Workmate--what is it good for?

[Matt Meiser]

I picked up an old Workmate (so old that the H-frames are cast aluminum) probably 8 years ago at a garage sale. I think I've used it maybe twice. Don't know why I never use it. If I can't figure out a compelling reason to keep it I'm thinking I'll try to sell it but given the number of weeks-old Workmate ads I found on Craigslist, it may also end up a scrap metal for LOMLjr's Girl Scout fundraiser.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I have 2 of them and they get used often. They make a very quick base for a chop saw, although it takes a little work to get them to mate with a slider. When I use to do installation work, I always had one with me. I also used on for a stool for a while. They fold up a take up very little space also. I would own 6 more of them if I could find them cheaply, but I also have tool issues.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Matt -

I've never had one. But, there have been times - maybe 1 or 2 times per year - when I wish I did. Those instances always occur outside. Trimming fence components, for example. Somehting to hold the target securely and safely, at a comfortable, workable height, while I go at it with a handsaw, circ saw, drill, etc.

Instead of propping the target up on a cinder block or something, and getting on my knees..............

But, in my shop - nope, no value. I think it's real value comes for homeowners that do not have a "shop", but need to hold, cut, drill some wood.

[Carl Beckett]

I have three, and use them all the time. (one was a gift, the other two were free so yes there are lots listed for sale).

Any time I need a surface to set something on (which is often). The cub scouts all came and did pinewood derbys - perfect for this and they used quick grip clamps to hold things down on them. (its safer than turning them loose sawing on my good workbench!).

Chop saw for sure - again I have small C-clamps to bolt it down with.

this weekend I was doing some sharpening with a horizontal wet water wheel. Its messy. I just set one of these up outside the door and did it all outside.

Sometimes I use them to stand on.

Or in place of saw horses. (I find saw horses take too much space, and arent as versatile)

Would make a good donation to pass along to someone that does more household type projects.

[Harold Burrell]

Sometimes I use them to stand on.



:eek::eek::eek:

[Myk Rian]

I've used mine for painting, sanding, holding tools, parts, etc.etc.
I use it all the time.

[scott vroom]

The one I inherited from my dad hung on the wall for 3 years without being used once....I recently dropped it off at the recycling center.

[Matt Meiser]

painting

Now the funny thing is in my finishing room I have a HF knock off of a Workmate, much, much lighter duty and much simpler that I use for a stand for spraying. Its getting quite crusty and I've been meaning to pick up a new one, but I don't think I'd want to use the Workmate because its much heavier and has lots more nooks and crannies for dust to hide.

[Lee Schierer]

Matt, I love mine. I use it all the time in my small shop as a work support, third hand and workbench. Yours sounds like the same early model I have with the aluminum cast H frames. The newer tubular steel models were not as nice. I recently used mine to support sheets of plywood while we cut it for making new doors and end sheathing for my son's storage shed.

If you don't want yours, I'll give it a home in my shop.

[Carl Beckett]

Oh - its worth noting there are several different models. The ones I have are pretty sturdy units (workmate 400???). I have seen others that are less so.....

[David Helm]

Here is the only use I have found for a workmate. Works well with the fan to circulate heat.

[Harvey Miller]

Love my workmates. I have a steel model 200 (mid-size) and a larger cast aluminum I bought recently. I’m actively hunting for a third. The steel one lives under my miter saw, but gets dragged out to the garage as a tool holder when I work on the yard equipment & my Vespa. In my pre-Festool days it got used as an infeed stand for breaking down plywood on my contractor saw. Now, I’m making a sheet-good cutting table to fit on it. If you do home renovation type projects I can’t imagine not having one.

[Dell Littlefield]

I made a small table top and put a 2X4 across the middle under it and use it at the shooting range to hold paraphernalia. It is great at clamping tapered or odd shaped items. I wouldn't want to do without mine.

[Matt Meiser]

This is mine.

244916

Its in decent shape I suppose. Two of the rubber feet that it would rest on when the legs are folded are missing, easily replaced with inexpensive off the shelf parts I'd think. There's a little light rust and one lock that holds it closed doesn't latch. I think very little work would fix that too. The top is in fair shape and the cranks all work. I don't have any of the dogs.

Maybe I'll move it out of the garage and into my shop and see if it gets any more use out there. I occasionally set up something messy out in the yard (i.e. routing something that's going to spew dust everywhere, grinding, using my metal chop saw, etc.) so maybe it could be useful then.

[Harvey Miller]

Amazon sells the dogs for less than $10/ 4 pack. Also the hole size is the same as on the MFT, so I believe you can use any of the Festool clamps on it.

[Bob Winkler]

I have the cast aluminum one too. I use mine quite a bit to throw in the van and take to my daughters house for a mobile work bench. Mine is actually from the late 70's and still going strong. It's actually a great design.

Bob

[Grant Wilkinson]

Mine is beat up from steady use. Mostly, it holds logs while I am chainsawing them into bowl blanks.

[John McClanahan]

I too have one like Matt pictured. One of the few Black & Decker tools worth having around the shop.

John

[Steve Kohn]

I've found one use for mine that justifies the Workmate existance. It is the best way I have to hold doors up on edge for mortising in hinges.

[Jim Becker]

I use mine primarily for home improvement on-the-spot stuff. (Along with my Festool MFT)

[john davey]

I have a B&D and a HF one. THe B&D is much sturdier and lives in my basement. It sees all linds of work as I am re modeling the inside of the house a room at a time. It will end up in the room I am working on for a little work bench for little tasks. Beets running to the basement all the time. The HF one stays in the shed and I basically pull it out and use it if I need to work on the chain saw or lawn mower or other out door task. If is flimsy but gets the job done. My bench top spent a long time on top of the two of them and it worked but was not very stable. Plus the HF is shorter so I had to stick a 2x4 in it t get it to the correct hight.

[michael osadchuk]

I used to have 5 Workmates but last year gave one to my adult daughter who moved into her first new home.

Two are used as small workshop tables for bench machines such as a small disk/belt sander; the other two are used when I work outside.

I pick up them for $10 or $15 at Habitat for Humanity Re-store; inevitably the ones that end up there are the deluxe two level, verty solid old ones.

They store easily.


What's not to like.

michael

[Kevin Bourque]

I have 2 of them I use all the time on construction jobs, mostly for my chop saw, tile saw, or my small table saw. I love them!:)

[Dick Mahany]

I never thought I'd use mine as much as I do.........
1. Tormek wet station
2. Paint mixing platform
3. Shop cat(s) sitting platform
4. Lathe tool/ chuck holder
5. Camera / video stuff holding place I the shop
6. iPad / PC / monitor holding surface
7. Clamp for stuff while work bench is tied up
8. Any horizontal surface to generally put stuff on

And many more that the original designer never intended it to be used for !

[Carl Beckett]

I use mine primarily for home improvement on-the-spot stuff. (Along with my Festool MFT)

Workmate


Festool MFT


Basically the same as each other, no??

[Myk Rian]

Mine is the 350 model. Got it for Xmas 15+ years ago.
Let the boy use it, and got it back with the top boards sawed in half.
I made new ones.
Why do I keep loaning him things?

[Gary Hodgin]

I primarily use my WM as I would a portable table. My grandsons use it as a workbench. Mine is too high and I don't want nails it in. I recently put a stain/finish on my wooden fence and use it as table for my turbine. In fact, I've still got a couple of sections to do but have to wait for better weather.

[HANK METZ]

It fills an odd role in the shop, kinda like Larry of the Three Stooges: nobody knows exactly what his role is, but the act wouldn’t be the same without him.

Many years ago I was one of the first Skil/ Bosch demonstrator guys. The Workmate was new on the scene, just coming over from the U.K. and Skil was giving us their version of it made by Wolcroft to demo, it was a dog; heavy, clumsy, not as versatile and made of formed steel. The Skil engineers liked it vs. the B&D because they claimed the cast aluminum base could fail radically under load while the steel would buckle and collapse progressively, thus giving warning of impending doom. Hardly a sales pitch that would inspire instant sales, but it was all they had for us at the time.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Jim Andrew]

When I built houses, found a workmate a extremely handy tool, as I didn't have a workbench with a vise on the job, and used the workmate like a vise on the bench. Now that I've retired from the building thing, still find some uses, although not as much since I built the workbench.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, its a moot point as there must have been a weak spot or crack in one of the H-castings which broke last night when I got it back to the shop.

[Carl Beckett]

Well, its a moot point as there must have been a weak spot or crack in one of the H-castings which broke last night when I got it back to the shop.

I had to chuckle when I read this Matt. Not because I wish you ill will of the tool. Just that two pages of posts on different ways to use it - you decide to dig it out and give it a shot, and .... ummm... broken.

Now you are going to have to be looking for one to trash pic or buy off CL.......

[Matt Meiser]

Yeah, and this thing has been banging around in my garage for 8 years on top of it!

One popped up on CL nearby in almost new shape for $20, but its 30 minutes away. :rolleyes:

[HANK METZ]

Well, its a moot point as there must have been a weak spot or crack in one of the H-castings which broke last night when I got it back to the shop.

Just what the engineers at Skil predicted, best to just retire it.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Mike Heidrick]

Mine holds my attic fan/box/filter assembly behind my 3" closed cell foam knock down spray booth.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e169/BloomingtonMike/IMG_6326.jpg


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e169/BloomingtonMike/IMG_6325.jpg

[Myk Rian]

Mine holds my attic fan/box/filter assembly behind my 3" closed cell foam knock down spray booth.
That's something I need to do.

[John Gornall]

Mine is one of the first prototypes that came over from England 40 or so years ago. Had a lot of use. I keep my Langdon Acme attached to it, folded and hanging on the wall. Don't have to clear bench space to saw. And when a tree falls on a fence I've got the repairs done before the neighbour has an extension cord laid out.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

The 2nd Workmate I acquired was in bad shape, the top was MDF with a veneer and it had been left in the rain. I made a new top out of a double layer of 1/2" Baltic Birch. I also made it longer and I made new stretchers that were longer. Both of mine have a stamped and tubular steel base.

When I was in college 30+ years ago, I used my original Workmate as a temporary drafting stool. It worked very well, so I built myself a stool based on the Workmate dimensions. I was a house framer, and had never tried my hand at furniture. The stool is very robust and still gets used in my shop.

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz35/HarveyMelvinRichards/P8221958Large.jpg

[Gary Herrmann]

Absolutely nuthin'
Say it again.

Can't believe nobody else thought of that.

My wife uses ours as a bench when she carves.

[John Coloccia]

Absolutely nuthin'
Say it again.

Can't believe nobody else thought of that.

My wife uses ours as a bench when she carves.

I thought of it a few days ago, but I was too lazy to search the thread to see if anyone else had used it. LOL.

[Art Mulder]

I picked up an old Workmate (so old that the H-frames are cast aluminum) probably 8 years ago at a garage sale. I think I've used it maybe twice.


If *you* have no use for it, then melt that sucker down.... I wonder how much aluminum you'd get.


(My shop is in the basement, so my workmate stays in the garage, and use it occasionally when doing outdoor stuff like working on my bike, or other DIY stuff outside or sometimes in the house. It takes up almost no space folded and hanging on the wall by the minivan.)

[Jeff Morton]

I have three of them. One is setup as an outfeed table. The second I've put on a casters and use it as a router stand with a MDF top. The third is a sawhorse/auxiliary table that folds up nicely. They are handy to have in my shop.

[Curt Harms]

I have a B&D and a HF one. THe B&D is much sturdier and lives in my basement. It sees all linds of work as I am re modeling the inside of the house a room at a time. It will end up in the room I am working on for a little work bench for little tasks. Beets running to the basement all the time. The HF one stays in the shed and I basically pull it out and use it if I need to work on the chain saw or lawn mower or other out door task. If is flimsy but gets the job done. My bench top spent a long time on top of the two of them and it worked but was not very stable. Plus the HF is shorter so I had to stick a 2x4 in it t get it to the correct hight.

Precisely. Having a project on the 2nd or 3rd floor and shop in the basement can get tiresome. Nobody's going to mistake the jaws & clamping mechanism for Lee Valley quality but they mostly work, or you can mount a better vise to a board and fasten the board to the workmate. Mine is heavy enough to be stable for most purposes.

[Todd Brewer]

Are you kidding me? I have one that is at least 20 years old. Great for holding boards for sanding/glueing etc. I use it for all kinds of things. Easy to move around and folds up in to a compact shape. I love mine!

I'm starting a home for unloved workmates, please send me your outcasts, I promise I will take good care of them. :)

[Frank Drew]

I used to make fun of them.... until I got one for on site work and then never wanted to be without it when I worked away from the shop. I think it's a great design for what it's intended to do; I especially like the fold-up feature, which makes them easy to transport.

The early ones had baltic birch (or equivalent multi-ply) tops; mine, from the early '80s has the thick veneered particle board, but it's held up extremely well.

[Matt Meiser]

They'd have to do a LOT of upgrades to even the early versions to get the build quality there.

[Jacob Reverb]

Sometimes I use them to stand on.


:eek::eek::eek:

As long as he doesn't weigh more than, oh, about 450#, he should be fine.

My Dad, when he was forced to live without a workshop for a few years back in the 1980s, made a Hawken rifle on one. What's nice is that you can brace the thing with one foot (or your entire body weight) and it won't move much when you work it.

Maybe Black and Decker should paint their Workmates puke green and charge $3,750 for them. Then I bet people couldn't live without them.

[Shawn Pixley]

I had one I got for free. I used it to hold a door for planing. I got rid of it after realizing I'd used it once in four years.

[Mark Patoka]

I've had mine for 15 years and it was one of the first items I bought when I started getting back into woodworking. Now it's mostly used as my everyday work surface for many routing operations, the perfect size to hold the chopsaw, as an extra sawhorse, finishing table, vise, vertical clamp, stepladder, just about everything. My dad had one of the very first Workmates when I was growing up and we mostly clamped a larger board to the top to make a work surface. I do have a small benchtop model but that just hangs on the wall, I rarely use that one.

[Jacob Reverb]

I had forgotten about this handy tool until I stumbled across this thread. On the OP's advice, I looked on CL and the auction site for a used one but no go ... but I did find a brand new one (Model 225) on the auction site being sold by the mfgr for $60 so I bit.

It arrived today and I put it together. It's not quite as nice as the one my Dad got in the late '70s (there were some cast aluminum frame parts on his, and his table/vise jaws were BB ply, whereas this frame is all steel and the table looks like some kind of funky bamboo laminate "plywood") but for its intended use, it looks fine to me.

There are some plastic parts in the vise, but I don't plan to use it for bending crowbars, and if I do, I'll just TIG some Acme nuts to regular nuts and it should work fine even for that.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, and the inspiration to pick up one of these great little gizmos, Matt.

[scott vroom]

What is a workmate good for? 2,176 views and 48 responses.....and counting :)

It also makes a great boat anchor.

[Dick Mahany]

What is a workmate good for? 2,176 views and 48 responses.....and counting :)

It also makes a great boat anchor.

Make that 2177, but I'll keep mine if nothing more than the shop cats to sit on as they learn woodworking !!