Store bought workbench

[Tommy Martin]

I’d like to build my own Rubou style bench, but I might not get around to it for some time. For those of you who have purchased a bench which brands and types would you recommend and are they sturdy?

[James Pallas]

If you have a 600 lbs. Rubou I don't think there are many that will be as sturdy. I bought a Noden adjust a bench because I needed the adjustability. It is not as sturdy as my other bench, more or less an English style. It does do what I need it to do. I have never felt that it is a problem for anything that I do from planning from the rough to carving. The adjustability makes a great deal of difference for me. I very seldom work on my other bench anymore as far as woodworking. At present the other bench is providing a space to repair my chainsaw.
Jim

[Doug Hepler]

Tommy,

I needed a workbench for a summer residence, until I had time to make a proper one. I bought the 60" 4-drawer Winsor Designs one at Harbor Freight. They are now selling for $150. It was a bit too low for my height so I put it on a simple stand made of 4x4's. It is fairly sturdy, certainly good enough for most work. You can stiffen it easily with crossbraces or by screwing it to the wall. I put a small portable vise on the front. It comes with an end vise that works OK. The drawers have cheap slides but they work OK. Not a great workbench but servicable -- all in all very good value for money. I used it two summers until I moved here permanently and had time to make a proper workbench. (I would not enjoy making a workbench without having a workbench to work on.) Now it is 5 years old and serves as a secondary bench mainly for planing, sanding and sawing.

You coud go to Habitat and get two base units and a solid core flush door that will serve you well until you make your Roubo. A workbench is a hand tool like any other -- it has to suit you and the work you want to do with it. But I see no practical reason to spend thousands of dollars or hundreds of hours on a workbench. But then, in 20+ years of woodworking I have never had a fancy or expensive workbench so maybe I do not know what I am missing.

Doug

[Christopher Charles]

I worked on <$200 workbenches for a long time that were screwed to a wall. They were not fundamentally more sturdy once securely attached than my 400 lb Roubo. Was very happy for a long time with the benches I had and am even more happy now :)

Best,
Chris

[Mike Holbrook]

I have a Hoffman & Hammer Compact workbench that I bought, on sale, under similar circumstances. I will be working on it later this AM. If I had it to do again I might buy one of the middle size Hoffman & Hammer benches, without a tool tray. Highland Hardware carries them, which is convenient for me. I am working on a Noden Adjustable, which I will use as a work table, outfeed.....Then I will make my Roubo, specifically for planing and mortising. The noden will provide support for longer pieces on both benches.

My issue with most of the benches one can buy, is they do not make the vises to suit me. I like quick adjusting vises. Most bench designs, seem to me, to revolve around the vises, or lack of vises. YMMV.

[Marshall Harrison]

I have a cheap workbench similar to the Harbor Freight one but I don't think I bought it there. Its been around for 10 years or so, has two vises and works well. Thinking about getting the Harbor Freight one and beefing it up. Like maybe replacing the particle board pieces with 3/4 plywood and adding some braces.

In the meantime I picked up some saw horses from Lowes for less than $20 added two 2x4s and a half sheet of 3/4 plywood. Ive got a work area 4'x8' and I don't mind screwing stuff to it to use as braces or stop blocks. I even set up my CSMS on it for cutting. Picked up a mobile miter saw stand from Harbor Freight this week which I will be putting together today or tomorrow.

Still haven't finished cleaning out the garage to make room for my shop so I improvise.

[Brandon Speaks]

I would think most cheap store bought work benches would not very stable.

While waiting to do the Robou another option would be to build a quick bench with 2x lumber. My Nicholson was probably about 6 hrs of work over the course of a week and less than $100 in lumber, if I tweaked the technique and used more screws than glue it probably could have been reduced to about 2 hours.

The bench I build before that was not really hand tool focused so had a plywood top and a little more interior bracing since it didnt have aprons, but probably build in an hour and was more sturdy than a cheap store bought bench would be I think.

[David Dalzell]

I bought (a number of years ago) a Lie-Nielsen large work bench. Don't remember the weight. I had on hand 25 lb sacks of lead shot. I put one on each corner of the leg/stretcher joint. i.e. 100 lbs additional weight. Also I added a plywood base to hold/store parts of work in progress. I love the bench. I have never had any problems of the bench moving when doing hand work. The vices work for me, I have made several holding fixtures that I use when desired (planing stops, Moxon vice, etc.). The bench was pricey, but it was worth it to me. I would rather build furniture than build a bench.

[ernest dubois]

If you are not in the USA you still have the possibility to buy such a bench.
http://www.workbenches.se/en/

[Brandon Speaks]

I bought (a number of years ago) a Lie-Nielsen large work bench. Don't remember the weight. I had on hand 25 lb sacks of lead shot. I put one on each corner of the leg/stretcher joint. i.e. 100 lbs additional weight. Also I added a plywood base to hold/store parts of work in progress. I love the bench. I have never had any problems of the bench moving when doing hand work. The vices work for me, I have made several holding fixtures that I use when desired (planing stops, Moxon vice, etc.). The bench was pricey, but it was worth it to me. I would rather build furniture than build a bench.

I will agree that if you are looking in the $2500-$3000 range for a store bought bench there are great options that I am positive will be very sturdy and just plain awesome. That Lie Nielsen one looks great, bench crafted makes one about the size of the lie nielsen standard one at the same price but with a leg vice instead of shoulder and tail vices. For me they are cost prohibitive but I certainly do see the appeal.

[steven c newman]

The Bench I hsve been using for the past 4 years or so..
380871
Started out as a Sunday afternoon on the back patio project....from lumber I dumpster dived for..
380872
Have since added the leg vise, a vise on the other end, a crochet on this end. The cabinet and shelf were the last of the upgrades. I added a plywood panel to the back legs a while back, as well. When I had a workmate come to the shop....I used the "bench dogs" from it for my main bench...

Base unit was..~$10?

[ken hatch]

My question about "store bought workbenches" is why? Cost shouldn't be an issue because construction grade DF or SYP lumber for a bench should be less than $100 USD. If you build a simple bench such as Roubo style, slab, four legs and four stretchers, time to build is maybe 20 hours over a week or two. Add a simple metal face vise for less than $100 USD ending up with a total cost of about $200 USD. You will spend that much time and I would guess more money buying and modding a store bought bench to get it to work half as well as one you made.

Mistake first time bench builders make is making the bench too perfect and too complex, Make it cheap, quickly, and go to work making furniture.

ken

[John C Cox]

Tommy,

What is your budget? There are plenty of fantastic workbenches for sale out there..... But your budget will probably drive your choice... They run from the solid core door on sawhorses and 3 thicknesses of 3/4" particle board on a home made base to the $99 BORG 2x4 and nails kit to well into the multiple thousands of $$$ for a fantastic hand made Scandanavian unit..

Shoot - Jim Krenov did most of his work on a purchased Scandanavian workbench..

Another option is to look at older used workbenches... Plenty of them out there..

[Jim Koepke]

My bench is a Sjoberg bought at a Woodcraft store in Dublin, CA for $250. The store closed many years ago. My main addition is 5 gallon bucket full of cement at one end to keep it from moving around when planing.

This is pretty much the same bench and is now listed $437.60:

380880

It is a bit small. My ideal bench would be bigger, heavier and have a tool tray.

jtk

[Izzy Camire]

I have the same plan to build a Rouo bench. I ended up grabbing a bench off of Craigslist for $100 to hold me over. It looks pretty flimsy but it turned out to be quite sturdy and was a good upgrade over saw horses. If not in a hurry maybe keep an eye on CL for something.

[ernest dubois]

Tommy,


Shoot - Jim Krenov did most of his work on a purchased Scandanavian workbench..



---Exactly.See it ^^^^

[Stew Denton]

Tommy,

I worked on a simple cheap set up for several years, and in fact it was better than what I work on now, which is a set up of two sawhorses and some planks.

It was 3 cheap base cabinets that I got free by remodeling our house, and a top of 2 thicknesses of 3/4" particle board glued together and nailed to the cabinets. My wife and I had very little money back then, so whatever I did, it had to be cheap. I glued up the two sheets of particle board by laying them on a flat section of concrete, spreading the glue, laying the top on some old 2Xs, and nailing through both particle boards and into the 2Xs. The nails into the 2X essentially forming clamps that got the two halves well glued up.

The cabinets were really cheap, but the frames were solid wood. The cabinets were screwed together in the face frames, and I think I may have used shims and screwed them together at the back to lock the base cabinets together into a single solid unit. The cabinet frames, sides, and backs, and doubled 3/4" particle board glued together and nailed to the cabinets, when well attached together made a very rigid unit. It didn't go anywhere. The old double door under sink cabinet in the middle made for some very good storage.

You could upgrade the concept by pulling the top drawers, and adding a plywood shelf under the top drawer openings for sliding tools into, planes, etc. while working at the bench. You could also use a triple thickness of the particle board, cut the center piece narrower than the other two, and cut rabbets into a couple of glued up 2X6s glued together to form a tenon that would inset the 2Xs into the go into the "slot" formed by insetting the center piece of particle board. By doing that you could add a small end vise, like the cheaper one from Woodcraft, or something similar, add dog holes in the 2Xs and add an inexpensive face vise and you would be in business I didn't have a vise on mine, and got by with clamps, etc.

From personal experience I can tell you that you can do a lot of woodworking on that kind of a bench. It will be quite rigid, somewhat heavy with tools in the lower drawers and double under sink cabinet, and you won't be out an arm and a leg. If you keep an eye open, you may be able to find some used cabinets, for very little money.

I need a bench, and if I get room for one, that may be what I build first, something rigid, cheap, quick to assemble, but something that will work for me. If I every get a shop, that may be the first thing I build.

By the way, when we moved I sold the workbench for $20, which is more than I had in it.

Stew

[john jesseph]

Hi there,

I purchased a workbench in the late 90's to replace the Norm Abram style bench I was working on. The Workbench Book had lots of great ideas, but I wasn't up to building a bench at the time. I guess now that I think about it, I still have the Record vise and a bench screw I got in preparation for building.

The bench I got was the Diefenbach Ultimate American. It is really a big piece of crap, with lots of quality issues and construction that is downright counterproductive. I see why they went out of business. If you are looking at a used one, check all the glue lines, check the vise operation, and assess for straight and square.

Curious what bench you want to build, and why?

[steven c newman]

sitting about 3 blocks from my house, in an Antique Mall...
380934
Has one vise...@$225
380935
Even has a planning stop! Two drawers for lots of storage....a little too low for me, though...

[ernest dubois]

Right hand bench.