bench work and clearance

[Shawn Russell]

Those of you that have built benches that use a wagon and leg vise... How much room/clearance do you leave around the bench on all sides? I would like to build a 96 inch bench next year with a leg and wagon vise. I am also trying to work out exactly how it will fit into the shop and see if I need to shorten the bench or perhaps give up some power tool space.

Right now I have an unfinished space that is 12' by 18' with no windows. I have double doors at the 12' side that I could open for light and that is where I was thinking about putting the bench. However, the doors open inward and I am not sure I will have enough room without having to constantly move the bench; which that may be the best option -- moving the bench every time I do handwork.

Cheers

[fred mcclure]

my shop is about 15 x 30 (wife's stuff takes about a 1/3 of it). i built a roubou bench with leg and tail vise about a year ago. i wish i had a window and may put one in next year. anyway my bench is shy of 8 ft long and 27" wide. i have about 3 ft on either side of it. this would work if i did not have so much other stuff in the shed. its enough to use the tail vise, but if i want to work on long pieces, i need to move the bench away from the wall where it is now. i have some shop reorganization to do once i find time.

[Michael N Taylor]

mMy bench is 8'x26" and I have 4' clear, I would think that 3' would be the minimum clearance to have.

[harry strasil]

rough sketch your shop to scale and use cut to scale small pieces of cardboard or colored construction paper to position the contents of the shop on the sketch, saves a lot of brain drain.

[Chuck Nickerson]

My 7-1/2' long Roubo sits against a 9' wall, bounded on the left by another wall. This leaves 1-1/2' to the left.
When edge jointing a long board that wall seems awfully close, but no mishaps yet.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I'd figure how long the longest board you want to joint is, find out how much more room you need for take off and landing of the plane and a room for your body, and then double that for sanity's sake. Me, a eight foot bench, I could put against and 8 foot wall and deal with it, but I don't make anything that big...

[Jim Neeley]

Part of it depends on what kind of vise you have on the end (if any) and how you plan to use it. If you have a wagon vise, designed to hold bench dogs on top, space on that end is less critical. If you have a twin-screw or other vise you want to double-duty for cutting dovetails or other activities that have you standing at that end then you need the 3'.

The same goes for the end near the face vise. Mine (as I use it) works well with things near that end but they are not as wide as my bench so I can have a board stick out the end of the face vise several feet if necessary. I wouldn't put the end near the face vice (left, if right handed) in a corner though.

Just my $0.02.. YMMV.

Jim

[Rodney Walker]

If it's possible, turn your doors around to open out. No matter how you end up laying out your shop you'll appreciate the extra room.
Rodney