Ideal WW Bench Width?

[Gary Curtis]

I had my local hardwood dealer laminate a 2" Nordic Beechwood top. It is 8'4" long because that was the size of their stock. I specified a 30" width. I plan on laminating on a 3" hardrock maple apron. And I'm going to cut down the length to 7'6". My shop can handle almost any size.

It seems like most of the commercial benches being sold are made in the 20-24" range in width. Will I have some kind of ergonomic problems with the bigger size? Is 33" too wide?

There will be no shelves, drawers or cabinety underneath to deal with. Simple Lee Valley single screw front vise and tail vise.

Gary Curtis;)

[Chuck Nickerson]

you can get to both sides of the bench, i.e. it's not pushed against the wall. I suspect the stock 24" width has to do with manufacturing/shipping constraints

[James Mittlefehldt]

I centre my bench in nmy shop rather than put it against the wall, and work off both sides depending on what I am doing. Mine is a hair shy of 28 inches wide and frankly I don't consider it too wide. As Chuck said, as long as it is accessable from two sides then 33 is fine.

Mine is seven feet long and at times I wish it was longer, as I use it for planing, assembly and multiple station work, I would leave it at eight feet long if your shop can sustain the length. You can always shorten it later if you feel you have to.

Technically it would not be a cabinet maker's bench but rather a joiner's bench, but that is splitting hairs.

[Al Navas]

...It seems like most of the commercial benches being sold are made in the 20-24" range in width. Will I have some kind of ergonomic problems with the bigger size? Is 33" too wide?...
It probably depends on how tall the person is, and how easy it may for that person to reach across the bench. In this case, bench height may be the most important factor, though.

Most commercial benches are narrow, in the 22-inch to 24-inch range, to allow reaching across the bench for something. True, one could walk around the bench, but it may not be the best option if it means stopping work.

I find that anything wider than "standard" makes it harder to comfortably reach for things, whether a pencil or a pad of paper, a plane, etc.

Your planned 33-inch bench would definitely be too wide for me. Please remember, this is quite a personal thing. If you plan properly, you could always trim the edges. But I would leave it at the length you currently have.

I went with the largest I could afford, and have been glad I did. In this photo I am getting ready for a glue-up:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/Sandal_Woods/Shop%20Tools/Cut-off-rackandworkbench-2.jpg
.

[Rob Blaustein]

I asked this recently as well and got some helpful responses:
http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=48317

[Michael Gibbons]

Gary, I'm going to start building a Scandanavian style bench in a month or so and it will be about 36' wide and 7' long. Remember that flat work surfaces are always needed in a WW shop. Also if your planing a board, you'll do half and then turn it around and do the other half so being too wide shouldn't be of much concern since you stated that space isn't an issue.

...Mike

[Gary Curtis]

I hadn't thought about working from two sides. Would that warrant a wider or a narrower bench?

There isn't much conflict with storage on the wall, since this will stretch in front of a 5' window.

Gary Curtis

[Roy Wall]

Gary,

I take it there is no "tool tray" on the bench....? I just ask because if you add one to it.....it probably would be too wide...

33" is pretty wide for a bench...but it's probably okay. It's really all in the way you work... I think Sam Maloofs Bench is about 8' long and 3' wide.

You could always 'rip it down' on the backside if it was too wide.....

Oh - I would leave it at the 8' length if you have the room.

[Gary Curtis]

No tool tray.

Gary

[Steve Wargo]

Mine is 50" wide and 74" long (http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=20844). It's not at all traditional, but it's function is stellar. If you place it in the center of the shop... then the wider the better in my opinion. 33" should be fine, but if against the wall, then it may feel too wide. Good luck with the bench.

[Jim Becker]

Bottom line is...it depends on how you work and what kind of utility you intend the bench to function. Many stricktly Neander operations are great on a narrower bench. Dual use (as mine is); working wood and assembly demands a wider surface. Ideally, it would be nice to have a narrow bench and a wide bench, but that's not practical in many shops!

[Rob Blaustein]

Bottom line is...it depends on how you work and what kind of utility you intend the bench to function. Many stricktly Neander operations are great on a narrower bench. Dual use (as mine is); working wood and assembly demands a wider surface. Ideally, it would be nice to have a narrow bench and a wide bench, but that's not practical in many shops!

Jim,
Just curious--do you keep your MFT open in your shop or do you store it until you need to use it.
-Rob

[Ken Bryant]

A few considerations:

(1) wood movement: the roubo bench, for example, achieves its solidity at the expense of accomodating wood movement -- so 24" of vertical grain wood provides a quarter inch or so of movement, about as much as you want to deal with. If you have something like a tool tray (with loose edges) that accomodates movement, that's not a major problem.

(2) If your bench is back against a wall (which in a small shop like mine is the only way to leave floorspace to move around in), a wide bench is probably only going to be used on the front 24" or so.

(3) A narrow bench provides more opportunities for clamping from both sides. The Sam Maloof bench, if I remember correctly, is wide but has a removable tray in the center, and that center opening he uses for clamping.

(4) While there's such a thing as too wide, I'm not sure there's such a thing as too long. I'm setting up for small-scale boat building, in which I would often be doing complicated shaping operations with planes on a 20 or 25 foot long plank. My shop is nineteen feet long. I've modified the shop so that there is a window at one end, a door at the other, placed so that a twelve-foot bench along the wall will allow planks to have twelve feet of solid support -- and then, if necessary, stick out the window or the door. A seven foot bench would be pretty minimal for this kind of work (though if I wanted to do miniature boxes...)

[Jim Becker]

Just curious--do you keep your MFT open in your shop or do you store it until you need to use it.
Rob, "historically" I've keep it open and along with my Adjust-A-Bench and mobile router table, I have a variety of surfaces to work on. With the new sliding saw coming soon, I may need to keep the MFT "down" purely for space considerations. Primarily, my bench work is all at the Adjust-A-Bench which has a somewhat wide surface...fine for the Neander work I do more and more of as well as for assembly...and even finishing.

[Bruce Page]

Gary, I'm a "Bigger is Better" type of guy. My benchtop is 36"X96" and I wouldn't want it any smaller.

[Gary Curtis]

thanks for all the advice. Reading this, I think I'll reconfigure the design a bit.

1) I'll keep the length at 8' or 8'2"
2) the bench will be pulled away from the wall (window, actually)
3) Width will be 30" (not 33 with the apron)
4) Bench top will be 33" (my wrist height - I'm short)

Since I'm also buying the larger Festool MFT table, that will limit the Swiss Army Knife duties imposed on the Nordic Bench.

Anyone who is waiting in the wings and who has some extra cash, the new FWW Tools & Shops quarterly features an evaluation of ready made WW benches. The Lie Nielsen - a $1500 beauty - came in first. I'm pleased that mine is a very similar designed based on a Len Schleming (sp??) design in the same publication dated Fall 2003.

Gary Curtis

[Michael Gibbons]

Gary, In this day and age you cannot call yourself short-that's Politically incorrect. The new term is "vertically challenged". The up to date price on the Lie Nielsen workbench is $2000.000 on the website.

[Jim Becker]

Gary, In this day and age you cannot call yourself short-that's Politically incorrect. The new term is "vertically challenged". The up to date price on the Lie Nielsen workbench is $2000.000 on the website.

So that would mean that being short of cash to buy it would mean you are, um...financially challenged? LOL!

[John Schreiber]

financially challenged?
I'm not financially challenged! I'm RICH in unrealized opportunities.:p

[Billy Chambless]

I'm not financially challenged! I'm RICH in unrealized opportunities.:p

Same here. I think of it as having an alternate wealthstyle.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm starting fabrication of a new bench, it will be 80" long, and 32" wide.

I had a 24" wide bench, and find that most cabinets I build are in the 30 inch wide range. It sure is nice to thave the entire cabinet supported on a nice flat surface when you are assembling it.

That's another argument for a bench that you can access from both sides.....Rod.