 
NEW ZEALAND BENCH Native hardwoods and sturdy joinery make this a beautiful addition to any shop. SHOP OWNER: Dick Goodwin LOCATION: Kaikohe, New Zealand Here are a few photos of my new workbench. When doing my initial design, I looked at many of the benches on WoodCentral to get ideas. The trestle is made from Papua, New Guinea highland beech. We lived and worked there for seven years, and brought two cubic meters of assorted timber back with us 15 years ago. The laminated top is European beech. 
Quality tail vises are hard to get and expensive in New Zealand, so I bought a couple of old Record vises and reconditioned them. The trestle is all mortise and tenon joints – hand done, as were the dovetails on the skirt. Total length for the bench is 2100mm, and width, including the tool tray, is 730mm. The bench top is 70mm thick, except the front skirt, which is 120mm thick. The height is 860mm. 
I finished it with 50% boiled linseed oil, and 50% vegetable turpentine. I hand planed the top using a selection of Stanley planes that I have reconditioned (lapped soles, filed frogs, re-varnished totes, and sharpened blades). The top is fairly flat - within about 1/32nd to 1/64th of an inch from being dead flat. I guess like everyone building their first bench, there are some things I would do differently next time, but overall I’m quite pleased. . . .
Dick Goodwin
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