At first I wanted to build this bench out of some white oak that I had lying around. Once I realized that I would need some more I decided to go the cheap route and bought some 4x4 Doug Fir. My shop is in the attic of my house and getting 16' boards up there isn't a ton of fun, so I cut them to rough lengths in the garage

My original plan was to have a frame run around the top but I soon realized that it would just add a lot of work without much benefit, so I used the wider board that I had just for the front  

All cut to rough dimensions  

Used the new toy to cut both top and legs to rough length. I love that saw.

Skipped a few steps. Top boards all planed and squared and ready for glue-up

One solid piece. I later added one more board because I decided against a tool tray for the back  

Squaring up the front board. That pith bothered me, so I later ripped that board in two and added another strip

This is one of two trash cans full of shavings that I produced during this stage of the project

Squaring up the top. This project really helped my sawing (combined with some helpful tips from Shannon Rogers). Started out somewhat rough but by the end of it they were square and plumb 

Speaking of square: this board was far from it

I like to chamfer and mark boards with China marker. It helps me to see how far away I am from my scribe line.

This board needed some work still

On to the chop. I had some padauk lying around and had no project in mind for it. It had the ideal dimensions, but most importantly it was hard and would not flex.

I kinda like that brownish color that comes out over time. Too bad I had to plane it away

Here you can see the difference in color

Planed and ready to be cut to length

Saw cuts are improving  

Very little work needed to be done here. Just some cleanup around the edges

The heros of the upcoming section:

shooting board, my dovetail alignment board that I used as a planing stop, and bench hooks

Legs rough dimensioned 

Stretchers too

Cutting the tenons. The first one wasn't pretty but it got better from there

Played some music and cranked out these tenons  

Done

Chamfering the edges with a sharp chisel

Starting the mortises. Not necessarily my favorite part, but a nice, sharp auger bit can make quick work of it

12 mortises. Managed to get them done before my arms got tired

That's a solid fit right there  

With the base nearly done I could focus on the moxon vise. This is the front part that will be attached to the bench top 

One of the nuts needs to be recessed into the board. Auger and chisel made quick work of that

Flush

Cutting out a section for the threaded rods

Front attached. It's starting to come together

Base dry assembled

I couldn't wait, so I put the top and vise chop on as well. 

Time for glue-up

While the base is being glued infocused on the chop. Combining carving a lamb's tung with sawing practice. Marked a bunch of lines and either sawed to them or tried to split the line.

Chiseling away all those saw cuts I just made.

My first attempt at carving a lamb's tung

Time to mix up some shellac. I decided on the garnet for the padauk  

And here is the final product. I'm quite happy with it. I'll have to drill some holdfast holes still and I'm planning on adding a little tool holder in the back for saws, chisels and marking knives. I'll also have to glue on the leather for chop still.