Whats A Roubo Workbench You Say?

I suppose  by now at least some of you will be wondering exactly what the hell it is am talking about. Well, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so take a look below.

Both photos are of the same bench which was built by Christopher Schwarz editor of Popular Woodworking magazine. 

So, looks pretty simple right?  Well it is really, but the sleek design and well placed hardware are what makes it so great. The legs are even with the edge of the bench and there is no skirt around the bench like you see in many European workbench designs. This means you can use a simple clamp to secure your workpiece down at any point on the bench. 

People who have built their own Roubo have historically put there own "spin" on the design adding features or changing things up in one way or another to make it their own so to speak and that's fine. But all TRUE Roubo benches have one thing in common, the leg vise. With a leg vise on one end and a simple holdfast on the other end you can clamp and support a board of any length to this bench to work on it.

The biggest challenge in building this bench is cutting the mortise   and tenons needed to mount the legs on the top and the stretchers to the legs. The jointary for the legs to top are unique because they involve a 30 degree dovetail and a tenon for each leg. The dovetail helps eliminate twisting of the joint while the tenon gives you lateral stability. The drawing below gives a better visual of what this joint looks like from the top.

 Please leave your comments, questions, and criticisms I would love to hear from all of you.