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Thread: Workbench ?

  1. #16
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    Mar 2016
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ian Guy View Post
    Plate 11 http://www.plate11.com/ has good looking Roubo-style benches and kits. You can customize front vises and/or tail vises. They had a floor model at Handworks last year and it looked like a quality bench
    Thanks and bookmarked. That split top looks really nice. Although price wise it’s in the range of the larger lie-nielsen bench.
    https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...LNRB?node=4113
    Last edited by Greg Parrish; 08-13-2018 at 9:47 PM.

  2. #17
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    I would go with Lie-Nielsen.

  3. #18
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    Sep 2008
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    Howdy,

    Between the BC and LN you won’t go wrong. An I’mp question is what type of work do you do? I built a BC with wagon vise and use the wagon at least as much as the leg vise. And if I had it to do over would really consider the LN tail vise. Importantly, I do quite a bit of smaller scale work in addition to furniture projects

    My top is 4” thick and I don’t have issues with the tfww holdfasts.

    Hope that helps

  4. #19
    I had to google Defenbach workbenches just to see if anyone started making them again or similar , alas, not so it seems.
    I believe Richard Maguire has stopped making them also, but he is in the UK anyway, so that would cost an arm and a leg even if he did continue to make them.
    Another brand that popped up is Laguna, those might be worth an in depth look
    No one makes the Scandinavian workbench now, as far as I know which is a pity.

    Tom

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Trees View Post
    I had to google Defenbach workbenches just to see if anyone started making them again or similar , alas, not so it seems.
    I believe Richard Maguire has stopped making them also, but he is in the UK anyway, so that would cost an arm and a leg even if he did continue to make them.
    Another brand that popped up is Laguna, those might be worth an in depth look
    No one makes the Scandinavian workbench now, as far as I know which is a pity.

    Tom
    Thanks. And yes, it’s a pity there are not more options pre-made. Just not enough demand I guess.

  6. #21
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    Hmmm, do these high priced benches come to the door already assembled? IF not...it will take too much time to assemble the bench? Might as well, IF one is in so much of a hurry, to walk into Harbor Freight, buy the $170 bench, stop at a BORG, buy a slab they sell as benchtops, a sheet of 3/4" plywood to stiffen the legs. You can be using a bench for ~$200..and by that evening..until you finally find the time to build one you like. Plus, you can use the H-F one to help build the one you like. Much easier that way, than setting up a pair of sawhorses.....DAMHIKT.

    The one I have been using for the last 5-6 years? Was built from supplies from a dumpster..took an entire Sunday afternoon to build.

    maybe there is a difference between a bench made for actual work ( dings and all) and one that merely looks like a bench, but you dare not make so much as a pencil mark on it?

  7. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by steven c newman View Post
    Hmmm, do these high priced benches come to the door already assembled?
    My Sjöbergs Elite 2000 came in two flat, but very heavy, boxes. One had the top, complete with vises installed, and the support base in pieces ready for assembly. The second had the components for the cabinet. I carried all of the components, except the top, to the basement and assembled the base without any help and spent less than ten minutes assembling the base. It took two people to carry the top down to my basement and place it on top of the base assembly. I think the cabinet took about an hour to assemble and fit into place, but I did this by myself as well.

  8. #23
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    I'm just going to throw this out knowing you don't want to build one. Being in the same boat and my old built bench was too short, I opted to build the Chris Schwarz two day workbench through his video of the same. While mine took three days, the hardest part was the leg assembly and if you have a dado blade on a TS, that's easy too. The top is two layers of 3/4 butcher block counter tops at 8 foot by 25 inches. It was easy to make and it weighs about 200 lbs. After boring the dog holes, I'm very happy with it. The video is pretty good about step by step and there is an easy way to ensure the two layers are perfectly aligned. I put a front and tail vise on from my old bench but I'd skip the tail vise if doing it again.

    If I didn't have that as an option, I'd have bought one also. However, I have no regrets and I'm only out around $400 not including the vise.

  9. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Trees View Post
    I had to google Defenbach workbenches just to see if anyone started making them again or similar , alas, not so it seems.
    EDIT: Diefenbach?

    Apparently quality slipped per an article on _Fine Woodworking_ 1 Dec. 2006

    and there was a mention on the Festool Owners Group that the person doing the importing stopped in 2011 or so.

    The website workbenches.com where they were apparently sold from is 404 (the reseller?)
    Last edited by William Adams; 08-14-2018 at 3:48 PM.

  10. #25
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    Mar 2016
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    Florida
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    Ordered a few workbench books via amazon to read over the next few days. Will try to use the info to help narrow down my needs and wants out of a bench to hopefully help with style choice.

  11. #26
    I have often lusted over these Swedish benches: http://www.workbenches.se/en/index.php

    If that's your bag, it could well be worth getting in touch - however I doubt they will be cheap, especially when factoring in the shipping.

    But they are beautiful benches

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dom Campbell View Post
    I have often lusted over these Swedish benches: http://www.workbenches.se/en/index.php

    If that's your bag, it could well be worth getting in touch - however I doubt they will be cheap, especially when factoring in the shipping.

    But they are beautiful benches
    they are gorgeous. Can’t imagine the cost. When price is not listed, you know they are going to be high. But they look like a work of art.

    I want nice but functional. Strong wood but not so pretty I’ll cry if dinged during use. Hard Maple and European beech seem to be the most recommended.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
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    Ottawa, On, Canada
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    I would also vote for BC. If you need weight and stability, traditional Roubo is the best choice. Here is a couple of pics of mine, made from hard maple with ambrosia maple/walnut accents. I went with a wooden screw but still a criss-cross from BC.
    IMG_7101.jpg
    IMG_7091.jpg

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Parrish View Post
    Ordered a few workbench books via amazon to read over the next few days. Will try to use the info to help narrow down my needs and wants out of a bench to hopefully help with style choice.
    Greg,

    Bad move . Being serious for a sec, most first workbench builders over think the build. There is no way to know what works until you work on a bench. It really is chicken/egg. Build a very basic cheap and heavy bench quickly with maybe a face vise of some kind then work on it for awhile. You will soon find things you wish you had and they may be easy to add. You will also find things that drive you barking at the moon crazy. Once those two add up to enough motivation to build another, do it. The new bench will work much better for you than the old but odds are over time you will find enough reasons to build a third and maybe even a fourth bench. Whatever, you will end up with a bench that works for you. Reading books about bench builds usually just leads to over complicated benches that work no better than the basic cheap and heavy and if you work wood long enough you are likely going to go through the multi bench build process anyway. Might as well cut to the chase.

    ken

  15. #30
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    Mar 2004
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    Fantastic advice Ken!

    My bench, pictured above, is my 5th and it's 90% perfect for hand plane work and the kind of projects i do. 30-some years ago i lusted after a premade bench but there was nowhere enough cash in the till so i made my own. it worked but i hated it and that began the journey of building the ever elusive "perfect bench".
    The significant problems we encounter cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

    The penalty for inaccuracy is more work

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