The cover story is about my new workbench, a blend of historic designs that is an
ideal work holding solution for hand and power tool woodworkers alike. I’ve written
about it here on the blog as I designed it,
and during
construction. I’m happy with it-it’s nice and solid and will hold just about any
piece of work for any task.
I designed the bench using Google SketchUp,
a 3-D modeling program that I’ve been using for the last year or so. The nice thing
about using SketchUp is it’s similarity to building something, without the dust and
the noise. You can put things together, take them back apart, and quickly make changes
or see what different variations will look like. My upcoming book features a lengthy
section on using the program for designing cabinets and furniture, and I’ll be teaching
a course or two on using it effectively next year. The price is also right-it’s available
as a free download by clicking here.
These two images were taken from my SketchUp model of the bench. If you have SketchUp
on your computer, you can download the Sketchup model of the workbench and take a
closer look from any angle you want to. If you want to build a version of the bench
that differs in size, you can start with my model and make whatever modifications
you would like. The model is compressed as a .zip file, but it’s easy to open it on
almost any computer. Download the SketchUp model by clicking this link: WorkbenchModel.zip
(332.76 KB)
The model is also available on Google’s 3Dwarehouse. You can download it in SketchUp
(.skp) format by clicking
here.
We also had the video camera running during the building process, and we have an hour-long
DVD available in our store.
In addition to the video content, there is a printed set of construction drawings,
an enhanced PDF version of the article, a PDF slide show of additional step photos,
and the SketchUp model on the disk. Finally, there is a free five-minute video available
showing some of the many ways to hold work on the bench. This video is available by clicking
here.
If you have any questions or comments, you can post them here on the blog by clicking
“comment” in the lower right, or you can send me an e-mail by clicking on my name.