The OzzyOcker Workbench

This is my take on a woodworking joinery work bench. It needed to be rock solid and heavy. Looking cool was also a high priority. And most importantly, it needed to improve my woodworking with greater and easier work holding options. I think this “OzzyOcker” checks all of the above requirements.

It measures 2100mm long, 660mm deep and 900mm high. The height is very important as I will be working at this bench for long hours. I do not want to be stooping down to reach the bench, and I also don’t want to be constantly raising my shoulders to comfortably hold my hand planes while working. 900mm high seemed to be about right for my height. 

In order to make the bench as solid as possible, I opted to do that little bit of extra work and splay the legs out slightly. Not only does this look cool, but the splay of the legs help resist any longitudinal racking forces which get applied to the bench while hand planing.

To hold work pieces in place while planing, chiseling or sawing, I fitted the bench with a HNT Gordon tail vice and a HNT Gordon front vice. These vices are Australian made and are simply superb. The front vice is “non-racking” which simply means it holds the work pieces unbelievably well. I haven’t had a slippage yet, unlike all other types of vices I have used in the past. 10 thumbs up from me for the HNT Gordon gear.

I released an 11 part build video series on YouTube. You can view the playlist for the videos by following this link. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD2c6Qlq9jGdaRKwTwmkLz9XnNmRNRsuW

Or if you would prefer a quick overview video, here it is…