An Anarchist Workbench

Inspired by the book Anarchists Workbench by Christopher Schwarz
You can download the excellent book as a free pdf from his website.

• Build from leftover pieces of Douglas Fir and some Spruce
• LxWxH 175x62x90 cm
• Weight aprox. 90 kg
• Repurposed inherited very old Beech legvise with a steel and cast iron spindle
• 19 mm dogholes and Gramercy holdfasts
• Pop up mortised planing stop (ebay)
• Glued with aprox. 2.3 kg PVA type 3

Download CAD drawing: workbench.pdf

Construction

Build alsmost exclusivly with handtools. Just used an electric drill and drillpress for the holes, a circular saw for sawing off the benchtop ends and ripping the lumber lengthwise and a electric sander.

• Stanley nr 4 and 5
• Gyokucho Ryoba japanese pull saw

Preparing Stock

Glued and doweled pieces together for the benchtop.

Everything handplaned straigth, flat and true.

Replacing broken Stanley Nr 5 Handle

Made new handles from Meranti hardwood, the plastic ones cracked.

Benchtop glue up

Each beam connected to the next with 5 throughhole 12mm Beech dowels.
First the centre 3 beams. Then adding a beam on both sides at a time.
So 4 glue ups. Clamping with F-clamps, ratchet straps and construction screws later replaced by dowels.
Glued with PVA type 3.

Flatten benchtop with handplanes

Legs and stretchers

Benchtop mortise

Assembly

All mortise and tenon joints glued with PVA and drawbored with 12mm Beech dowels.
My lovely partner helped with glueing and assembly because i wanted to do it quickly before the glue started curing.

Legvise

Resawed and planed old beech legvise.
Jaw lined with leather, glued with contact cement.
Handle made of Ash broomstick. Holesawed beech knobs and sanded them on the drillpress.

Finishing

Some gaps en tears filled with epoxy.

Finished with homemade Danish Oil.
2 Coats applied with cotton rags.
My partner helped with the finishing.

1/3 Boiled linseed oil
1/3 Spar varnish (bootlak)
1/3 White spirit (terpentine)

Accesories

Clamps and benchdogs, 19mm dogholes, Gramercy holdfasts

Pop up morticed planing stop from Ebay.