First Time Workbench Critique/Help

[allenacity]

Hey WTO'ers

First of all let me say, I am so excited to be joining the ranks of woodworkers. Recently I have decided to take the plunge to help supplement our household income. Being a college student here in Wilkesboro, NC is really hard on the job findings. I took my first woodworking class about a year ago and have fallen in love with the whole woodworking process, and now I am on my way to becoming a wood shop high school teacher.

Anyways to start out I decided my first non-school project would be to make myself a workbench. I have designed something up with sketchup and I think it looks pretty good but I am not sure if my dimensions are right. They are not in the drawing but i am planing on including a couple vise's but i was wondering if I should use one on the full 24" side or just some on the 72" side. Also I forgot to insert this demension but I drew it to be about 30" tall. And one last question what materials make a good durable table?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Link to image.

Workbench.skp

[AMarshall]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby, Dustin. Looks like you are off to a great start.

I would think about making the front legs on your workbench flush with the edge of the top. This will help when you are clamping wide stock to work on the edges. Otherwise you just have the 4" edge of the top to clamp it against. Other than that, the bench design looks good. 30" may be a little low, but it depends on how tall you are and what kind of work you will be doing. For hand tool work you generally want the bench a little lower than for a power tool setup. I am 6'2" tall and my workbench is 34" high which is right for me.

If you are only going to put on a single vise, I personally would put it in the tail position. It's very handy to be able to clamp long boards laying on top of the bench using a dog in the top of the vise chop. I'd start with a cheap quick release vise and get fancier as you go along.

[Bhelart]

Hi Dustin,

I agree with Aaron's comments about making the legs even with the front edge. I built a workbench about 20 years ago with a similar design to yours and the only thing I wish I'd done differently is; align the legs with the front edge.

My bench is about 33" high and I'm 6' or slightly under, I like that height, it works well for me and I do mostly hand work. I'd install a tail vise definitely and run a series of dog holes down the length of the bench to allow you to clamp longer pieces along the length. I also have a face vise on mine but I use the tail vise far more often. Drill a 3/4 quarter hole in it somewhere and use a bench dog to hold flat panels.

I used hard Maple for the top of mine and it's holding up well. I used soft Maple for the base to save some cash and it's doing fine. I'd think that any hard, closed grain wood would work for the top although I would stick with lighter colored woods for a bench top.

[jlloydparks]

Dustin,

I am going to echo the previous comments and say to not go with the trestle style bench, but have four legs with the front two flush with the top. This provides a huge amount of flexibility when dealing with stock.

I am a fan of a leg vise as well as a twin screw vise on the front of my bench. Both are wooden vises, you can purchase wooden vise screws from Lake Erie Toolworks. I also have a Benchcrafted wagon vise on one of my benches (I have two).

I built one bench out of Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) and love it (it is a Nicholson style bench). I also have a Holtzapffel style that is made entirely out of hard maple. The SYP bench cost me <$200 for materials. The maple bench ran about $1,100 including vises. The maple bench looks nice and all, but I highly recommend SYP.

Since I have two benches I have two bench heights one is at 32" and I don't like it for handplaning. The other is at 28.5" and I love it for handwork, except cutting dovetails. Also if you are a handtool guy put your row of dog holes as close to the edge as you can. I put them at 6" in on one bench and they are mostly useless. The other bench has them in at 1.5" and is much better.

Before settling on a design I would highly suggest checking out the Workbench book put out by Chris Schwarz. He has two and both are excellent. Take a look at his publishing company Lost Art Press. He covers several different bench designs along with options and appliances.

Best of luck and we would love to see you document your build here.

Regards, Josh

[rickoman]

I would also highly recommend checking out Chris Schwarz's workbench books, they are both must haves.

[jHop]

I'd also like to vote on the tail vise. Nothing against face vises, but I feel the tail is more useful. (Then again, I don't do a lot with longer or larger stock for planing.

If you stay with the trestle style, I'd suggest the feet on the trestles be as wide as the table top. Also, lower that shelf to rest right on the stretcher, or raise it to be in the middle more, and use the space a little more effectively. (Then again, sufficient storage space for woodworkers is kind of like the legend of Bigfoot: people swear it exists but I have yet to see it. )

As for materials: Southern Yellow Pine is great for the cheap/heavy category. Plywood is great for the "get anywhere" category. You can dress up everything else, but I'd suggest the top be made from replaceable materials. (meaning cheap to locate, durable, and easy to find. Not low quality materials, however.)

Check the workbench books out from your library at school. Your school will be able to do interlibrary loans, if they don't have the book in stock. This will save you some funds first.

[allenacity]

Thanks for all of the reply's everyone, very good input. I had never thought about going to the library, so I went down to the county library and checked out a book published by the Taunton Press about workbenches. I have a lot to learn, this may be a bigger project than I had first anticipated, more fun too.

Thanks again