Working with a short workbench

[Aaron Rappaport]

Hi All,

Much as I would like to build a 6 foot workbench, it's looking unlikely that I can fit one into my shop/office. A 5 footer seems much more realistic. In spite of universal recommendations to build one that 7 feet or longer, I am heartened that some very active woodworkers on this forum use 5 foot benches. My questions are:

1) How do you work with boards that are longer than 5 feet? (For instance for a tall bookshelf.)

2) Do you still use your bench for assembly, or do you have a separate assembly table? I won't have access to a separate assembly table?

Thanks, Aaron

[Jim Foster]

I have a Roubo type bench without a crochet hook on it and I clamp long boards to edge joint along the front very nicely. Not sure how I'd do trying to face plane a board longer than my bench though, other than removing leftover planer marks. I'm adding a crochet hook, so in the future, I'd probably use the back of the bench on the occasion I need to edge joint boards longer than the bench.

So far Ive been using my bench for assembly also. My bench is long, 9', but I have been edge jointing some pretty long boards for some trim work I have been doing. I think if it was shorter, I'd still do assembly on it, I'd just have to be better about keeping the whole bench cleaned up when I do assembly tasks.

[Chen-Tin Tsai]

I'm still a newbie, but working on a short bench is something I'm familiar with. My bench (a mini-Roubo) has a 39"x15" top, which is far smaller than the optimal 96"x24". I'm probably going to build new top that's 60"x15" to go onto the existing base (which also happens to be 39" long...my bench has no overhang) so that I can work bigger pieces. I generally try to work on pieces shorter than 3' (such as my hallway table top) since any longer and it gets unwieldy. Since I cheat with tailed apprentices (lunchbox planer), and the board that I made my top from was already pretty flat anyway, I only had to knock down a few high spots on one side of the board and then run it through the planer. If I had to plane any boards longer than that, I'd probably use a 2x12 that's the length, with a cleat screwed on one end at the bottom and one on top at the other end (think long bench hook, but lengthwise on the bench) to accommodate the board. A couple of battens should hold it sufficiently to plane. I only use my bench for assembly of small projects; bigger things I use a folding table. I supposed I could use the bench to assemble on, but it would mean giving up the work surface until the glue drys.

[JohnPeter Lee]

I have a Roubo type bench without a crochet hook on it and I clamp long boards to edge joint along the front very nicely. Not sure how I'd do trying to face plane a board longer than my bench though, other than removing leftover planer marks. I'm adding a crochet hook, so in the future, I'd probably use the back of the bench on the occasion I need to edge joint boards longer than the bench.

I have a small shop and 5-foot bench. I built a planing sled that I can drop into my QR front vise, and it gives me an extra foot or so of length. I just support the tail end of the board with a spacer block, clamp it down, and I'm good to go. I use my TS for assembly - I have a cut-down hollow-core door that I rest on a few 2x3s across the top, and that works fine for me..

JP

[Trevor Walsh]

I haven't done anything that big, my end vise is a quick release, so I can sneak another 12" out of the bench if I had to. I'd say the largest piece I'm interested in doing is a shaker tall-thin cupboard, for that I'd probably with in premilled stock and just smooth the panels in sections before dadoes etc. The rest of the projects that I wouldn't be using pre milled lumber on aren't that big (in pieces) Schwarz's dovetailed Thomas Jefferson bookcase is tall tall tall, but its in 6 parts or something?

[Jim Koepke]

My current bench is 5' long. For edge joining long boards, some hangs out of each end.

I will have a lot of face work to do on some longer boards soon. In the past I have just secured them to the top and planed one half and then the other. I have a long beam that I plan to use as a temporary planing bench. It will either be set on top of the bench or I may make a temporary saw horse style planing bench.

Saw horses work well for assembly use among other purposes. One pare of my saw horses is less than one foot tall.

I also made a trestle table with a 1X12 top that is the same height as my bench to enlarge the top when needed. When not needed it is out of the way with things stored on top.

There are a lot of ways to be creative in bench design. One solution might be too make two benches that can be locked together side by side or end to end as needed. The possibilities are endless.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

If there is clearance to walk around your bench, a pair of auxiliary horses could be parked on either end, to extend your reach.

I use a crochet and front leg fixtures that are flush with the bench front. This makes it easy to handle dressing edges on longer boards.
Getting the ends squared off is something of a challenge, as you intimated. With a stand at the end, and the board well clamped, it was manageable.

The bench is 52" long - the way I bought it. I disposed of the front vise, and moved it to have a consistent overhang to allow use of handscrews as surface clamps.
It is my opinion that this is the single most important feature of my bench, I can apply a clamp all the way around the front and sides allowing access for planing at all angles.
The longest board I've worked, to date is 72", and I used a handscrew with a Bessey clamp to act as a board jack (http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/37809/board-jack). Two such assemblies could be pressed into duty as a horse, for longer boards.

I, for one, think two smaller benches have greater utility than one large one. It's rare that I work anything longer than 48".
219599

[John A. Callaway]

I use a five foot bench. I have no problems with it. just make sure you have the ability to clamp stuff up correctly, and for most work you should be fine... The biggest problem with a short bench is weight.... for me anyway. They need to be built with a heavy base so they dont walk with you as you plane for a length of time....

Would I like a longer bench, sure.... but until I can build what I want , I can do all I need to on this one... And when I do build one, I will not be any longer than six and a half feet ..... I see no need In a eight foot bench.. I know what the masters say, But I am not building dining room tables or high boys, and most of the pieces I see that I would like to build are sized and built by pieces of wood that can be easily managed by a 6 foot bench, and with a little thought and a few hold fasts or clamps.... a five foot bench.

I think ion either shop notes this month or one of the others, they show a break down , fold flat assembly table out of ply that seems pretty neat.... It is in the tips and trick by readers section..... pretty sure its in the current shop notes... that would probably help you out, and can be stashed away when not in use...

[Curt Putnam]

I have a Sjoberg bench that is about 5" x 20". So far, the length is OK but the width has really hurt. Tough to flatten 24" panels on it. I have some 9' work coming up, but I don't see the bench as limitation since that dimension will be plywood and since, obviously, ply only comes in 8' lengths, the design needs to break things into two parts. Not a problem.

[David Keller NC]

I have a Sjoberg bench that is about 5" x 20".

Hmm - 5"? That would be a really short bench.:)

The problem with a short bench is, as many posters have alluded to, jointing the face of a long board flat. You can certainly joint one end of the face flat, move the board, and joint the other end's face, but you have to be quite careful doing this so that the planes of the two ends are co-planar.

I currently have about a 6' long bench, though I've built benches in the past that were as much as 9' long. By far and away, it's better to re-arrange your space if possible and build at least a 7' bench if you're going to be building casework that has components longer than 48".

However, I've found the best solution to dealing with occasional 65" boards that are wider than a powered jointer that one might have (or any width if one doesn't have/want a powered jointer) is to use a planing beam. One of the reasons I built a 6' bench even though I've a large basement shop that would accomodate a much longer bench is that I wanted to test out the Schwarz observation that a hand-tool bench needs to be short, and I didn't want to commit the lumber and labor into a much larger "test" bench. In my case, the work surface is 29" high off of the floor, and I've been really surprised at just how optimal this is.

For 95% of the projects I build, the 6' bench has been more than adequate, but it's not acceptable for building case pieces like tall book cases. So - I've a 9' long maple plank that's 3" thick and 12" wide with a mortised stop. I can hoist that onto the workbench surface and face-joint the two long boards needed for the case sides of a tall bookcase or highboy. It's not an easy lift, but it's only in place and being used for a short time.

Of course, the temptation is ever-present to saw that plank up for project wood. ;)

[Aaron Rappaport]

Well, it's great to hear how people have made a shorter bench work. Can someone give a step-by-step for face planing a board in sections for cases where the board is significantly longer than the bench? After this discussion I'm tempted to try a test run using 4' board on a 2' test bench made out of a board placed on top of my existing "bench thing" (4 x 4's held together with a clamp and resting on sawhorses). Or there's the planing beam, perhaps (redundantly) suspended from the ceiling when not in use so as to be out of the way.

Also, thanks for reminding me of the Jefferson bookcase. This and variations on it (e.g. a bookcase built in two sections) are a great way to having to plane 8' boards in the first place!

Aaron