Workbench ?

[Greg Parrish]

These seem to be the only 3 brands of similar quality pre-made benches I can find. I don’t have time or interest to build one and rather spend my time on other projects so I’m looking for pre-built options. This will be used in a shop that has powered equipment but I’m wanting to start working with hand tools and just recently started putting together some core planes and chisels.

To take price out of the equation, if someone were to offer you one of these benches free, which would you choose and why? If there is another brand I’m missing that compares please let me know. Thanks for the input.

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/workbenches/lie-nielsen-workbench?node=4068

https://www.benchcrafted.com/classicbench

https://www.sjobergs.se/en/products/professional/index.php?id=1132&cat=16&lang=en&artnr=33458+33464

[ken hatch]

These seem to be the only 3 brands of similar quality pre-made benches I can find. I don’t have time or interest to build one and rather spend my time on other projects so I’m looking for pre-built options. This will be used in a shop that has powered equipment but I’m wanting to start working with hand tools and just recently started putting together some core planes and chisels.

To take price out of the equation, if someone were to offer you one of these benches free, which would you choose and why? If there is another brand I’m missing that compares please let me know. Thanks for the input.

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/workbenches/lie-nielsen-workbench?node=4068

https://www.benchcrafted.com/classicbench

https://www.sjobergs.se/en/products/professional/index.php?id=1132&cat=16&lang=en&artnr=33458+33464

Greg,

It is a no brainer, go for the. Benchcrafted.

Ken

[Greg Parrish]

Greg,

It is a no brainer, go for the. Benchcrafted.

Ken


Even though there is no tail vice or wagon vice on the end? I like the other features of it and thought the one sided layout actually looks perfect given my probable placement against a shop wall rather than mid floor but wasn’t sure what features may be most important from the 3. Thanks.

[Steve Southwood]

Benchcrafted. You don't need the vise's on the end. Nice to have but not needed.

[David Eisenhauer]

In my experience, the tail or wagon vise is the least used vise of the common lot. The plane stop will handle the bulk of that need. Holdfasts, does feet, etc will also do the work. I would not be surprised to find out that you could also add on some type/brand of tail vise to the Benchcrafted unit if so desired. The Benchcrafted leg vise works very well and is a daily user in my shop.

[Brandon Speaks]

While I prefer a Fridd style bench myself out of those options I would take the benchcrafted. If the lie nielsen was a shoulder vice as listed rather than the face vice pictured it might sway my opinion.

Since none have the shoulder vice I would much prefer the leg vice to a face vice for planing. I would miss not having a tail vice quite a bit but that is secondary to the first point. I do think for the benchcrafted one the addition of a moxon would be a requirement for me if I was the one using it.

[Dennis Tebo]

Greg,

I not really sure how I feel about the Sjobergs, but between the LN and Benchcrafted, with the latter being $100 more, I would take the Benchcrafted without question. But then again I guess I'm biased since I purchased the plans and hardware and made my own:

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?266679-Workbench

Just by looking at the pictures, the BC appears to a lot more stout. After looking closer the LN is 340 lbs vs 300 for the BC. The LN top is 4 inches vs 3 for the BC, so most of the weight appears to be up top on the LN. I'm just fine with the 3 inch thick top I built. I have heard some people have issues with holdfast when you get to 4 inch or thicker tops.

I can understand not having the time to build one, but I'm glad I did. Not only do I have a fantastic one of a kind bench, I used the opportunity to learn/practice some things during the build. The bench gives me a great sense of accomplishment and the confidence that I can finish future projects.

Dennis

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks guys. Unless I built one it looks to be a fairly unanimous lean to the Benchcrafted bench.

[Brian Hale]

Another vote for Benchcrafted.

I use the tail vise the most on my bench and the shoulder vise occasionally but i like having both. If i were to spend money on a prebuilt bench i'd go Benchcrafted and add a Hovarter "twin Screw" vise on the end. https://www.hovartercustomvise.com/product/face-vise-hardware-kit/

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[Mike Kreinhop]

I have the Sjöbergs Elite 2000, but would have bought the Benchcrafted had it been available. I am satisfied with my Sjöbergs, except for the one-inch dog holes. Why Sjöbergs decided to break with the norm and put the larger dog holes on the Elite is a mystery to me. Fortunately, the bench comes with four dogs, so at least they threw me a bone.

[Greg Parrish]

Another vote for Benchcrafted.

I use the tail vise the most on my bench and the shoulder vise occasionally but i like having both. If i were to spend money on a prebuilt bench i'd go Benchcrafted and add a Hovarter "twin Screw" vise on the end. https://www.hovartercustomvise.com/product/face-vise-hardware-kit/

391467

Nice. that bench is huge looking. How big is that? Thanks for the link, I’ve bookmarked it.

[Brian Hale]

I think the smartphone camera makes it look bigger than it is..... 36" wide, 106" long and 34"high. Cost was around $550 10 years ago.

I making plans for a second bench better suited to handtool joinery, 5' x 30" x 42" high, and i'm considering that Hovarter vise for one end.

Brian :)

[Ian Guy]

Plate 11 http://www.plate11.com/ has good looking Roubo-style benches and kits. You can customize front vises and/or tail vises. They had a floor model at Handworks last year and it looked like a quality bench

[Andrew Hughes]

I vote for the Lie Nielsen you’ll be able to sell it quick and easy when you lose interest in the craft.
The bench craft looks like a bunch of 2x4 glued together.
I have a LN bench top. The base I made myself

[David Myers]

Benchcrafted

[Greg Parrish]

Plate 11 http://www.plate11.com/ has good looking Roubo-style benches and kits. You can customize front vises and/or tail vises. They had a floor model at Handworks last year and it looked like a quality bench

Thanks and bookmarked. That split top looks really nice. Although price wise it’s in the range of the larger lie-nielsen bench.
https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/workbenches/new-1-B-LNRB?node=4113

[Sean Nagle]

I would go with Lie-Nielsen.

[Christopher Charles]

Howdy,

Between the BC and LN you won’t go wrong. An I’mp question is what type of work do you do? I built a BC with wagon vise and use the wagon at least as much as the leg vise. And if I had it to do over would really consider the LN tail vise. Importantly, I do quite a bit of smaller scale work in addition to furniture projects

My top is 4” thick and I don’t have issues with the tfww holdfasts.

Hope that helps

[Tom Trees]

I had to google Defenbach workbenches just to see if anyone started making them again or similar , alas, not so it seems.
I believe Richard Maguire has stopped making them also, but he is in the UK anyway, so that would cost an arm and a leg even if he did continue to make them.
Another brand that popped up is Laguna, those might be worth an in depth look
No one makes the Scandinavian workbench now, as far as I know which is a pity.

Tom

[Greg Parrish]

I had to google Defenbach workbenches just to see if anyone started making them again or similar , alas, not so it seems.
I believe Richard Maguire has stopped making them also, but he is in the UK anyway, so that would cost an arm and a leg even if he did continue to make them.
Another brand that popped up is Laguna, those might be worth an in depth look
No one makes the Scandinavian workbench now, as far as I know which is a pity.

Tom

Thanks. And yes, it’s a pity there are not more options pre-made. Just not enough demand I guess.

[steven c newman]

Hmmm, do these high priced benches come to the door already assembled? IF not...it will take too much time to assemble the bench? Might as well, IF one is in so much of a hurry, to walk into Harbor Freight, buy the $170 bench, stop at a BORG, buy a slab they sell as benchtops, a sheet of 3/4" plywood to stiffen the legs. You can be using a bench for ~$200..and by that evening..until you finally find the time to build one you like. Plus, you can use the H-F one to help build the one you like. Much easier that way, than setting up a pair of sawhorses.....DAMHIKT.

The one I have been using for the last 5-6 years? Was built from supplies from a dumpster..took an entire Sunday afternoon to build.

maybe there is a difference between a bench made for actual work ( dings and all) and one that merely looks like a bench, but you dare not make so much as a pencil mark on it?

[Mike Kreinhop]

Hmmm, do these high priced benches come to the door already assembled?

My Sjöbergs Elite 2000 came in two flat, but very heavy, boxes. One had the top, complete with vises installed, and the support base in pieces ready for assembly. The second had the components for the cabinet. I carried all of the components, except the top, to the basement and assembled the base without any help and spent less than ten minutes assembling the base. It took two people to carry the top down to my basement and place it on top of the base assembly. I think the cabinet took about an hour to assemble and fit into place, but I did this by myself as well.

[Don Dorn]

I'm just going to throw this out knowing you don't want to build one. Being in the same boat and my old built bench was too short, I opted to build the Chris Schwarz two day workbench through his video of the same. While mine took three days, the hardest part was the leg assembly and if you have a dado blade on a TS, that's easy too. The top is two layers of 3/4 butcher block counter tops at 8 foot by 25 inches. It was easy to make and it weighs about 200 lbs. After boring the dog holes, I'm very happy with it. The video is pretty good about step by step and there is an easy way to ensure the two layers are perfectly aligned. I put a front and tail vise on from my old bench but I'd skip the tail vise if doing it again.

If I didn't have that as an option, I'd have bought one also. However, I have no regrets and I'm only out around $400 not including the vise.

[William Adams]

I had to google Defenbach workbenches just to see if anyone started making them again or similar , alas, not so it seems.

EDIT: Diefenbach?

Apparently quality slipped per an article on _Fine Woodworking_ 1 Dec. 2006

and there was a mention on the Festool Owners Group that the person doing the importing stopped in 2011 or so.

The website workbenches.com where they were apparently sold from is 404 (the reseller?)

[Greg Parrish]

Ordered a few workbench books via amazon to read over the next few days. Will try to use the info to help narrow down my needs and wants out of a bench to hopefully help with style choice.

[Dom Campbell]

I have often lusted over these Swedish benches: http://www.workbenches.se/en/index.php

If that's your bag, it could well be worth getting in touch - however I doubt they will be cheap, especially when factoring in the shipping.

But they are beautiful benches

[Greg Parrish]

I have often lusted over these Swedish benches: http://www.workbenches.se/en/index.php

If that's your bag, it could well be worth getting in touch - however I doubt they will be cheap, especially when factoring in the shipping.

But they are beautiful benches

they are gorgeous. Can’t imagine the cost. When price is not listed, you know they are going to be high. But they look like a work of art.

I want nice but functional. Strong wood but not so pretty I’ll cry if dinged during use. Hard Maple and European beech seem to be the most recommended.

[Wojciech Tryc]

I would also vote for BC. If you need weight and stability, traditional Roubo is the best choice. Here is a couple of pics of mine, made from hard maple with ambrosia maple/walnut accents. I went with a wooden screw but still a criss-cross from BC.
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392150

[ken hatch]

Ordered a few workbench books via amazon to read over the next few days. Will try to use the info to help narrow down my needs and wants out of a bench to hopefully help with style choice.

Greg,

Bad move :D. Being serious for a sec, most first workbench builders over think the build. There is no way to know what works until you work on a bench. It really is chicken/egg. Build a very basic cheap and heavy bench quickly with maybe a face vise of some kind then work on it for awhile. You will soon find things you wish you had and they may be easy to add. You will also find things that drive you barking at the moon crazy. Once those two add up to enough motivation to build another, do it. The new bench will work much better for you than the old but odds are over time you will find enough reasons to build a third and maybe even a fourth bench. Whatever, you will end up with a bench that works for you. Reading books about bench builds usually just leads to over complicated benches that work no better than the basic cheap and heavy and if you work wood long enough you are likely going to go through the multi bench build process anyway. Might as well cut to the chase.

ken

[Brian Hale]

Fantastic advice Ken!

My bench, pictured above, is my 5th and it's 90% perfect for hand plane work and the kind of projects i do. 30-some years ago i lusted after a premade bench but there was nowhere enough cash in the till so i made my own. it worked but i hated it and that began the journey of building the ever elusive "perfect bench".

[Barney Markunas]

Just to muddy the waters for the OP - you might also check out Highland Woodworking (no affiliation, etc.) too. I just noticed they have Hoffmann & Hammer German benches and Ramia benches (made in the Czech Republic) on sale. They look to be pretty traditional, beech and beefy; though even on sale they are a significant investment. Highland also carries a Sjobergs Elite if under-bench tool storage is appealing. They also have Benchcrafted components if you change your mind and decide to build as opposed to go ready made. I think Diefenbacher also sells the Ramia benches. I've not compared models, prices, shipping, etc.

I cannot say how much assembly is required for any of your options. When I bought an Ulmia bench back in the mid 80s, I had to bolt together the truss rods in the base and attach the tool tray with a couple of lag bolts. The vises were pre-mounted. It was easy to do but I needed help loading/unloading the box and dropping the top on the base once I had it together.

Honestly, I would not stress about it too much. You have a pile of high quality options I suspect any of them would serve you well. It could be easy to fall into the analysis paralysis trap searching for the holy grail. My suggestion would be to get the biggest, beefiest one you can afford and have room for, and then just get to work.

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks. The bench may have to wait till next year as I ended up ordering a Hammer A3-31 while they were on sale. Gives me more time to explore the different options and to consider building one also.