LN benches

[Michael Handrinos]

I put my name on the waiting list for a LN bench last year and received an e mail asking if I still wanted it yesterday. If you do have one, are you glad you bought it? I have heard some speak of problems...not alot mind you, but for 2000.00 plus, I would expect it to be of the same quality as their planes.

So, would you do it again? Any buyers remorse?

Thanks

Mike

[Greg Robbins]

I don't have one, but I've used one before and it was a nice bench except one thing. The handle on the end vice sticks up higher than the top of the bench when it's in the up/down position. That made it some what inconvenient if you have a piece that sticks out over the end vice. I was always have to turn the handle side ways in order to get it out of the way. This was one of their first benches, so they may have changed that by now. I guess you could always put a different handle on it though.

[Kim Spence]

My dad has one, he was on the waiting list for over a year, finally got it in the last few months. I helped him set it up. Very nice and solid and definitely heavy. Couple issues with his though. First, the vise handles were missing from the crate. That was resolved easily enough by a quick call to LN cust service.

Second, not the benches fault, but the shipping crate was poorly designed. The "stretchers" on the bottom of the crate that raise it off the ground so a fork truck can get under it were screwed from the inside of the crate. The bench was shipped top face down in the crate, with the top surface resting on the screws that held the crate's stretchers on. Believe there might have been a layer of cardboard or thin foam wrapping between. But the bottom stretcher loosened during shipping causing the screws to dig into the top surface of the bench. Not sure what he worked out with LN about this. Doesn't hurt the bench's functionality and it will get dinged up anyway with use, but for what they charge plus the upcharge for the wooden shipping crate there shouldn't be any damage like this.