Tool tray or not tool tray???

[Chris Atzinger]

Hi,

With much anticipation, I am finally building a real workbench. I have spent the last several months reading everything I can (both of Chris Schwarz books, and the Landis book), and change my mind about what I want every other week.

This week I am debating a tool tray. If you were going to rebuild your bench today, would you include a tool tray? What about a center tool tray?

Thanks!
Chris

[Tom Hargrove]

I built a version of the 20th Century Bench published in Popular Woodworking a couple of years ago. It has a split top with boxes in the center that can be turned over so you can have a flat top or tool trays. I have not used the trays that often, but have been happy to have them available more than one occasion. After using this bench, I don't think I would build a bench with a fixed, permanent tool tray.

[Chris Atzinger]

Hi Tom,

It's funny that you mention that bench. It is featured in Chris Schwarz new book, and after reading that chapter, it is what made me reconsider a tool tray.

I don't do a lot of handwork at the moment, but would like to do more. I would hate to think of my chisels rolling off the bench onto my concrete floor...

Thanks!
Chris

[george wilson]

I have never wanted a tool tray. In the furniture conservation shop,where they had German benches,they always filled them in flush with plywood.

Whatever floats your boat. I don't think they were ever used historically.(not that that matters.)

[Dave Redlin]

I had the same question when I built my bench and opted to go with the tray. Mistake. Next bench will be one level.

Dave

[Joe McMahon]

My first bench was a traditional European with a tool tray. It filled with cutoffs, sawdust and a lot of tools. I could never find a tool when I wanted one.

I built a Roubo without a tray but I did add a large drawer in the center hanging from the underside of the top. I am quite pleased with the new set up and don't miss the tray at all.

[Bruce Haugen]

My bench was patterned after the plans in one of Tage Frid's books. It showed a tool tray so I included it. That was a good 25 years ago.

There are many times that all it does is serve as an area to fill up with junk: bench dogs, clamps, saw dust and plane shavings. However, at the same time, it is a great place to keep all those things, too, kinda out of the way temporarily, but still close at hand. Space is at a premium in my shop, so every little bit helps.

Were I to build a bench based on my intervening experience, I'd still include a tool tray. (I'd re-think vises, but not the tool tray)

[Chris Atzinger]

The Roubo bench has grown on me. I "inherited a 3.5" thick laminated top, so I am retro-fitting everything. I am not confident enough in my skills to try the sliding dovetail/tenon joinery, but I am moving the front legs flush with the edge of the top, and using round dog holes, so I can also use holdfasts.

Does your drawer get in the way of the dogs/holdfasts?

Thanks!
Chris

[gary Zimmel]

My bench also has a tray and I use it all the time.
For me it is nice to get some of the tools out of the way, but still close at hand.
Clean up in the tray is easy for me as the bottom pieces are removable.

[Frank Drew]

The first bench I worked at, while apprenticing, had a tool tray; aside from the fact that it was a great catchall for sawdust and shavings, there was always something sticking up above the level of the bench top that you had to remove whenever you needed the whole flat surface. Total PITA.

So, when I set up on my own and made my own bench, I omitted the tool tray and never once regretted the decision.

IMO, tool trays were mostly useful in crowded shops where your bench was just one of many, and your storage space for tools was limited to your bench and underneath. These days, most of us have tons of storage options in our shops and don't need tool trays incorporated into our bench tops, and they represent a real loss of valuable bench top real estate.

[Jim Koepke]

To find your answer, you may try looking at the way you work and how your shop is set up.

If your tools are well organized on a wall over your bench, then a tray may be a waste of real estate. If it is convenient to put tools away, then they are not going to lay on the bench and get in the way.

If your shop is like mine, with tools around the edges and the bench away from the walls, a tray might serve a purpose. It is not convenient for me to always put a tool away when switching to another tool. Currently my project is a shelf unit with stopped dados. There are three chisels, a ruler, a saw, a mallet and a router plane on the bench taking turns. It just would not be efficient time use for me to carry these back to their proper places after each use.

As others have said, if there is a place where things can accumulate, they will. If you have a tray, to make it useable, you will have to make it a point to clean it out on a regular basis.

Some of my thoughts on having a tray:

Have at least one section in the bottom that can be removed for ease of cleaning.

Have a stepped edge around the tray so it can be covered with panels to allow the whole top to be used when needed for assembly or gluing.

Make the tray deep enough so even the largest plane can lay inside without extending above the bench surface. That is one of the reasons of the tray is to keep things out of the way of moving things around on the bench top. Why just move them to a different place to be in the way?

If you really want to be creative, you can build the tray with runners to hold tills that can be flipped to close the top.

Not sure if I like the idea of a center tray. One of my thoughts on the tool tray advantage is if something gets knocked off the back of the bench, it will fall in the tray.

jtk

[Russell Sansom]

Always a hot topic.
Since coming back to SMC and reading Christopher Schwartz's book, I've though hard about my own tool tray, there for the past 30-some years, wondering if I should put another one on my retirement years dream bench, currently in progress.
Last month I asked myself repeatedly if I needed it. I've questioned what's in it and watched myself at work.
My answers went something like this:
1) Where (else) am I going to put my #4 plane while I try the #3 to judge which is the better choice? Same for chisels, whose cabinets are a step away, not a short reach away.
2) Yes it collects shavings. At least once per work session and always at the end of the day, I sweep it out. A trivial matter with a proper "sweep out slope" at each end. Otherwise, nothing is allowed to live there overnight. This discipline makes it all work.
3) My shop is organized around frequency of use. Stuff in the tray is there for quick and repeated access....during a work session. Whether is's a once-a-year tool or a ten-times-a-day tool, at the end of the day, just before sweeping up, everything goes back to its proper home.
4) For me, this amount of tool-tray-business is completely worth the effort. I'd be handling all these tools anyway ( mostly planes and chisels, but also jigs, and scraps that are on deck. Stuff I'm working with, like a complete set of hinges with screws, or a collection of wrest pins for a harpsichord live in wooden salad bowls that do not stick up above the work surface. I have no better place to keep them close at hand during a work session.

So, for me: yes, I'll go with the tray again. Good luck with your decision.

[Russell Sansom]

Have a stepped edge around the tray so it can be covered with panels to allow the whole top to be used when needed for assembly or gluing.

Wow. What a fantastic idea. I feel sort of dumb never having thought of it.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have a tool tray at the back and I use it all the time. It is shallow - about 1-1/4" deep, and after using it for several years, I would make it deeper and put it in the center. When I redo my bench top (maybe a 2011 or 2012 project) I do it in such a fashion that the bottom of the tray can be removed and will give me access to using clamps if I use the bench for assembly.

[Steve Branam]

I've now been using 2 benches, my big Roubo (no tray) in my basement and my portable Jones/Underhill (tray) that I drag around for teaching.

What I do in my basement is have a shop-built cart right behind me. It has hangers around the sides to hold a bunch of tools, and shelves for larger, more awkward items. I use it as both permanent and temporary storage. Permanent for things like saws, which I hang back on the sides when I'm not using them. Temporary for other things that I've pulled off the wall or out of a drawer. That way everything I need is right next to or behind me, just turn around to grab something or put it away. That keeps the workbench as clear as possible at all times. You just have to discipline yourself to clear the temporary stuff out of the way at the end of the day or project, and not let things pile up.

I modeled this usage on my wife's job, where as a surgical nurse they have a patient on the table (like a workpiece on the bench), and all their instruments on side tables (the tools). That keeps the field of work clear, and everything is close to hand.

When there's nothing else to put your tools on, the tray is nice, but yes, the stuff there is constantly getting in the way.

[Jon Toebbe]

I modeled this usage on my wife's job, where as a surgical nurse they have a patient on the table (like a workpiece on the bench), and all their instruments on side tables (the tools). That keeps the field of work clear, and everything is close to hand.
Now that's a smart idea! You can be sure that ergonomics specialists have thought through the workflow for surgical teams with a great deal of care. If we leave a chisel on the bench, it might get bumped onto the floor and need some re-grinding. If a swab gets left in a patient, that's a whole different level of "oops." :eek:

Come to think of it, I already do something similar in my "shop." The side-wing of our barbeque grill is close to hand, but separate from my Workmutt "bench." A couple of clamps, plane, marking knife, square, saw case, and chisel roll tend to find their way there pretty much no matter what I'm working on.

Working outside has its perks... sweet-smelling cedar shavings go from the mouth of the plane right onto the coals when I'm grilling salmon. :D

[Terry Beadle]

I put a trey in my bench design. It gives me a very nice place to mount a standing tool jig for the squares, rules etc. The right end of the tray is just right for the placement of the current 2 ~ 3 wood planes so the blades won't be touching. The left side of the trey is good for rouge, another small plane, wedges, plane setting test pieces, plane setting block, and various small pieces of scrap that are some times needed for the current project but need to be a bit out of the way too.

All that said, I could certainly work with out the tray but it would not have as much versatility. There is a 6 inch wide bench length series of pine blocks that can be removed to apply clamps on the far side of the work piece, and the tray is on it's other side.

I no case is the tray a liability and yes, it does need cleaning from time to time.

Here's a picture so you can get a better idea. It may look rough but it sure does the job for me. ;)

[Joe McMahon]

The Roubo bench has grown on me. I "inherited a 3.5" thick laminated top, so I am retro-fitting everything. I am not confident enough in my skills to try the sliding dovetail/tenon joinery, but I am moving the front legs flush with the edge of the top, and using round dog holes, so I can also use holdfasts.

Does your drawer get in the way of the dogs/holdfasts?

Thanks!
Chris

I built the drawer far enough back so it doesn't interfere with the line of dog holes that run along the front of my bench. Times when the drawer isn't pushed all the way to the rear do happen but it is minor.

[john brenton]

The only reason I have even considered a center tool tray on my benchtop is because you can utilize it for different clamping options. If I were to add a center tool tray I would definitely design it with a removable top.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

I built a version of the 20th Century Bench published in Popular Woodworking a couple of years ago. It has a split top with boxes in the center that can be turned over so you can have a flat top or tool trays. I have not used the trays that often, but have been happy to have them available more than one occasion. After using this bench, I don't think I would build a bench with a fixed, permanent tool tray.

I too built Bob Lang's 21st Century tool bench with the 4 removable tool trays. This was after using a plywood torsion box bench w/o for years (very good bench by the way, lots of stuff has seen its way on and off that bench).

I looked at every workbench book written before deciding on Lang's. I absolutely love it. I do use the trays, and there are multiple ways to use them in and out of the bench. Upside down, they make a straight flat bench; with a small shim under them, they make a great bench stop (the height is totally flexible depending on the thickness of your shim; removed, they provide another way to clamp a workpiece to your bench.

Finally, his Roubo style legs and flat front make clamping door and large panels to the front a breeze. That cannot be done as easily on a traditional European bench where the top overhangs the legs. You have to have a deadman or something like that.

Overall, very happy with my choice of build.

A couple of my "in progress" pictures can be found here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=1459403#poststop

Good luck with your decision!

[Chris Fournier]

It's only an opinion but I think that trays are just junk collectors and I've never included one on my benches.

Where do you put your tools then? In storage units placed under your bench! Out of the way and protected from harm. The two floor cabinets are on casters and can be moved out of the way or used a glue up surface if I don't want to tie up my bench.

What about the advantages of a split bench top for clamping? I use T-bars that allow me complete access to any glue up.

I helped a pal build his first cabinetmakers bench a couple winters ago and the tray issue came up. I recommended against them but they were included in the bench anyways - not my bench after all. My friend now says that he wouldn't include trays in his next bench. Why? "Messy junk collectors" was his reply.

[Andrew Gibson]

The way I work and the constraints of my shop have led me to want a tray on my next bench. I am planning a collapsible bench that can be collapsed for storage at the end of the day. I want a tray so that all the tools that I get out while working can have a place to go and not be at risk of being knocked off the bench and onto the concrete. a shelf underneath for larger tools like larger planes and saws will also be included, the shelf will also be used to hold weight to make the bench more stable. If I decide I dont like the tray I will simply make blocks to fill the tray... it's all about options for me.

I don't have my tools at hands reach when working so having the ability to keep tools on or under the bench while working is a necessity so that I don't have to put tools away till the end of the day.

[Jake Rothermel]

I think Jim hit the nail right on the head (god, I love being able to use woodworking puns accurately...) with the Analyzing Your Work Habits and Space advice. If you've got a good-sized wall to hang a lot of your tools (and a shallow enough bench to reach over top of it!) maybe a tool tray isn't necessary. I never seriously considered building one into my bench for that reason but there is something to be said for having all those often-used tools closer at hand than on the wall. In that regard, I second Steve's great idea (partially because I ended up using a similar method). Though I can't credit my wife for giving me the idea, I stumbled into using just a mechanic's rolling cart that lived next to me whilst I worked at my old shop. When I was done working, tools go away in their proper places. The cart was small enough that it could roll underneath the bench for storage to keep floor space clear. It worked well enough for me and I'd likely do it the same way a second time, though like other people have already mentioned, I'd rethink my clamping options if/when I rebuild a bench...

I've often thought one could build a kind of side shelf that might temporarily mount or fold down when not in use for just the same purpose but the drawback with that idea is that a shelf can't follow me around a piece the way my cart could. Still, it would keep tools from piling up and cluttering up on your bench.

[Casey Gooding]

I have a tool tray on my European Continental style workbench. It mostly collects shavings and junk. I would much rather have the extra workspace.

[Bob Lang]

There is a distinct difference between the group of four center mounted trays in my bench and the traditional, nonremovable tray seen at the back of European style benches. It's been about 2-1/2 years since I built it, and I'm pretty happy with the design decisions I made. I think it is critical however, to assess the way you work before deciding. Chris is against trays on principle, and he is 100% correct for the way he works. I work differently than he does, and I wouldn't be without them. The comments by Chris and I in the new workbench book are interesting in this regard.

I recently taught a class in building this bench at Kelly Mehler's and the size and location of the trays was the subject of much debate. A few revelations from that debate:

I designed the trays with an inside width of 6". When the students asked why I picked that number, I told them that I had a specific tool in mind that required it. They asked which one, and I went through everything I brought with me and couldn't come up with one. The width could easily be reduced to 4" or 5" to gain a bit more working area, or reduce the overall depth of the bench without losing any functionality.

A number of the guys decided that making the front section of the top wider by a lamination or two or even three made more sense than two equal sections with the trays exactly centered. In use, I work the vast majority of the time on the front half, and pile things up on the back. If I had to do it again, I think I would go with a wider front section. I'm not about to rebuild what I have, but it's an idea worthy of consideration.

Having the trays small and removable is the best part of this feature. Yes they fill with junk, especially shavings. Picking up a tray and dumping it in the trash is much, much, much better than trying to clean out a traditional tool tray. Carrying a tray full of tools back to the toolbox or rack is also pretty handy. The trays also make handy risers, blocks, etc. for raising work above the bench top. I'll be making some shims tomorrow so I can raise a tray and use it as a stop. That's a great idea.

Bob Lang