Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Economical / Good Workbenches
Mark Meier (Ann Arbor, MI)
>A friend of mine is setting up a shop in his basement. I've been helping him build a bunch of shop accessories, storage cabinets, etc. Lots of fun. He wants to buy a workbench, however. He seems to basically have no interest in making one. So, I'm looking for sources for benches that are well made but not astronomically expensive. Any names and/or links appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark
How big a bench does he want?
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Wiley Horne--Glendora CA
>Hi Mark,
I ended up building a bench with drawers around a storebought slab. I was always benchmarking my homemade efforts against what could be bought, and two great references were www.leevalley.com and www.tools-for-woodworking.com (Highland Hdwe.). Both of these offer plans, benchtops, and a range of complete benches, plus separate hardware packages, and separate vises--so the choices are transparent. The benchtop I bought from Highland Hdwe. was excellent and flat.
If he wants to get really confused, he could buy The Workbench Book.
Wiley
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Todd Hughes
>In my experance good used old benches are pretty common and can be priced cheap. My big one I paid if I remember right somthing like $25.Is a great bench with the leg vice that is at an angle like you see on the old ones from Penn.I did get in a bidding war when I bought my Hammacher Schlemmer bench and at $250 probbaly paid too much but it was in excellent condition and I did want it.I see a good many benches at auction and they seem to go about $100 - to a high of $300 but have seen them go for less,[very infrequently for more],.... stood there last year while they sold a beautiful bench for only $5 because it was big and no one ,including me, wanted to haul it...Have heard of guys getting nice benches from school auctions of shop equipment on the cheap to as well. Imagine with just a little trouble and some looking your friend could probably find a nice old bench for a pretty good price......Todd
Re: How big a bench does he want?
Mark Meier (Ann Arbor, MI)
>That's a good question and I don't know the answer. I'll have to ask him.
Mark
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Mark Meier (Ann Arbor, MI)
>Thanks, Wiley. I didn't know Highland Hardware had those. I'll point my friend in their direction.
I should loan him my copy of the Workbench book. He's already got my copy of the Workshop book :)
Mark
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Mark Meier (Ann Arbor, MI)
>No doubt it would be really nice to find an old one and put it back in use. Thanks for the suggestion, Todd.
Mark
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Lloyd Robins
>I saw a bench at the WoodWorks show in Ontario that I might have to try because of back problems. It is not a traditional bench. It can be raised and lowered. The man who was showing it had a show price of $640.00 with what looked like a 2 in thick hard maple top and casters. Anyway you can look at it at: www.geocities.com/adjustabench
Good luck.
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
David Linnabary
>I was in a resturant supply warehouse recently and discovered that they sold lots of used equipment, including butcher block counter tops of various sizes seperate from the stainless steel base units. Would make the beginnings of a nice bench. At the very least it's worth a look through the yellow pages and a phone call.
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>That may be true in eastern Maryland, and if Mark's friend is lucky in southeastern Michigan, but I don't need all the fingers of one hand to count the number of decent woodworking benches I've seen in the wild here on the Left Coast.
Here's a dirt cheap one *LINK*
Tom Williams
>At $139.99 I can't vouch for quality. I actually saw one in a store once and made a quick inspection that didn't reveal anything obviously flawed. It's not as heavy as most benches and may slide upon heavy planing. It also may be shorter than he wants.
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches *LINK*
Clay Craig in Miami
>I had the reverse situation - the person teaching me didn't want to build a bench!
After a good bit of looking, I recently got two of the LV benches linked below (one for my teacher). Anything less expensive, I found, had gotten too many reports of being flimsy.
These arrived flat and assembled fast and solid. I've heard so-so reports on the front vise on these though, so I got mine without that vise mounted, and instead mounted the large Record on one, and a second LV twin as a face vise on the other. (LV credited me for the removed vises, and got them to me without any holes drilled for the absent vises, too - presumably pulled them from the 'line' before being drilled for those.)
I'll post pics one of these days.
Clay
Lee Valley bench
Re: Economical / Good Workbenches
Todd Hughes
>....Woooo Boy $900 !!!.....Well I guess I didn't pay to much for that Hammacher Schlemmer one after all, eh?.....Might have to start Hording Benches now along with Anvils and Emmerts !.....Todd
You left out "saws"
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>but I guess you're not really hoarding those, are you? You just have a few, after all; not really a hoard.
Re: Here's a dirt cheap one
Ernie Miller Topeka
>I sold one of them on ebay last year that I had bought at a garage sale. it is way to light for any serious planing. it weighs less than 100 lbs and the vices aren't what you realy want.
Re: Here's a dirt cheap one
Barb Siddiqui - Wenatchee, WA
>I bought the smallest Sjoberg carver's bench years ago (economics) and intended to replace it with homemade later, but it has served its purpose so well I haven't yet had to. The photo shows it similar to the one listed, very lightweight, but I beefed it up with 2x4s attached outside each leg, one with notches cut in it for the benchdogs to slip in horizontally as a leg jack, and then (the funky part) I cross-braced the bottom legs at the ends, and attached a piece of plywood with rubber shelf lining on the bottom to sit on my concrete floor. It's stable and level, doesn't slide, and if I have to apply real planing pressure I simply place a foot on the plywood base with my heel against the inner side of the near leg. Haven't had to walk along planing any long boards yet, but if I did I could just load the center with weights and it would work well, I think. The thing needs bolts tightened every once in a while, and is softwoods,so it won't last forever, but if money is an issue, or space, these small benches can be made to work. -Barb S.
Re: Economical/Good Workbench
glh
>The adjustable bench is great. I bought the legs and castners and added a Sjornsborg (? spelling) bench top that I got on sale at Woodcraft. The legs were $385 and the castners $135. You can put whatever top you want on the bench. The adjustability is great. Lower it for planing, raise it for sawing, or assembly, or as outfeed table. It adjusts from about 26" to 46". With the castners I can move it easily from one place to the next.
Re: Here's a dirt cheap one
paul womack
>it is way to light for any serious planing. it weighs less than 100 lbs and the vices aren't what you realy want.
What is required for planing is an immobile and rigid bench. Any bench composed of sufficient material to be considered "heavy enough" AKA 300 Lbs is extremely likely to meet these 2 criteria.
However, the bench illustrated would make an easy and cheap starting bench if you added diagonal bracing (either struts or sheet goods corner fillets) into the frame, and either fixed it to the floor or walls (using e.g. concrete bolts) or added some sacks of sand.
Using a first bench is a good way to learn what your dream bench is; it's also useful when making your dream bench.
Mortising work OTOH does require sheer inertia, which derives from mass.
BugBear
Re: Mortising bench
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>You could always build a special benchlette for mortising, on which you sit and pound. There are two styles I've seen: One has fairly short trestle feet with 2x4's stacked on them to height and the other is done with 2x10's or 2X6's, the ends are to height, the stretcher has through mortises, the top has something of a bridle joint. I built the version Kingshott shows in his M&T video and book of 2X10's I had left from a carpentry project, dovetailed the top piece, works great. The only problem with this is that you have to sit on the piece, which could be a bit painful and/or impossible depending on how small the piece.
Pam
Log bench
Russell Seaton
>Wouldn't a log with some deep 3/4" holes drilled in the top for the beat them with a hammer forged steel hold downs work pretty well for a mortising bench? Or if you did not want a 24" to 30" tall log in your shop, you could just get a 12" thick section of log and sit it on a stout low table. Of course you would need a brand new low angle plane to get the end grain of the log flat. So in the end it would be a pretty expensive mortising bench.
Re: Log bench
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Sure, I suppose so; but I haven't done it. I am making a kitchen butcher block from several sycamore logs fitted together with 3 short legs. Might be a good idea, will try it for chopping mortises when it's done.
Pam
