ecabinets work bench

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 10:49AM

we finaly got these finished up in december of last year, i never really post pictures of our jobs (no time) but i thougt i would show these off a little, most of the wood was stuff that people gave to us over the years, the legs are some old stair treads, the oak panels were base boards that we got somwhere, the light panels are sycamore,one of the tops is ash and the other is oak, and all the drawer boxes are some old crappy cherry that we couldent use for customers. all the frames are full mortise and tennon, most of the parts were macined on my thermwood. we even did the tops on the thermwood down to the dog holes and the cutouts for the vises. you can bet that the top is really flat and square because i even machined that on the thermwood.i dident even bother running them thru the wide belt sander. they are both about nine feet long and forty inches wide and weigh in at around 600 pounds. i am calling the design a \"shaker hibred\". needless to say they are a pleasure to work on and should be the only benches i will ever build.

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 10:51AM

here are some more images

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 11:06AM

Dude--Norm Abram (New Yankee Workshop) should be envious

I know I am.

I had a neighbor that cut down a sycamore recently and that was the wettest tree I hace ever seen. It was literally dripping from the heart wood.

That is a great bench Jeff!!!

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 11:23AM

thanks dan,

Brian Shannon · Post by **Brian Shannon** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 11:57AM

Jeff,

Those are beautifull! Much too nice to work on.

Mike Seisser · Post by **Mike Seisser** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 2:59PM

Wow! Nice workbenches!

I end up with a ton of cutoffs from trim jobs and am slowly stockpiling enough of the right profiles to retrim my house. And make my daughter a jewelry box. And my wife one too. And some camping cabinets. And my home workshop cabinets. Plus an entertainment center.........

It never ends, but I wouldn't know what to do if it ever did.

Mike

Tom Houser · Post by **Tom Houser** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 5:47PM

Wow absolutely beautiful. Reminds me of the benches I apprenticed on. Go ahead tell me you did the square corner mortise on a Thermwood.

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 6:03PM

no we rounded the tennons, we also cut the tennons on the thermwood. i had to flip them to get both sides. i have done my share of this kind of work by hand, but you cant beat sitting there and watching the thermwood do it for you. we are in the process of purchasing the thermwood mortise and tennon machine so we can automate this process for our face frames and other projects.

Tom Houser · Post by **Tom Houser** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 6:13PM

Jeff I would appreciate it if you would update on the M&T machine. Everything here is M&T which is one of the things that sets me apart (if Dan's listening it's not just the lacquer) and that helps in the bottom line.

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Fri, Jul 28 2006, 6:20PM

tom what what would you like to know?

Kerry Fullington · Post by **Kerry Fullington** » Sat, Jul 29 2006, 12:43PM

Beautiful work benches Jeff.
Makes me a bit ashamed of my particle board benches with the sag in the middle.
Kerry

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Sat, Jul 29 2006, 2:45PM

it was hard to throw away my old one even though it was in sad shape, i had turned alot of product on it. here is a picture from 7 years ago, i made it in about fifteen minutes from a door i took off somones house and it lasted ten years, you can imagine what kind of shape it was in when i thru it out last year.

Raul Sandoval · Post by **Raul Sandoval** » Sat, Jul 29 2006, 3:56PM

WOW !!

Very nice benches, did you submit them to the people at Fine WoodWorking?

Who know, you may just win a classic vise or some thing like thatt.

God Bless.......
Raul S

Jeff Norris · Post by **Jeff Norris** » Mon, Jul 31 2006, 9:00AM

actually we had considered doing an article on these benches, my finish guy has done a number of articles for fine woodworking. they are not to hip on cnc machines so we did not approch them, they next time they are here i will see if they are interested.

Tom Houser · Post by **Tom Houser** » Mon, Jul 31 2006, 9:22AM

Jeff, do you currently do M&T for your all face frames. I use either a square chisel mortiser or the Maka and a SET for the tenons. Was just curious what the transition would be like going to Thermwoods M&T.