LN Workbench replacement

[Jim Barrett]

I have had my LN workbench for 4 1/2 years. I noticed back in December that the laminated top had some small voids in it. The lamination was opening up at several locations.
I called LN and sent them some pictures. After the rep. showed Tom Lie-Nielsen the photos they decided to send me a brand new bench which should arrive end of this month.
This again shows the customer service that LN provides to its customers...pretty remarkable!!

[Chris Fournier]

LN is a first rate company no doubt about it!

[Robert Engel]

I wonder how many benches they will sell off your testimony!!

I've learned it's good business to occasionally loose money to satisfy a customer because it will always come back to you.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Wow! Like I say, with tools, you either cry once upon payment, or cry often with performance/longevity.

[Andrew Hughes]

I when I ordered my Ln Bench top I remember asking about what if it delaminates.The answer was they only had a few benches that were sent to Arizona desert areas come back.
Mind sits in a uninsulated shop does yours Jim?
Glad to hear your getting taking care of.

Aj

[Jim Barrett]

I when I ordered my Ln Bench top I remember asking about what if it delaminates.The answer was they only had a few benches that were sent to Arizona desert areas come back. Mind sits in a uninsulated shop does yours Jim? Glad to hear your getting taking care of. Aj

My bench is in the garage which can get very warm in the afternoon.

[glenn bradley]

Another leader in the area of customer service. A model for all those other guys ;-)

[george wilson]

Unless you can get some air conditioning in your shop,the next bench will likely fail too. And,it is doubtful if LN would be rightly expected to replace the bench a second time.You are simply living in a hot,dry climate which is very hard on ANY wooden furniture,including a bench. But,I am sure you already know that. A window unit air conditioner would be a good investment,and cheaper than buying a new bench down the road. A humidifier would also be a great help in protecting your bench.

Museums like to keep their collections at 55% humidity. Get a hygrometer and check your humidity. It is probably MUCH lower than 55%. Unfortunately,we have the OPPOSITE condition here.

[Jim Barrett]

Unless you can get some air conditioning in your shop,the next bench will likely fail too. And,it is doubtful if LN would be rightly expected to replace the bench a second time.You are simply living in a hot,dry climate which is very hard on ANY wooden furniture,including a bench. But,I am sure you already know that. A window unit air conditioner would be a good investment,and cheaper than buying a new bench down the road. A humidifier would also be a great help in protecting your bench.

Museums like to keep their collections at 55% humidity. Get a hygrometer and check your humidity. It is probably MUCH lower than 55%. Unfortunately,we have the OPPOSITE condition here.

Good advice! Unfortunately it is not practical to install AC in my garage.

[Prashun Patel]

Is that really fair then? I am no judge or jury but why have on go through the expense of making and shipping you a bench just so you can turn around and sell it especially since they are not replacing a defective unit but just trying to keep a happy customer?

Then again it isn't my bench or business. Sorry if this sounds more high and mighty than i intend. Just thinking....

[Andrew Hughes]

Ya Jim I'm with Prashun,If you sell the new bench for a profit .Thats got bad Karma written all over it.At least find a place in the house.
Id have one in my house if I had too.

[Mike Brady]

I doubt that LN wants the old bench back so it might be ethical to sell the old one; but asking for a replacement and then selling it is bad business. Well, they know it now! :cool:

[Jim Barrett]

I doubt that LN wants the old bench back so it might be ethical to sell the old one; but asking for a replacement and then selling it is bad business. Well, they know it now! :cool:

LN is taking the old bench back.
OK I surrender...I won't sell the bench!
Pics to follow when I get it !!

Thanks for all of your input :)

[george wilson]

AT LEAST put a HUMIDIFIER near your new bench. If you don't,you will end up just the same as your bench is now. Hopefully with moisture in the air,the new bench can take the heat. How hot does it get there? It gets plenty hot here too,but it is not terribly dry.

I don't know. My shops have been heated and air conditioned for many years. BUT,I'll confess,I never really had a good bench at home until about 15 years ago,when I got some beechwood logs sawn up and dried them for several years inside the toolmaker's shop.

You don't need a massive bench to make musical instruments. Back in the 60's,when I wanted to do some heavy scraping on rosewood guitar backs,I did it on my 600# table saw's top.

[Jim Barrett]

AT LEAST put a HUMIDIFIER near your new bench. If you don't,you will end up just the same as your bench is now. Hopefully with moisture in the air,the new bench can take the heat. How hot does it get there? It gets plenty hot here too,but it is not terribly dry.

I don't know. My shops have been heated and air conditioned for many years. BUT,I'll confess,I never really had a good bench at home until about 15 years ago,when I got some beechwood logs sawn up and dried them for several years inside the toolmaker's shop.

You don't need a massive bench to make musical instruments. Back in the 60's,when I wanted to do some heavy scraping on rosewood guitar backs,I did it on my 600# table saw's top.

Right now it is 90 degrees in the garage with 18% humidity...it gets hot and very dry here....high today was 107 with 6% humidity outside...my garage is insulated so it is not as bad.
Will get a humidifier and see how that works.
Thanks again for the input!

[george wilson]

You need to get the humidity up to 55% if you value the new bench. That is what museums recommend for their collections of wooden objects. Just around the bench would be better than no humidifier at all. Let it blow onto the bench(or under it).

[Jim Barrett]

You need to get the humidity up to 55% if you value the new bench. That is what museums recommend for their collections of wooden objects. Just around the bench would be better than no humidifier at all. Let it blow onto the bench(or under it).

OK will give it a try.
Thanks again for the information!

[Mike Holbrook]

Just wondering, but would putting some sort of finish on the bench, which might reduce moisture changes in the wood, help? Maybe BLO on a regular basis....Assuming a concrete floor in a garage, it could be wet down regularly...There may be ways to cool and humidify in addition to a humidifier.

Where there is a will there is a way...good luck with the new one.

[Lenore Epstein]

If humidity were the culprit it would be hard to find a sound piece of furniture anywhere in the Intermountain West. Given how stifling hot even an insulated building gets after baking in the desert sun for a while, it seems more likely that at some point the bench has been exposed to extremely high temperatures that compromised the lamination.

Of course, if LN has a low percentage of complaints from desert-dwelling customers, it's also possible that the bench got thoroughly baked in a parked truck or a warehouse on its way to you, and that it just took a while for the damage to show up. There are a whole lot of things I won't have shipped to me during the summer. Just a thought...

How about moving the garage under a tree? ;-)

[george wilson]

He has BOTH low humidity and high temperatures. They ARE the culprits. But he says he can't air condition the garage.
That alone would NOT raise the humidity to an acceptable level. So,my only suggestion can be to raise the humidity.

No,oiling the bench will not stop the excessive dryness. Even the Smithsonian,who I used to deal with on humidity problems when I was Master Toolmaker in Williamsburg,has not yet come up with a suitable coating to protect wooden objects from extremely low humidity.

The fact that the bench is made of THICK,laminated wood makes it much more liable to damage than ordinary furniture. And when it shrinks on the surfaces and pops open,it will never go back to normal,even if taken to a wet state.

[Mel Fulks]

My bench stayed in a metal building for years where I was employed. Was not air conditioned or shaded. Bench was made of air dried beech which was actually wet from rain when I bought it. I just let it dry over a winter near one of the heaters. Before I glued the top I hand scraped a slight hollow on all the pieces. I have to say I'm now impressed with how well it has held up compared to the commercial product made of kiln dried stuff. The commercial wood tops I've been most impressed with are the Bally and such things are sometimes available used from restaurant suppliers. I neglected to give finished top thickness,it is 3 and 1/8 inches.

[Tom Vanzant]

Jim, an evaporative cooler, "swamp cooler", would be my suggestion. It would provide cooling and humidification. My son is in Springerville/Eager...much the same problem but not as extreme.

[george wilson]

Good suggestion,Tom.

I have bought maple tops from the RAND CO.

[Lenore Epstein]

Jim, an evaporative cooler, "swamp cooler", would be my suggestion. It would provide cooling and humidification. My son is in Springerville/Eager...much the same problem but not as extreme.
That's actually the best option. I didn't offer it because there's a lot of trash talk about swamp coolers, but I'd take one over A/C any day of the week. The right kind of ventilation (cracked windows at the furthest ends of the living space and in bedrooms at night) keeps things from getting 'swampy', as it were, and in desert climes the cooling is phenomenal unless it's actually raining. And talk about cheap! If only I had access to an external water source in my apartment...