Scandinavian Workbench BY BILL RAINFORD Modern hardware and techniques update this Tage Frid-inspired bench. 02 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING MAGAZINE 30_1702_PWM_FridBench.indd 30 11/29/16 9:59 AM candinavian- or Continental- “Take a piece of wood – plane, it’s well-suited for workbench building style workbenches are the vinyl sand, and oil it, and you will fi nd it and relatively plentiful in New England, SLP records of the woodworking a beautiful thing. The more you do where I live. Buy your wood well in world. These iconic benches have never to it from then on, the more chance advance so that you can bring it into left the scene. A few are classics and oth- that you will make it worse.” your shop, sticker it and allow it to ac- ers are the fl avor of the month. Some Tage Frid (1915-2004), climate to your shop for at least a week. benches in this style are masterworks Danish-born woodworking teacher, While the wood acclimates, gather and some are poor approximations of furniture maker and author all your hardware and vises, and note an archetypical form. The trick is fi nd- any changes you need to make to your ing the workbench that hits all the right joiner y or de sign to fi t your hardware. notes for how you work so you can go I was inspired by Frid’s bench – but I Once the wood is acclimated, plane, rip on to create your own opus. also listened to the criticisms. Some and buck the pieces close to their fi nal folks complained about the relatively sizes – but leave them a bit oversized What’s Old is New Again short length, which was designed for and again sticker them for a couple of Much as how Roubo and Nicholson a modest cabinetmaker in a classroom days. (If you have a moisture meter, benches have re-surfaced in recent setting, and the fact that larger folks you can monitor the wood as it reaches years and have their merits – they were aggressively planing could potentially equilibrium.) products of their times, the needs of the move the middle-weight bench around I built the bench in three major as- craftsman and the availability of wood if it wasn’t bolted to the fl oor. Others semblies: the benchtop, the trestle legs and hardware – so too has the Scandi- suggested that the joinery for the tail and the vises. navian style of workbench, most popu- vise was too complex, and some noted lar in the late 19th and 20th centuries. t hat t he hardware Fr id used is no longer Benchtop & Square Dogs This newer style of bench made use of available. I started with the large slab that makes a changing tool landscape and scarcity To address some of those issues, up the majority of the top surface (it of wood, and often required a higher I made several design modifi cations fi nishes at 13⁄4" x 121⁄4" x 741⁄2"). You’ll level of skill and/or mechanization to and incorporated some new hardware want at least two 8/4 boards for this. produce. All of those forces are still to build a bench that I am very happy If you can’t fi nd wide clear stock, you present in our modern world, where with. I have, however, used the same or can use three narrower boards to make we want to conserve natural resources, similar part names, listed in the same up the blank. Make sure that the grain mix old and new techniques and tool- order, as Frid did in his book (in case is oriented in the same direction for ing and build something that is both you wish to view them side by side). handplaning during the fi nal fl attening. functional and aesthetically pleasing. Here are the highlights of my revised Joint the boards, thickness plane When Tage Frid wrote about work- bench: them to 1⁄32" heavy, then rip a little benches in the third volume of his ■ It is almost 2' longer t han t he or igi- wider than needed. I used my jointer iconic “Tage Frid Teaches Woodwork- nal, coming in at about 7' long. ing” (Taunton) he described a state of ■ It is a few inches wider (making it time (1948) wherein a good workbench perfect for my armspan). could not be obtained in this country. ■ I incorporated modern hardware His solution was to design and build a – a Dieter Schmid shoulder and tail bench similar to the one he was trained vise (Lie-Nielsen Toolworks has simlar on. Almost 70 years later, things are not vises), square metal bench dogs, the much better on t he ret ail front, w it h t he Veritas Bench Bolt Kit, slotted washers majority of mass-produced benches and more. lacking in heft, design and quality. ■ The traditional joinery – dove- Thankfully we’ve had a resurgence in tailed vises and skirt board, wedged traditional woodworking and have a tenons, etc – cut by hand. much wider variety of tools, hardware ■ I beefed up the stretchers to add ad- and literature, making today one of the ditional weight, and decided on larger best times to be a woodworker since shoulders to further stiffen the trestle World War II. legs to resist racking. (The thicker stretchers also allow me to conceal the Design Considerations bench bolts for a cleaner look.) Slightly off. With a simple jig, you can rout My formal training at the North Bennet then repeat for a matching row of dog holes angled at 4°, then square the corners with a Street School was on a German work- Supplies & Raw Materials chisel. My holes are 13⁄16" from side to side at bench in a classroom setting, so when it I took my time to select nice, dense, the top, and 7⁄8" front to back – but measure came time to build my own workbench, clear and straight-grained hard maple; yours off your dogs. LEAD PHOTO BY DOUGLAS LEVY (@DOUGLEVY); DOG HOLE JIG PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMEEL ABRAHAM; ALL OTHER STEP PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR; ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAN PESSELL FROM THE AUTHOR’S MODEL popularwoodworking.com ■ 03 30_1702_PWM_FridBench.indd 31 11/29/16 9:59 AM plane to further true up the edge(s) that The 8/4 piece is oriented so it will be engage the wood you’re holding and w ill be glued up. At almost 2" t hick, t he in the inside of the joint and receive less fi nicky than round ones. (If you edges provide plenty of glue surface, the groove; the 5/4 piece makes up the prefer round dogs, you can always add but I used some biscuits to aid in lining exposed face of the piece. Make sure a few well-placed 3⁄4" round holes to up the pieces and reinforce the joint. the grain is going in the same direc- your bench for them and for holdfasts.) Once the glue dries, cut the slab to tion for ease of planing and try to pick I chose 8/4 stock and used a shop- its fi nal length, making sure to leave clean, clear grain – this will show in made template and plunge router to suffi cient length for the tenons for the the fi nished bench. rout the square holes, which are angled end caps. I’ve worked on benches with square 4° to the right off vertical. Note: The For the end caps and left vise (the dogs, round dogs or a mixture of both. slot s in the tail v ise lean 4° to the left – stationary block through which the vise I prefer square bench dogs because the opposite direction to those on the screw rides), I laminated an 8/4 and a they’re in my opinion stronger, taller, benchtop. Cut these two runs from 5/4 board to get the required thickness. have more surface area on the face to the same board (with plenty of waste 23⁄4" 23⁄4" 1" 741⁄2" 51∕2" 163⁄8" 121⁄4" 321⁄2" 27⁄8" 17⁄8" 7 5⁄8" 22 ⁄8" 8" 23⁄4" 23⁄4" 23⁄4" 555⁄8" 20" PLAN 82" 9" 4" 351⁄8" 61⁄2" 16" 443⁄8" 3 7 2 ⁄4" 1 ⁄8" ELEVATION 04 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING MAGAZINE 30_1702_PWM_FridBench.indd 32 11/29/16 9:59 AM Scandinavian Bench NO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS T W L ❏ 1 Benchtop 13⁄4 123⁄4 741⁄2 Hard maple 5⁄8" tenon both ends ❏ 1 Cap piece 5⁄8 4 555⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Left doghole strip 17⁄8 4 555⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Left end cap 3⁄4 23⁄4 321⁄2 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right end cap 4 23⁄4 163⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Back apron 1 4 771⁄2 Hard maple ❏ 1 Tool tray 1⁄2 7 731⁄2 Maple ply ❏ 2 Tool tray ramps 13⁄4 13⁄4 51⁄2 Hard maple ❏ 2 Stretchers 11⁄4 61⁄2 443⁄8 Hard maple 3⁄8" tenon both ends ❏ 5 *Legs 17⁄8 27⁄8 311⁄4 Hard maple 13⁄4" tenon both ends ❏ 2 Base right 13⁄4 23⁄4 213⁄4 Hard maple ❏ 2 Base left 13⁄4 23⁄4 321⁄2 Hard maple ❏ 4 Foot pads 3⁄8 23⁄4 6 Hard maple ❏ 2 Filler blocks 13⁄4 21⁄4 181⁄4 Hard maple 1⁄2" x 6" notch one end ❏ 1 Left vise fi ller block 13⁄4 73⁄8 83⁄4 Hard maple 3⁄8" tenon both ends & left side ❏ 1 Left vise 23⁄4 4 20 Hard maple ❏ 1 Left vise jaw 1 5 16 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right doghole strip 17⁄8 4 227⁄8 Hard maple Cut at same time as top strip; reverse jig ❏ 1 Right vise cap 5⁄8 4 227⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right vise long jaw 23⁄4 4 12 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right vise short jaw 23⁄4 4 53⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right vise large fi ller 15⁄32 31⁄8 171⁄4 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right vise top fi ller 7⁄8 27⁄8 187⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right vise small fi ller 7⁄8 31⁄8 23⁄8 Hard maple ❏ 1 Right vise bench fi ller 21⁄4 57⁄8 211⁄2 Hard maple L-shape; can make from 2 pieces *Four legs get 1"-wide x 5"-long stretcher mortises centered across width, 113⁄8" from top shoulder 1 147⁄8" 11 ⁄4" 4" 13⁄4" 311⁄4" 7 7 13" 7 ⁄8"2⁄8" 13⁄4" 1 3 32 ⁄2" 21 ⁄4" 3⁄8" LEFT PROFILE RIGHT PROFILE; END VISE REMOVED popularwoodworking.com ■ 05 30_1702_PWM_FridBench.indd 33 11/29/16 9:59 AM Slice it clean.