The split-top Roubo is a polarizing bench design. When you first see it – a workbench top split down the middle with a 4-inch gap running its full length – your instinct might be that this is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Then you use one for a day and understand immediately why the gap is there.
The gap accepts a planning stop, a crochet, a Wonder Dog, a hold-fast, a vise clamp, and any number of shop-built accessories. You can clamp a board vertically in the gap for edge work. You can run clamps up through the gap to hold work on the surface. You can drop a dust sweep through the gap to clear shavings directly into a bin below. The split top turns an ordinary flat surface into a flexible work-holding system that adapts to almost any task.
Builder and furniture maker Joel built his split-top in 2021 from hard maple – 10-foot top, two 5-inch-wide rails flanking the gap, legs from 12/4 stock, a wagon vise on the right end and a leg vise on the left. It took him three weekends and cost about $600 in materials. He says building it was the most educational shop project he’s ever taken on – the precision required for the dog holes to line up across the two rails taught him more about accurate layout and drilling than any other task in his shop history.
His advice for first-time split-top builders: make the gap slightly wider than you think you need (he went 4 inches and wishes he’d gone 4-1/2). Drill the dog holes before glue-up. And invest in a good wagon vise – it’s the feature that makes the split top fully functional. Everything else is secondary. Have you built or used a split-top bench? Tell us what you think of the gap below.