Hi David,

a long time ago in what seems to be a land far away, but is only my 
memory, I built a bench.  At least 1984 seems a long time ago. I built 
it to the Tage Frid design as published in an issue of FWW I had come 
across.  I adjusted the plans to deal with the length and thickness of 
the construction grade eucalyptus timber I had to hand, and with the 
fact that the construction drawings were in feet and inches and the 
timber was dimensioned in millimetres.  Not surprisingly despite my best 
efforts and deepest concentration, the components didn't come together 
easily.  I put this down to insufficient attention to detail, shaved 
away here, packed out and up there and came up with a bench which has 
served me well.  It is undersized as compared to the drawings: shorter 
and narrower than I have often wished, it has the tool tray which 
divides opinion into pro and anti with the passion of politics or 
religion, and these days looks generally pretty beaten up.  Its a 
working bench and I have used it for everything I have done which needed 
a bench, which compared to some on the porch doesn't seem to have been a 
great deal.

I'm happy with the tail vise and the single row of dog holes.  I have 
learned to cope with the European style vise at the left front of the 
bench.  You only walk into the projecting steel vise screw once, though 
this is best done when alone so you can clutch your crutch while you 
weep. Once I had done that (learnt) I came to like that vise as well.  
If I had my time again I would do away with the tool tray and have a 
wider working surface, because the tray seems to me to be just a place 
where shavings, dust and discarded screws, hardware and small tools 
accumulate / hide.

About 2 years after building the bench I found the later issue of FWW 
which contained all of the corrections to the dimensions given in the 
initial construction drawings.  The assembly difficulties weren't 
entirely down to me, though no doubt I made my own contributions. By 
then it didn't matter, but I copied the corrections and put them with 
the drawings for whoever one day acquires my FWW accumulation and 
decides that he or she would like a 'traditional bench'.

The only changes or improvements since 1984 have been some holdfast 
mounts: initially for the Record / Woden screw holdfasts and more 
recently for a pair of traditional holdfasts which Phil of the Far North 
generously gifted me.

At the end of the day, I'm with Richard the Yorkshireman: decide what 
you think you are going to do most of, then build the bench which most 
suits your needs, the available materials and your budget, then get on 
with it.  And then don't be too precious about the bench: it is an aid, 
not an end in itself.  When I look at photos of immaculate, unmarked 
benches I admire them but  I wonder how their owners do it.  My bench 
displays small holes, cuts, a few chop marks and quite a few paint 
spots.  One day, if I live long enough I'll scrape and re-finish the 
surface (maybe).  For now I work on it reasonably often and the rest of 
the time its the surface I look to most often as the most likely resting 
place of whatever it is that I can't find at that moment.  If it isn't 
on the bench my problem is just beginning.

And if your first bench doesn't suit your needs, use it to build one 
which does.  I have used mine to build three similar benches for friends 
over the years, each a little closer to my idea of perfection, but I 
have never felt that those improvements were enough to lead me to ditch 
my old bench and start again.  But for perhaps 20 years I have had a 
spare set of hardware tucked away, just in case

YMMV of course.

Regards,

Tony Blanks
Hobart, Tasmania