Workbench: a Pine Bench with a Laminated Maple Top and Vise (Boy Mechanic, 1913)

Cut four 2 x 4 in pine legs 23 in long with a tenon on each end 1/2 in thick, 3 1/2 in wide and 1 1/2 in long (Fig. 1, A and B). Cut four crosspieces of the same stock 20 in long, mortised in the narrow edge 1 1/4 in from each end, and slope their corners from the leg out to the middle. Fit each pair of legs to a pair of crosspieces to make the two supports.

Join the supports with two 2 x 4 in braces 24 in long, ends sawn square. Bore through each leg and 4 in into the centre of each brace end, bore an intersecting hole on the back of each brace for the nut, and draw each joint tight with a 3/8 x 6 in bolt (Fig. 2, J). A cross brace on the back stops rocking when planing.

Make the main top M of 14 maple strips 7/8 in thick, 2 in wide and 3 1/2 ft long, set on edge, each glued and screwed to the next, all with the grain one way so it planes smooth. Rabbet its back edge 1/2 in to take a back board N of the same length, 8 1/2 in wide and 7/8 in thick. Screw the top to the top crosspieces with long screws.

Nail a board E 10 in wide to the back of the bench and fasten a 2 1/2 in board F on top of it at right angles; both 7/8 in thick and 3 1/2 ft long. Bore holes or cut notches in F to hold tools.

Fasten an iron bench screw in a 2 x 6 in block 12 in long. Mortise two guide rails 7/8 x 1 1/2 in and 20 in long into the block; they slide in mortises in a 2 x 4 piece L bolted under the top, which holds the bench-screw nut between the two mortises. Nail L to a top crosspiece and to a 2 x 4 piece P bolted under the top at the end (Fig. 3).