak is excellent because it is cheap, heavy and plentiful. Also, it is easy to dry.