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A Nicholson can be your forever bench
I think a lot of people underestimate how good a bench the Nicholson configuration can be. When I built my Nicholson I decided to use maple and if I had built this bench first I probably would have built an assembly bench in lieu of another woodworking bench. One advantage of having two benches is that you can use one for an assembly bench even though a purpose built bench would most probably work better for that use. But I digress. I've watch people work on vise less benches and it seems one has to spend an inordinate amount of time on work holding, in lieu of woodworking so that doesn't work for me. You'll notice I have a leg vise and tail vise on mine. I also have what I call a hanging deadman that is quite adjustable and convenient. I had intended to add an 8/4 thick shelf between the stretchers just for the additional mass. The shelf wasn't needed and no shelf meant I could store saw benches and the such underneath.
The great thing about the Nicholson configuration is adding a leg vise and letting in a tail vise would be easily accomplished after the fact which is not quite the case with some other forms.
Ron
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lHv1pFkmW...100/nbdone.jpg