Workbench feet -- which style?

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

Edward in Vancouver

>Unless you have a dead-level floor, you should have four areas of contact, either by relieving the "beams" or by having individual feet.

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

Bart Leetch

>Unless you have a dead-level floor, you should have four areas of contact, either by relieving the "beams" or by having individual feet.

I have 4 individual feet i.e. leg ends that set on the floor.

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Wilbur,

Grain direction doesn't make much difference in this case.You should weigh other issues when deciding on a style.Some vise styles affect leg style.Also,top design and method of top to base attachment comes into it. ---Jack

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

VLParisian

>On the plus side, Relieved beam on the floor would seem to make for a lower center of gravity. The beam could act as a sacraficial piece in the event the shop had minor flooding. (This is a real concern here in Houston area.) Allows you to move the legs inward and still have great stability. Visually, I prefer this design. I think if you look closely at this design you will see feet under the beam for leveling.

Negatives: The beam would make the sweeping up process a bit more dificult. and ...

Victor

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

Michael Recchione

>If your shop takes on water from time to time, the four legs style might be susceptible to wicking water up the legs. However, it makes it much easier to get the legs flush with the front face of the top. If you're contemplating a leg vise, I'm not sure you could do it with sled feet. If you want to bore holes for pegs or holdfasts in the legs to hold work, that also pretty much demands the four legs style (since you want them flush with the face).

The sled style is very stable, and lends itself well to the "German-style" cabinetmaker's bench. It allows the top to overhang the legs along the entire length, which may be an advantage for something (though I can't think of anything at the moment). It also makes it easier to use the bottom of the bench for more storage - you can lower the stretchers on the long side, since the sled foot acts as the lower short stretcher.

I think the sled foot style may be just a little easier to build, though you could easily make them equivalent by changing the designs a little. In the typical configuration, though, the tops of the legs in the table style bench are mortised into the top. On the sled style, the two sides are independent assemblies, and the top is supported on the upper stretcher, so you don't have to deal with mortising the legs into the top.

- Mike

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

Dean J in MN

>I agree with other folk's views on the four-foot style. Better on non-level floors, etc. One thing not mentioned is the "ease" of lowering such a bench. I took nearly 2 inches off my four-foot style bench after a year of use. Sled feet would have made that task much more difficult. Adding height to either style is easy however.

-Dean

Adding height?

Michael Recchione

>I have a small bench with sled feet that I made at planing height a few years ago, and I want to convert it to a dedicated carving bench, which means adding about 6" to the height. Of course, I could just make four new uprights, or put it the whole thing up on blocks, as is. Did you have another way?

- Mike

Re: Adding height?

Dean J in MN

>Nope, no other way aside from what you mentioned. I'd start off with just building a sled foot which fits "onto" the current foot. That way you can just lift it out of the new feet if you want to lower it again for some task.

Dean

Re: Adding height?

Michael Recchione

>That's pretty much what I was going to do, and bolt them to the current sled feet so that the bench won't fall off. It'll look a little funny, but I don't feel like making new legs.

Re: Adding height?

ThomD

>For what it is worth, if you look at Krenovs bench as pictured in his books, his bench is on just such a riser.

Re: Workbench feet -- which style?

wilbur

>Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I'm going with the four feet on the ground system. I've already built a small worktable this way, so it will be familiar. I am a bit worried about the legs wicking moisture up from the floor, as my floor is concrete and in the basement, and is a bit damp. But if that's an issue, I figure I can cut the legs down and add footed beams on at that point.

I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Epoxy.

Somewhere, I saw an article on outdoor furniture that suggested building a little dam around the bottom of the upturned leg and pouring epoxy into it, making an epoxy foot for the leg (kind of like those fancy Federal table legs with the banded add-on foot). You might consider at least smearing some on the bottom of your bench legs.

Alternatively and maybe less expensively, you could tack or glue some sheet metal or thick plastic on the bottom - if you used a cut up soda can or bottle, you'd even be environmental. Sheet metal might be less likely to slide on the floor.

Don't have the books

Michael Recchione

>It sounds pretty straightforward, though.

Wicking moisture

Michael Recchione

>This may be one of those worries that are the product of thinking too much. My bench (4 legs) has been standing on a concrete basement floor for just about 8 years now, withing spitting distance of the washer and dryer, and has survived a flood, where the bottom 24" of it were under water for a day, and there've been no ill effects. Maybe this could turn into a problem after many, many years. But IMHO, life is too short to worry about it. FWIW, my bench legs are made from garden variety construction 4x4s from the Borg.

Re: Wicking moisture

Warren in Lancaster, Pa

>I have to agree with you here, Michael. My own bench has been sitting on concrete for 28 years with no ill effects. My father's bench has been on basement concrete since the week before Eisenhower's inauguration (January, 1953). It was flooded numeruous times before a sump pump was installed.

Outdoors is a little different. I made a stand with legs of 2X3 Red Oak in 1985. It sits outside, on concrete, in the shade, and the legs are untreated and unfinished. There is noticible deterioration at the bottom of the legs after 22 years. Most people raise porch posts up above a concrete porch surface.

Re: Don't have the books

ThomD

>The books don't include instructions. I am just saying (for want of something better to do) that you can jack your bench up on some sleepers and stand assured it will not stop your future prospects as a furniture maker, author, or curriculum impresario.