Dnorris1369 Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 This might stir up some controversy but I'm thinking of buying a workbench. I know I'm gonna get ( build your own bench). I eventually wanna tackle the roubo but not at this point. I just wanna focus on furniture and I want something more than my plywood cart. I'm sure there are some folks on here that have bought benches. Just looking for some recommendations/ reviews on certain bought benches. Thanks guys Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I wouldn't blame you at all. It's a big project if you do it right. You could also just buy a top, build a base and add accessories as needed. Most of the benches I've seen for sale would need some bracing and sand bags for weight at the minimum. Lots of ways to go on a vice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroDave Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 D I've been vacillating between build or buy for months. There are a lot of great benches available on the market depending of course on how much you want to spend. I was and still am considering it... here's one that I have been eyeing... Getting in the vicinity of a LN bench at this price point. Still probably 65/35 on Build/Buy spectrum myself... http://www.americanworkbench.com/WoodworkingBench.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyG1960 Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Do what you think is best for you. One thing I've learned in life is that there are precious few cases where there is one right way to do anything. I recently spent months reading everything I could on benches, including the build vs. buy debates, and decided that a store-bought bench was for me. I wasn't happy with most of the benches in my price range until I looked at a Grizzly "heavy- weight" bench up close in one of their stores. Aptly named, it lacked the main fault most of the others well under a thousand bucks shared, which was light weight. With only an end vice, I could customize it with a higher quality one of my choosing. I just bought a Lie-Nielsen dovetail vise for now, which could end up my permanent front vise. I may build a fancier bench in the future, as you plan, but I'm very happy with this set-up for now. The total price so far has been less than that of others I looked at costing more, which I could easily push around. This one doesn't budge! So now, instead of spending weeks or more bulding a bench I'm making sawdust and kindling teaching myself how to cut dovetails! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Check out Grizzly's benches, they're not too expensive and look like they'd do what you need done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Having seen Grizzly's benches up close, I wasn't impressed. Obviously, if you have a deep enough pocket book, you can have what ever you like. If you wish to save the pocket book, you'll have to make compromises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I looked over the link Dave posted with only the size( medium) and 2 1/4 thickness I wanted and no vice upgrades it's $2500 . Guess it might be a while... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Hey Kev, your snowflake melted ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barron Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 My first bench was the Lee Valley cast iron legs with a layered plywood top, trimmed with poplar. It work well for years until I built my Rouno (thanks Marc). If I was doing it today I would buy a pre-made top like the ones Woodcraft or Highland Woodworking sell. I actually still use the old bench as a table in the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 You can build furniture on a hollow-core door on sawhorses. And you can surely enjoy building furniture on a store-bought bench. But building your own bench is a rite of passage, and if you go into it with the right mindset, it can be an enjoyable build in and of itself. Don't think of it as an obstacle. If you're still a bit green, it can be a skill-builder. And the pleasure you get from building everything else you'll build from this day forward on a good bench that you built yourself, far exceeds the pleasure you'll get from knocking out a couple more projects in the next couple months that you would have spent building the bench instead. How's that for a redundant run-on sentence? Point is, it's a long-lasting reward to build it yourself. I'm not lecturing...do whatever you want...makes no difference to me. I'm just planting the seed that it may be worth it to practice a little bit of patience and move forward in logical, pragmatic stages. Some guys don't care...they work their whole lives in messy, lacking shops with poor lighting and limited or crappy tools and a cardboard box as a work surface. I prefer to make transitions in a straight line. Ponder, prepare, execute. Building a bench was something I had to do before I could get really serious. I built many projects before I built my "lifetime" bench, but none of them were as satisfying as the ones I've built after. Food for thought. Not judging, just nudging. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnorris1369 Posted January 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 That's a good point I haven't considered about buying the top and building the base. Could also get more customization with storage that way. I've also been eyeing those grizzly benches. I just don't feel at this point in my woodworking I can spend 2 or 3 grand on a bench Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnorris1369 Posted January 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Which grizzly did u get jersey Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnorris1369 Posted January 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Eric --- talk about food for thought almost poetic. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Get a heavy one. Heavy is good. I bought a Lervad 5 footer in 1977. It still gets used a lot, but I've wished many times I'dbought the biggest one possible. I've been collecting wood for a bench for over thirty years. The collection of wood is prettyamazing actually-even down to Amboyna to turn the knobs for the vise handles out of, but I never have spare time to work on stuff for myself. Maybe when I retire....but my Wife says I have tofinish our house first. I always ask her, "Which addition comes first?" Every plumber I ask if they have a bucket under a sinkat home answers "yes". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 And the cobblers kids need shoes ! Although that's probably only in Asia nowadays <grin> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapid Roger Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Heck! I couldn't afford to BUY a bench. In fact, I can't afford the hard lumber to BUILD a good bench. I just used good old construction tub a firs for the base and a couple of sheets of old growth, quarter sawn MDF for the top. Much to the astonishment of most wood workers, I even put it on wheels! I have a small shop and need to move it around from time to time. Not sure how long it might hold up, I've only been using it for about nine years so far. But ya know, the projects that have left the shop aren't even ashamed of their birth place as far as I know. Rog 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 has anyone built the $175 (maybe more nowadays) workbench a la schwarz? just a thought... that bench and the one paul sellers built both seem very doable and affordable (and big/sturdy too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyG1960 Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Which grizzly did u get jersey Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk The one I bought is the 60" x 30" Heavy Duty Birch Workbench. The others in the showroom, most costing quite a bit more than this one, struck me as being rather flimsy, light and had thinner tops than I would have liked. This one has a 3" thick top. If you look at the online photo, what you are seeing is not a face board but the actual top thickness. I expect to build my own bench someday after I've been at this a while and better know what will suit me, but at $475, this bench was only slightly more than the cost of buying a top and building one now. One funny thing about the main catalog photo, one of the smaller ones and the image in the directions, is that the wooden face of the vise is pictured attached backwards, with the beaded corner on the inside. The fourth smaller catalog photo shows it the correct way. I assembled mine the "right" way and e-mailed Grizzly about the error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellardoor Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 The lack of a proper bench had been holding me back for some time and frankly a Roubo bench is a very expensive and intimidating project for a beginner - conversely, having one would allow me to advance more rapidly since I wouldn't constantly be solving work-holding dilemmas. I'd looked at the Sjolbergs (sp?) at Woodcraft which they use for their classes and liked them, but something about spending as much as the vises and materials for a roubo didn't sit well with me. Finally I built the knock-down nicholson and it's been a revelation. While not as cheap to build (at least in the suburbs of Boston) as it's made out to be (I think mine was about $250 including all of the hardware from McMaster Carr) it's still VASTLY cheaper than any similarly sized bench. It's also not a challenge at all to build. I did it without any power tools save a bench-top planer and it was one of the easiest things I've built to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 You didn't mention hand tools. There is really no need for a traditional woodworking bench if your not applying the lateral force with hand planes and the like. I have never found the need or had the desire to own a traditional bench. Even if I found the the need for a heavy bench I'd use something like 4" square tube steel filled with sand or concrete for the base and add a wood top with the necessary vices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 These are the guys who never get invited to a party because they suck all the fun out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 I'm still up in the air on whether I'm going Roubo or Scandinavian style bench. I don't do too much planing, but there are times that I do some hand planing. The majority of my hand work is scraping, which can be done with a bench hook or some dogs to rest against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroDave Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 But the Roubo is just too cool looking with all that Benchcrafted HW I think I'm too early in the learning process to decide what the heck I am. Might be in the PB camp and don't even realize it yet. At this point a good sized assembly table might prove more useful for my needs... Ah living in the land of confusion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnorris1369 Posted January 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 I'm fairly new to the craft also. That's big reason I'm looking advice. I don't ever see myself being a huge hand tool user so roubo may not be needed ever. But it sure is nice looking!! I've got a mft but man it just always seems to small when I really need something Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 If you are more machine oriented, your workbench will be primarily used for routing, sanding, and potentially assembly. This is me...and I wish I had a bigger bench only for the assembly part. I've had to assemble some bigger things on the kitchen table to have a big enough flat surface. =( I may built a decent-sized (like 4' x 6') assembly table that double as a table saw outfeed table, and if I do the "workbench" I have will probably just get slid over to the wall to hang out and be a place to set things. For me for now, I would greatly prefer a bigger table with a nice top with T-tracks and whatnot over a heavy workbench. That may change of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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