Roubo workbench - Lumber and rough cutting

2023-02-21

The last six months I have slowly been working towards setting up a spot in my garage for woodworking. I decided to build a Roubo-style (Anarchist) workbench out of oak based on well-known plans. I went ahead and bought seven slabs of air-dried Swedish oak from Werner Abrahamsson in August.

I ripped most of the boards using a circular saw and a home-made guide-rail. But some I ripped by hand using a Thomas Flinn Pax hand saw.

After reading "Workbenches" and "The Anarchist Workbench" by Christopher Schwarz, I became a bit more relaxed in my approach to this build. Instead of trying to get exactly the dimensions specified in the plans I followed, I decided to simply build the top first with a width of 55-60 cm or so, and dimension the stretchers after the top is done. I also decided I will build a solid top instead of a split-top. The main reason to build a split-top seems like it is to be able to use an electric plane to true the top, but I will probably do it with a hand plane anyway. Also, I'm a bit concerned that a split-top is harder to keep flat.

Oak slabs. The trailer is 325 cm long and the slabs barely fit. Two of them had to be cut.

Oak slabs stacked in the garage.

Ripping with a circular saw and a home made guide rail.

I ripped some boards with a Thomas Flinn Pax hand saw.

Almost all boards needed for the workbench, stacked.