Monte Milanuk
10-25-2005, 5:35 AM
Hello,
This might be a fairly elementary question, or just plain obvious to everybody else, but what the heck. Everybody is entitled to ask dumb questions every once in a while, right? :D
Is there a specific purpose for the aprons or skirts I see on a lot of workbench tops? A few styles of work benches, I can see a reason... for example, I've seen a couple designs where the edge where the dog holes are at is solid laminated wood several inches thick, but the remainder of the top is wide planks laid flat, so I can see the use of a thick apron to stiffen things up... similarly, I've seen some designs where the apron, at least least on the 'front' side has dog holes in it for supporting longer pieces during planing, or other operations. Those I can grasp. The ones that kind of elude me are where there is a reasonably thick/stiff top already, say laminated wood or sheet goods, and the apron extends considerably below flush w/ the bench top... is this just to provide the 'look' of having a big massive 3-4"+ top for aesthetics, or is there a technical reason I'm missing here? Seems like it'd make things more difficult, both in terms of clamping anything directly to the workbench top, and in terms of if you have to reach under for any reason, such as to pop up a bench dog thats fallen down, etc.
TIA,
Monte
This might be a fairly elementary question, or just plain obvious to everybody else, but what the heck. Everybody is entitled to ask dumb questions every once in a while, right? :D
Is there a specific purpose for the aprons or skirts I see on a lot of workbench tops? A few styles of work benches, I can see a reason... for example, I've seen a couple designs where the edge where the dog holes are at is solid laminated wood several inches thick, but the remainder of the top is wide planks laid flat, so I can see the use of a thick apron to stiffen things up... similarly, I've seen some designs where the apron, at least least on the 'front' side has dog holes in it for supporting longer pieces during planing, or other operations. Those I can grasp. The ones that kind of elude me are where there is a reasonably thick/stiff top already, say laminated wood or sheet goods, and the apron extends considerably below flush w/ the bench top... is this just to provide the 'look' of having a big massive 3-4"+ top for aesthetics, or is there a technical reason I'm missing here? Seems like it'd make things more difficult, both in terms of clamping anything directly to the workbench top, and in terms of if you have to reach under for any reason, such as to pop up a bench dog thats fallen down, etc.
TIA,
Monte