Child-size Roubo Workbench Complete!

Base Frame complete.

Leg Mortise & Tenons done.

Done!  (just needs poly)

2 coats of Water-based Polycrylic + Paste Wax

I think this took 2 weeks total.  Not too shabby for me.  I usually take a lot longer to make stuff, but Christmas is fast approaching.

The leg joint is really tricky to mark.  Wow.  What a pain :P  Took me a couple days to get the four legs fitted into their mortises and I was really surprised they fit as snugly as they do.  I expected more gaps.

I'm not sure if I'm going to add a vise.  Maybe I'll put a planing stop on one end.  Carolyn didn't care for the idea of drilling holes for pretend holdfasts.  But this'll do as a:

• multi-functional
• toddler-sized workbench
• drawing, Play-Dough, LEGO, arts & crafts, general activity table
• a standard, adult-size bench that can be repurposed for general use after my two sons get tall

Feel free to download the Sketchup Model for this project.

Child-size Roubo Bench Progress

More or less.

All parts rough milled and ready for the machine shop.

Tenons, Mortises, Final Lengths, and Final Thicknesses.  Done.

Now I need to clean out the waste on those benchtop mortises, cut the shelf planks and shiplap them, mark and cut the tenons on the tops of the legs and assemble.  Maybe one more weekend at this pace.

The best part of this is that it's going to be the perfect height for me to sit on while I work at my own workbench.  One enormous sawbench / sitting bench.  :-)

Child-size Roubo Workbench

Pardon the interruption...  I'm hitting the pause button on the Flip-top Dining Table because I'm making a child-size Roubo bench for my 3 year old son for Christmas this year, and I only have 4 weeks.  :)

I sized it to his current height 3'4" and then tweaked it a little bit to match the standard height of an adult-size bench for sitting on.

Reasons: 

1. I dislike making temporary furniture.  A workbench than can only be used by 3-5 year olds and then sits unused is a waste of time, IMO.  But a workbench than can be used by 3-5 year olds and then repurposed as a mudroom bench for the whole family?  Sold.
2. I won't have a mudroom for a few years, so when he's not using, I'll sit on it when I'm working at my adult-sized workbench.  :-)

Carolyn also wants me to make these interlocking parts out of plywood... oy.  Might not make that in time.  We'll see.

In the meantime, just yesterday he walked up and asked if he could make something with me in the woodshop.

// What would you like to make? //

"Hmmm... let me think.  Maybe a birdhouse."

// Birdhouse it is, let's go! //

So we drew a picture of what the birdhouse is going to look like, sifted through the scrap bin for usable parts, learned what sharp is and what it can do to you, named a few tools he hadn't seen before, squared one end, measured, drew a square line, crosscut to final length, resawed in half, and glued 3 panels together.  I figure we'll spend 30 minutes at a time working on it.

As I tucked him into bed, I asked him what the best part of his day was... "Working with you in the woodshop."

:D