Well, I didn’t publish many of the steps on this project because I just really got into the construction and didn’t want to lose my rhythm. Anyway, I took some pictures along the way and here is a dump of them all. They’re actually ordered backwards, but you get the idea. The last two involved laminating the top. The next four were routing the dog strip and gluing the top up into one big slab. A preliminary flattening in the next two. A close up of the track the wagon vise will ride in, a couple of the completed base and the last (or actually first) is of the base and top attached.
A few construction notes. I pretty much built this after the Roubo in Chris Schwarz’s Workbenches book which I bought. I think he is right on with that book and I learned a lot by reading it and then in constructing this bench. The only difference in mine and the one in Chris’s book is the tenon pegs in the top and in the wagon vise. I drawbored the pegs in the legs and stretcher joints, but I basically didn’t want to drawbore the pegs in the top in case I every want to drill them out and remove it. So what I did was to pull the base down with clamps really tight and then drill and install hardwood pegs. I may be a rookie here and should’ve drawbored the pegs, but it is rock solid and I’m happy with it right now. The other thing is the dog strip. I made a router template and routed square dog holes in the dog strip every 4 inches. I also routed grooves for the wagon vise block to ride in which should give me about 9 inches between the end of the dog strip and the block when it is fully opened.
I still have several things to do…buy some hard maple to construct an end cap for the wagon vise, a leg vise chop as well a sliding deadman. I’m also planing to build a second vise at some point that will slide along the track that the deadman slides in. I have to decide on some vise screws…whether I want to go with regular metal screws, buy some of the big wooden screws or buy a Beall woodthreader and make my own. I also have to construct a planing stop and purchase some holdfasts along with some other odds and ends.
With that being said, I think the first thing I’m gonna do is build some furniture. That’s right, I’m gonna actually slap a little finish on this puppy and drive it around naked. I’m really exciting about the clamping possibilities on this monster and I want to try it out in its current state before I make any decisions on vise screws and such. Hopefully that will give me more insight on some of the choices I need to make. So, I’ll let you know in a few days how it’s going, but until then I’ll be out in the shop. 
