Bench Question

[Mike Burns]

I'm in the market for a good workbench. I'd like to make one, but I don't think I have the skills at this point to make a good, flat top. Do any of you have any recommendations about benches available for sale? Some of what I'm looking at....... all on-line are Diefenbach, Sjoberg, Ulmia, etc.. Not sure of what else, if anything, is available or where the best sources are.

BTW, I picked up a new LN low angle jack plane today........ what a beauty. I can't believe how well it works right out of the box.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[Cecil Arnold]

Mike, you can build a good, heavy, bench for around $100 using SYP for the framing, ply for the bottom shelf and 2-3 layers of MDF for the "flat" top. A metal side vise will add an additional $30-50. The advantages are twofold. First you get the experience of building your own bench, and second you will learn what you want in the next "good" bench. How else are you going to build skills.

[Mike Burns]

That's a good thought, Cecil, and I've thought about doing just that. I'm wondering, though, if the MDF will be strong enough to support bench dogs?? I'd think the dog holes would "waller out" in fairly short order. Not sure, though.

Mike

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Mike,

The MDF probably will last long enough to both broaden your skills, as well as figure out what you really want/expect from a bench. Not to mention you will have a bench to help build that bench.

Take care, Mike
still using his last temporary bench...

[James Mittlefehldt]

As far as the benchtop goes, get two sheets of mdf (ugh) and have the home centre cut it in half that gives you, 3 inches thick top eight feet long, then you can decide just how big a bench you want, or what suits your needs. Also if you are worried about the mdf (ugh) holding up, then get a sheet of masonite, hard board, or whatever it is called locally and place that over the top, again get a sheet cut in half, and use both halfs.

Not perfect but it will give you mass, and a hard top surface to work with, also if it is too big, you can cut it to whatever size suits, but it would be flat. I would try and work with thw larger size for abit before cutting it down, unless of course your space won't permit that.

I love talking about workbenches, and tool boxes chests etc.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Mike, In direct response to your question about purchase choices, I would eliminate the Sjoberg immediately. I have examined them and on occasion done work on them at a local woodworking school. The legs and undercarriage are severely undersized and are not adequate for a hand tool user who does planeing and other tasks which have the possibility of causing racking. When planeing, you are pushing the length of the bench and the Sjobergs have a tendency to wobble and move. I also found that the vises use undersized hardware which is not sturdy enough for heavy duty clamping and again, these have a tendency to rack. Given the Sjoberg price, which isn't much different than the Diefenbacher, they are not a good buy and are quite expensive for their level of quality.

I have used the Deifenbachers at the same school as the Sjobergs, and find they are very good benches and would consider them the most "bang for the buck". Ulmia has always made an excellant bench and there is nothing to find fault with in their quality, fit, or finish. I would consider the Deifenbachers a better choice though because for the much wider variety of choices in styles, the ability to special order any of the benches in a left handed version, and their slightly lower prices.

Cecil and Mike both make good points about making your own and the major savings available. A serviceable, but not great, bench is a reasonable place to start and saves a lot of money until such time as you get a feel for what your style of work is going to be. After you gain some experience and have had time to puzzle out your needs and wants then you can make or buy a bench more in line with your expected style of work.

[chris del]

Mike...
I do not consider myself a great woodworker by any stretch of the imagination. A simple workbench is very easy to build.
The pieces are all very large not requiring the finest tolerances.
I made this bench using laminated mortice and tennons (very easy) and thru bolted stretchers (very strong and simple)
The top is 3 1/2" thick Jatoba with an ash base...... Cost of lumber was $600 Canadian but could very easilly been less with various other species or grades of hardwood....
I personally would avoid using a plywood or MDF top even doubled up @ 1.5" would be a little bouncy when using a mallet and chisel.
Make yourself a good solid bench that you will be proud of and it will outlast you.




http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i309/pickeringwoodworker/Picture335.jpg

[Steve Wargo]

I second the motion of using MDF (Quarter-sawn :D)for the top. Especially for a first bench. Quite easy to work with and stays very flat. I built my large bench out of it, and would certainly do it again. Couldn't be more satisfied. good luck.

[Tom Saurer]

I recently made a bench. I needed something that was sturdy enough to do hand planning, but could we moved out of the way when the car came in.

I went to the local home center and bought a steel entry door and covered the top with mdf. I then place the door on some sawhorses.

The best part was that it was a dinged door, that I bought for a grand total of....$5.

I recently did some planning and mortice chopping with no noticable issues.

[Zahid Naqvi]

I'm wondering, though, if the MDF will be strong enough to support bench dogs?? I'd think the dog holes would "waller out" in fairly short order. Not sure, though.


Mike I have the exact same bench, 2x4 base and two layers of 3/4" MDF. One change I made is that the top layer of MDF is only two thirds as wide as the bottom sheet. The front one third is 3/4" ply, this is where I made the dog holes and they have been holding fine for almost 3 yrs and counting.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Great idea, Zahid.

Take care, Mike

[Ken Garlock]

Mike...

I made this bench using laminated mortice and tennons (very easy) and thru bolted stretchers (very strong and simple)
The top is 3 1/2" thick Jatoba with an ash base...... Cost of lumber was $600 Canadian but could very easilly been less with various other species or grades of hardwood....
Make yourself a good solid bench that you will be proud of and it will outlast you.

Chris, that is a beautiful bench.:) What are the W, L, H, dimensions?

[Bart Leetch]

I have a poor mans bench most all the material was donated. The trim, frame & legs are Poplar. I Dadoed the inside of the legs & glued 3/4 plywood between the front & back legs & pinned a spacer on the surface of the plywood & then pegboard. I used mortise & tenon for the stretcher to leg joint with barrel nuts & bolts to keep it tight. The top is 1" plywood with a layer of high density chipboard glued & screwed to it & an overlay of 1/4" masonite wrapped in poplar with a vice at each end. This bench is also the out feed for my Unisaw. Sometime in the future I'll build a tool case under it.

You can see it in the post.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=20844

[Jerry Olexa]

Mike...
I do not consider myself a great woodworker by any stretch of the imagination. A simple workbench is very easy to build.
The pieces are all very large not requiring the finest tolerances.
I made this bench using laminated mortice and tennons (very easy) and thru bolted stretchers (very strong and simple)
The top is 3 1/2" thick Jatoba with an ash base...... Cost of lumber was $600 Canadian but could very easilly been less with various other species or grades of hardwood....
I personally would avoid using a plywood or MDF top even doubled up @ 1.5" would be a little bouncy when using a mallet and chisel.
Make yourself a good solid bench that you will be proud of and it will outlast you.




http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i309/pickeringwoodworker/Picture335.jpg

Chris Very nice work...Looks solid....great job!!

[chris del]

Chris, that is a beautiful bench.:) What are the W, L, H, dimensions?

Ken,

Thanks for the kind words....

The bench is 76" long (excluding vise)
32" wide with a 8" wide tool tray
34.5" high (also acts as a outfeed table for the TS when cutting long stuff)
Top is 3.5" thick Jatoba (I purchased 8" wide 8/4 Jatoba, dressed to maximum thickness, cut in half and joined on the quartered edge, then ran the whole slab thru the thickness planer)
Base is made of 8/4 ash..... Legs are 5.5" x 3.5 made of 2 pieces of 8/4
and the horizontal base is 5.5" x 4" made of 3 8/4 boards....

I estimate the weight @ 350 lbs or more....

[Ken Garlock]

Chris, thanks for the info. Like I said before, it is a beauty, almost too good to use.;)

[Mike Burns]

Chris,
That is a great looking bench. Thanks for the reply

Mike

[Mike Burns]

Dave,
Thanks for the info on the benches. I looked at a Sjoberg at Woodcraft yesterday and it did look to way too light. To be fair, though, they only had the lower priced models, not the elite line. I think I'll give a go at making one. Now to find a tail vice and a diagram for making the frame.

Mike

[Terry Hatfield]

Mike,

No clue about a good bench to buy but I'm with the others on making one with a multi-layer mdf top. I made mine a few yers back and it has held up super. The top is actually 3 layers of 3/4" mdf with a 1/4" white oak ply top surface. The plywood is not extremely tough but I just couldn't take the naked mdf look. I edge banded it with solid white oak and it has performed fantastic. Stayed super flat and there has been no issue at all with the dog hoes and they have had a ton of use.

One way or the other I would strongly suggest building at least a basic bench instead of buying one. After you use one for a while you can fine tune what your needs/wants are in a bench and then build the "keeper". Nothing is more satisfying than building your own bench.....let me say that one more time...nothing is more satisfying for the woodworker than building you own bench.

Hope that helps!!!

Terry

[Ian Smith]

Do any of you have any recommendations about benches available for sale?
Hi Mike,

If all of the previous posters haven't convinced you to make your own bench then you could try one of these (http://www.lie-nielsen.com/benches.html). It would match your new plane.:)

I haven't seen one of these in the flesh, shipping to Australia would be a killer, but they look OK.

[Mark Stutz]

Mike,
Ian beat me to the punch. I've seen the LN benches used at the WW shoaw to demo their planes. Looks to be a good strong bench, and I believe they will customize it to size. I will agre with the impressions of the Sjoberg. I have the smaller one and it is not acceptable for hand tool usage.

Mark

[Tom Hamilton]

http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=24351&d=1128480418

Hey Mike: The best exercise and skill builder I did early on in my woodworking experience was to build the bench above. It started from plans in ShopNotes, glued and screwed 2X4's for legs, single 2X4's for stretchers, and an MDF top.

Over the years I added a 3/4 ply shelf, a set of drawers for battery chargers and cordless tools, 1/4 ply end panels and a SYP top quartersawn from 1X6's.

It now weights several hundred pounds, does not move, rack, shake or wobble and, son of a gun, I built it.

So, with all respect, I heartily suggest you build one to start.

Best regards, Tom, in Houston, still liking his double 2X4 leg bench.

[Mike Burns]

Hi Mike,

If all of the previous posters haven't convinced you to make your own bench then you could try one of these (http://www.lie-nielsen.com/benches.html). It would match your new plane.:)

I haven't seen one of these in the flesh, shipping to Australia would be a killer, but they look OK.

Ian,

That's one nice bench. You'd think they'd have thrown one in with the plane. :D
I'm going to go ahead and make one. Now all I have to do is find some good hardwood for the legs and stretchers. With all of the forests here in Kansas, it should be easy. ;)

Mike

[Frank Fusco]

Mike, you can build a good, heavy, bench for around $100 using SYP for the framing, ply for the bottom shelf and 2-3 layers of MDF for the "flat" top. A metal side vise will add an additional $30-50. The advantages are twofold. First you get the experience of building your own bench, and second you will learn what you want in the next "good" bench. How else are you going to build skills.

Neanderthals use MDF? :eek: Are we even allowed to say MDF here? :rolleyes:

[Terry Hatfield]

Neanderthals use MDF? :eek: Are we even allowed to say MDF here? :rolleyes:

I used old growth mdf on mine. I'm pretty sure that's OK. :D

t

[Frank Fusco]

I used old growth mdf on mine. I'm pretty sure that's OK. :D

t

That's a good retort. Takes another Arkie to have a sense of humor like that. :) Howdy, y'all.

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

Perfect response. :)

[Larry Norton]

My buddy built this a few years ago. He then decided he didn't have room for it in his small shop, so he built a smaller one and GAVE this one to me! It's mostly SYP with the top made from oak flooring scraps. I have all the drawers fo it, too.

[James Mittlefehldt]

I should add by the way I did not use MDF (ugh) only suggested it as a quick fix to the thread starters question, my own bench is White Ash, for the most part.

Some nice benches here.

[Pete Ducklow]

Hi Mike -

I am in the process of finishing a cheap, but sturdy bench. The top is made by laminating regular 2X4s from the BORG. The base is very heavy and sturdy, made with 4X4s and laminated 2X8s. The stretchers are through bolted mortice and tenon so I can take it apart, and also tighten it up if the wood shrinks. I put some oak around the edge of the top for wear resistance and also because I like the look of oak on a workbench.

I still have to put on the vise and drill the dogholes.

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this project. It is very satisfying to build your own bench. I loved planing the top, even though it is not smooth and flat as granite. My bench is certainly not as beautiful as some of the others that you might see here and around the internet, but it is mine.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-9/824674/workbench.jpg