You can now purchase our latest video “Roubo Workbench: By Hand & Power” for $35 through our online store. The 4:19-long video can be streamed or downloaded and played on nearly any device – we offer the video without any DRM or copy protection.
The video is an in-depth look at how to build a massive French workbench using giant slabs of wood, but without enormous machinery. Will Myers and I walk you through all the construction steps and show a variety of ways to perform every operation, from a pure hand-tool method to one that uses the latest hand-held power tools.
Along the way, Will and I debate the fine points of construction – we don’t always agree – and discuss the pros and cons of everything from wide benchtops to wet timbers to tail vises.
Oh, and I might add that the video is beautiful. Shot using a three-camera setup at F+W Media and directed by our own John Hoffman, this presentation is the best we could do without hiring Orson Wells.
In addition to the 4:19-long video, we also include a three-page pdf containing a construction drawing of the bench, a cutting list and a list of the suppliers mentioned in the video. You’ll also receive a sheet of timecodes that will allow you to skip easily to individual chapters.
This video is the start of a series of instructional videos from Lost Art Press and directed by John. Next up: Peter Galbert on turning.
— Christopher Schwarz
Hi Christopher.
Do you know the process to build the EAMES PLYWOOD LOUNGE CHAIR?
Can you build that?
Wow, turning from Pete G.? Holy crap I’m excited. I better get cracking on the spring pole lathe build so it is ready when that video releases.
Hmm, streaming seems to work. I’m not sure how to download it. Is there a magic button I’m missing somewhere?
Click on the “Vimeo” button on the lower right of the video screen. That will take you to Vimeo, which is hosting the video.
Scroll down a tad and you will see a button to download it.
Hope this helps.
Ah. The Vimeo link isn’t clickable for me in the embedded player on Safari on my Mac, nor my iPad. I’ll play with it tomorrow. Thanks! This was an immediate buy for me. Looking forward to the Peter Galbert video as well.
The Vimeo link isn’t working for me either. Using Firefox on Mac, if that helps.
We don’t know why the link isn’t working.
We’re working on it and will report back soon!
Sorry!
We fixed it. See above!
I’m not having any luck with the Vimeo button in Firefox or Safari either (although I’m sure there is a simple workaround – I just can’t find it yet…).
Really looking forward to spending time with this video, a Roubo bench build has been near the top of my project list for quite a while now!
Same for me Kieran. Im yet to try any other browsers than Safari, but im sure theres and easy workaround/fix.
Still hoping to build a Roubo for myself too!
Ryan
WellEs
Will you be offering this and future releases in DVD format?
He covered this in the prior blog post on this coming I think. I thought he said only streaming and downloading.
This is a good deal. The wispering wood guy sells project downloads for 3x’s the price on his “guild” site. Hope your video has an intermission… 4 1/2 hrs is pretty long.
Hi all – you can now download the video. If you go to the streaming page on the LAP site, you’ll see two links above the screen.
1. The top one is for the pdf materials
2. The bottom one allows you to download the entire video.
Sorry for the mix up on our part.
I would suggest taking that down and linking to the vimeo if you pay for your shopify bandwidth!
So which one of you is the “Third Man” and will be faking their own death in the next shop video?
Great video! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. Now to find a slab for a bench top…
This video has been the best $35 I’ve spent on woodworking in a long time. What a fantastic resource! Not only is it informative, but it’s made me crack up laughing multiple times. Even if you’ve built a bench before, I think there’s something to learn by watching. I’ve been using time that I could spend *in* the shop watching this video.
My only suggestion, if you could, would be to turn up Will’s mic a bit. He shares so much wisdom, but his volume is a bit too low compared to Chris’s voice.
Thank you for making this. Fantastic stuff!
Really good video and very helpful. It has been interesting talking to local (in central Texas) sawyers in trying to source a slab top. They keep trying to talk me out of buying one. I’m sure they either think I am crazy or ignorant. Now I may be both crazy and ignorant but their determination not to sell me wood is becoming quite annoying.
Anyway, Chris, thanks for another great video.
Mike
Thanks Mike!
In the cut list in the pdf it shows the stretchers being 1.5″ thick. Is that right? Seems a little thin. Just wanted to confirm.
That’s what we used. Feel free to make them thicker.
So any pointers as to slabbing dimensions for the parts? I’m generous being given a large SYP log and want to have it milled with the Roubo in mind. Especially the legs and stretchers after watching the video. They were very clean. Wonderful video. But I second the sound normalization request.
I have one of Lesley Claude’s kits and they come in 5 pieces. The top is 96 x ~20 x ~5.75. For the legs there are two 96 x ~5.75 x ~3.75. That leaves plenty of room to pick four good sections. You can easily get six legs out of those lengths. The stretchers are two 96 x ~2.25 x ~4.5. The chop comes from the same dimension as the legs but was a 55″ piece.
Hope that helps!
Ok that’s six pieces.