John Aniano - in NJ...
>Wiley,

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately, my bench will only have a commercial 1-3/4" butcher block top. My friend Morgan's bench does have thick top - I'm sure he glued it up and was about 3"+ thick. I'll have final photos of my bench with the top in a few days - when the tung oil dries.

I've made my bench 33" tall. I sit at the bench mostly, but do some planing standing up. Mostly, the bow "bits" are held by hand while being worked. One gets a self-leveling effect if the work and tool are allowed to float together. This tends to keep flat surfaces flat.

There will be a front "bench block" of maple screwed to the front of the bench when finished. I'll take it off of my current bench (in the small cramped shop). It facilitates some of the frog and pearl slide work. The block also holds some of the removable items like a curved bending form and rehairing string.

I've collected a number of small wooden tool chests in the past few years, so the bow making tools will be in a wooden tool chest, probably sitting on the bench in the back. I keep the small knives and chisels I use in a cigar box also on the bench.

John