Edging/Skirting on a bench top

[Billy McCarthy]

I'm still working out the exact details on the bench I'm building, but one thing I'm confused about is why some benches have boards that wrap around the entire top. Given my current skill level and time availability this will not end up as a museum quality piece, if things work out well I hope to replace the top in a few years, but since I know I can't get the top as flat as Kansas (scientifically proven to be flatter than a pancake), I'm not too worried about it moving a little bit.

Back to the original question, why do some benches wrap the edge of the top?

[Andrae Covington]

I'm still working out the exact details on the bench I'm building, but one thing I'm confused about is why some benches have boards that wrap around the entire top. Given my current skill level and time availability this will not end up as a museum quality piece, if things work out well I hope to replace the top in a few years, but since I know I can't get the top as flat as Kansas (scientifically proven to be flatter than a pancake), I'm not too worried about it moving a little bit.

Back to the original question, why do some benches wrap the edge of the top?

I think there are two main reasons. One is to use thinner wood for most of the top. The skirts then add some rigidity to what otherwise might be a flimsy top. The other reason, seen primarily on English-style workbenches, is to have a deep skirt on the front side with holes drilled in it. With a long workpiece held in the face vise near one end, a peg can be placed into one of these holes to support the other end. This would be used for edge planing, for example. The potential problem with a deep skirt is that it restricts or even prohibits the ability to use clamps to hold something down on top of the workbench. However you could use holdfasts for that purpose in many cases, provided the top is thick enough to work with the holdfasts.