Just darn done do it! Benchdreaming cure.

[Dean Karavite]

Like many here, I have been spending countless waking hours thinking about building my ultimate workbench. I have all the books and have read them 20 times each. There is not a website on workbenches I have not seen. In fact, I bet I could spot Chris Schwarz’s cousin at a presidential inauguration. You all know what I am talking about. We are obsessed with benches!

However, I'm still new at all this. How the heck do I really know what I want or need? Say I went out and bought all that big bucks maple, dried it, milled it and built something over weeks and weeks only to discover I made regretful design decisions? How could I possibly get it right the first time? Answer: There is no way.

This week I did what I should have done months ago. I just went out and got the materials to build what is essentially another version of the $175 workbench. The top is cast off butcher block at 74” x 24” and 1.75” thick ($80 – thanks for the tip Dominic!). The legs are 4x4 fir from Lowes attached with 2x6 fir stretchers using butt joints reinforced with threaded 3/8”steel truss rods and dowels to prevent twisting ($120). I have an old quick release vice for the front vice (free) and a Veritas twin screw on order ($220). Okay, a little more than $175 when you count the Veritas, but that can be used in the future.

I now have a very solid bench (it doesn’t budge) and I can go nuts with it. For example, I plan on drilling dog holes all over the place and from actual use I will know which I really need. Will a twin screw be the best tail vise? I’ll know soon enough and if it isn’t I can use it as a front vise or sell it. Do I want storage underneath? I’ll give it a shot after not having any for a while. What about set ups for assembly, clamping, power tools and hand tools? What is the best way to work on large boards? What height, length, width will be the best for me in all this? Finally, I have a bench capable of being used to build... you guessed it, a nice bench.

While some of you Nietzsche-esque woodworking supermen know exactly what you want and how to build it, there are many others here who constantly vacillate, day dream and ask endless questions. Come on, you know who you are! I am one of them! Trust me, all this planning for perfection is flawed. If you are asking someone what height this or that should be or how long this or that should be, it is a clear sign. You don’t need to ask, you need to *find out for yourself*!

Take it from me, it’s fun and it gets you right into what you really want to do while quieting all those obsessive thoughts about shoulder vises vs. pattern makers vises, purple heart aprons… Who knows, I may find this bench is all I ever need, or I may end up building one a year for the rest of my life. The thing is I finally just did it.

[David Keller NC]

You're quite right. You (and I, and everyone else) will build multiple benches over our woodworking lives unless we spend a very short time in it and give it up. There is no perfect bench, and no perfectly-built bench. I've built at last count 6 of these, and the latest one last fall still has a glaring construction error that I'll have to correct.

[David Gendron]

Like someone said here the other day," are you building a banche or a piece of furniture?". when I look at it I think people go a little over board with the sole of there planes, and the construction of there banches. My banch was the first piece I build and it's far from being perfect but it sur does a great job at all the tasks I'm asking it to do!

When a look at picture of banches that use wood that is better than the wood I use for furniture... and tops that are so shinny that a even the best french polish would be asham of it self it make me think that people are making banch not for use but for show!!
Just my $0.02 worth!
David

[Sean Hughto]

I agree that folks usually build at least a couple. For example, I knew I would have to upgrade from my 2x4 and solid core door starter. But I'm not sure what would ever make me feel the need to change from my Fortune/Nelson:

[Jim Koepke]

Like many here, I have been spending countless waking hours thinking about building my ultimate workbench...

However, I'm still new at all this. How the heck do I really know what I want or need? ... There is no way.

This week I did what I should have done months ago. I just went out and got the materials to build what is essentially another version of the $175 workbench. The top is cast off butcher block at 74” x 24” and 1.75” thick ($80 – thanks for the tip Dominic!) ...

You don’t need to ask, you need to *find out for yourself*!

Take it from me, it’s fun and it gets you right into what you really want to do while quieting all those obsessive thoughts about shoulder vises vs. pattern makers vises, purple heart aprons… Who knows, I may find this bench is all I ever need, or I may end up building one a year for the rest of my life. The thing is I finally just did it.

Congratulations on coming to a real solution. I was going the indecisive route when it dawned on me to buy an inexpensive bench to figure out what works and what doesn't.

One question, where does one find the cast off butcher block?

I have been looking for bowling alleys being torn down or any source for a good low cost bench top material. Saw some Jatoba yesterday, but a 10 foot 2 X 4 was almost $27. There was one 4 X 4 piece there that had me thinking about buying it to make mallets and tool handles. The big problem would be how to cut it. That stuff is heavy and hard.

jim

[Dave Anderson NH]

It's called paralysis by analysis Dean. If we're serious about woodworking, most of us get afflicted by it at some point in our journey of discovery. It kept me from building a new bench for almost 2 years. I finally got moving and made some choices and ran with them. I have no regrets except for the standard one that I should have built the bench sooner.

[Dean Karavite]

Hi Jim,

I got my butcher block from info on a thread right here. The place was about an hour from Philly where I live. They make butcher block and other tops and have a stack of cast offs. http://www.mapleblock.com/

Who knows, there may be something like this in your area. However, I also just missed a Craigs list bench with a 2" maple top and import pattern makers vise for $250! Keep looking - there are deals out there in many forms!

[Dominic Greco]

I'm glad to see you took the initiative and built your bench! Way to go!

Did Russell throw in any extra "goodies"?

[Jeff Wittrock]

... Who knows, I may find this bench is all I ever need, or I may end up building one a year for the rest of my life. The thing is I finally just did it.

Well said.

I did the same when I finally put together a simple bench of SYP and all the straight 2X4s I could find and a simple leg vise. I think of my bench as a kind of test bed that I am not afraid of cutting into every now and then to try out an idea. You may well do the same.

Enjoy your new bench.

Jeff

[Richard Dooling]

Agree - do it. I'm on my second bench. I had one 20 years ago when I had a cabinet shop that was duck board construction. Just 2 x 4s on 6" centers - like a wall on its side. That let me put a bar clamp anywhere and chips and dust didn't collect on it. Very versitile cheap and sturdy.

The one I have now is based on a more traditional European bench but I've retained the open clamping area. I will incrementally change this bench. For instance I find I don't like how delicate the tail vise is. But the core bench design is good for me and I believe it will last for years.

It is made of softwood with maple at the clamps and dog holes. There are many ways to keep costs down and that makes me more willing to experiment.

I've got my shop to a point now where I don't feel like I need to be building . . . my shop. Still building my router table and bench has gotten my confidence back in something I haven't done for years.

Next up, a small coffee table and I need to finish off a cherry and mahogony desk I threw together in a rush this past winter.

.

[glenn bradley]

This is why I called my last bench "the next bench". There'll be others.

[Jeff Dege]

Just do it?

Yep. I've been building my first bench since February, and I'm nearly done. Just the vises left.

Learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. (My dog, though, is less than happy).

I've posted a link to a website documenting my progress in another thread:

Benchdreaming cure? Yep. Been doing that!

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Jim,

I got my butcher block from info on a thread right here. The place was about an hour from Philly where I live. They make butcher block and other tops and have a stack of cast offs. http://www.mapleblock.com/

Who knows, there may be something like this in your area. However, I also just missed a Craigs list bench with a 2" maple top and import pattern makers vise for $250! Keep looking - there are deals out there in many forms!

Thanks for the source.

jim

[Bob Easton]

Yep, just do something! Build one, or try one (like Jim). It won't take long to learn what works and what you want to change or queue up for the next bench.

An extra long version of Schwarz's "English Workbench" looked great for my boat building intentions. And it has been. It's 12 feet long, long enough for most things I want to do, but still too short. Dimensioning 16 foot long lumber on a 12 foot bench is the one task that proves the point that no bench is ever long enough.

For those interested in more than the pictures posted here, I made a few blog entries while building it, and it appears occasionally in the blog since then. See more at: http://www.bob-easton.com/blog/?cat=11

Since building it, I've added a few more holdfast holes and a full width planing stop on one end of the bench. It now has lots of dings and one area where a board split a bit, but those don't affect its wonderful usefulness. I don't regret a minute of the time spent building it and have no hesitation about modifying it.

If you're one of those folks stuck with analysis paralysis, I urge you to stop dreaming and get to it. You'll be satisfied, and you'll be moving on.

Of course, after you have a bench you have to build something else. ...

[Dean Karavite]

Wow Bob, that English bench is amazing.

I hope everyone took my post in good humor. It was funny that I spent so much time stuck in the "analysis paralysis" mode. Now I am having a lot of fun. I realized I did know exactly what I need nor was ready in my skills to build that ultimate bench. For me this has been a great exercise. I have made some minor mistakes already, from the base to dog hole drilling to vise mounting and let me just say that although these were minor and corrected enough to be functional (and probably nobody but me would notice), had I made the same mistakes on the dream bench with with $$$ worth of maple, I would require medication or something right now! Like I said, some people are super careful, perfectionists and can pull off a great bench the first time, and you have my respect if not envy, but others like myself do better with a "prototype" of sorts.