Workbench Maintenance
It’s been a few years since I’ve done any maintenance on my workbench. The tail vise was sagging, the face vise was skewed out of alignment, and the top looked pretty cruddy.
I built it about eight years ago. It was an inexpensive, but effective design. I used what I had lying around the shop. I laminated the top from two sheets of particleboard and a sheet of MDF for the internal layers. The top and bottom faces were made from Aspen panels I purchased from Lowe’s. Five layers of 3/4″-thick sheet goods for a total thickness of 4-1/2″. I edge-banded the top with 1-1/2″-thick Southern Yellow Pine. I didn’t have the luxury or money for a hardwood top like traditional benches. This workbench featured in ShopNotes Issue 89 has a top laminated from several sheets of MDF. It’s a great bench, too.
My construction method gave me a flat top. And it was very heavy. But that’s what you want in a good workbench. I added a front vise and tail vise from Lee Valley.
Anyway…back to my maintenance. The tail vise had worked loose over the years and started to sag. So I tore it down and tightened the steel plate that the vise rails ride on (a screw had actually worked loose and fallen out). I filed the edges of the plate smooth and added just a dab of white lithium grease so the rails would slide easily. I cleaned everything up and reassembled it, making sure that the top of the vise was flush with the top of my workbench.
The face vise had somehow come out of alignment so that it wouldn’t close evenly. So I took some time to loosen the support bolts underneath and made sure the frame was square to the front of the bench. One of my boys noticed that the nuts that hold the front face on the guide rods had worked loose. So I retightened them and all was right.
My 13-year old was looking for something to do, so I set him loose on cleaning up the old dirt and wax off of the top with some mineral spirits and a 3M Scotch-Brite™ pad. (We were in a well-ventilated area and he used rubber gloves, for those of you who are concerned.) He then applied a fresh coat of Briwax to the top. The top was flat enough that I didn’t feel the need to plane it smooth again.
You know, when I first built this bench, I couldn’t believe how it changed my woodworking. Before that, I had always used a plywood bench without any vises. Clamping was awkward so sometimes I didn’t bother — a very dangerous habit to get into. I can’t imagine now how I ever 
got anything done. Having a bench with dog holes to clamp assemblies flat for sanding or planing is great. And the face vise gets its share of use, too for edge-planing stock.
Nothing beats a good workbench. And there are plenty of plans for them at www.WorkbenchPlans.com.