Bench height

[Simon MacGowen]

Derek's photos show people working on small sections of timber with a metal plane. How about when people work wider and or thicker material? Chris is mentioned, here is an example of him doing a classroom type example. It worth noting that when working on a wide panel, if the bench is higher then it has some extra reach trying to get there. He has no issue with reach over a

Excellent observation here. If you do both types of work a lot, you need an adjustable bench (or a lower bench for planing wider boards and for assembly, and raise it up when needed). Otherwise, pick a height that suits the type of work you do most.

Simon

[lowell holmes]

I thought a bench should be at your knuckles height.

[William Fretwell]

In my case that would be knuckles plus 7” to get my bench height so not even close.

[chris carter]

Enlighted me. Why would someone want a LOWER bench for planning wider boards? That just doesn’t make sense to me. The lower your bench, the lower the angle of your arms, the less distance you can cover with the plane, thus making you bend over to increase the reach. The higher the bench, the higher the angle of your arms, the greater distance you can cover without having to make up all that distance by hunching over wasting energy and putting strain on your back. Granted, at a certain point as the bench gets higher you lose a certain amount of power (and a good vision angle). However, the opposite is also inefficient because you lose power when your arms are angled too far down so you have to bend your knees excessively to raise the angle of your arms to generate enough power – that’s also a waste of energy and depending on how much sports you did as a youngster, hard on your knees.

Now I have absolutely no education that would entitle me to throw out this hypothesis, but I’ll throw it out there anyway in hopes someone else here knows something. I would propose that the best height for any type of planning where you maximize power vs. energy and minimize excessive knee bending and back hunching in order to be more comfortable, would be a bench height where your arms are at 45 degrees. Right after typing that sentence I went into my basement, put a piece of ¾ on the bench, plopped a plane on it, grabbed it and backed up until my arm was completely straight. The angle was 43 degrees. This was with a wooden plane, so I’d imagine a few degrees higher for a metal bodied plane. I honestly had never thought of this before, and certainly not when I made my bench. But perhaps this explains why I’m so happy with my bench height!

Okay, someone with a kinesiology degree, please explain this stuff!!

[Graham Haydon]

Hi Chris. One of the chaps in our shop has his bench up very high, about 42 inches. It's just harder to reach over but is better for close up work in the vice. I'm happy enough with the other benches that are about 34 > 36. As Tom mentioned, the only way you can work out what works well for you is to do some work and find out. If you're comfortable, effective and happy in your work your likely doing it right. I would like to hear Warren's feedback, however I'm sure he has better things to do!

Thanks, Simon

[James Pallas]

Unless you are working on dining tables and desk tops, or work benches like Ken Hatch all of the time I don't see the fuss about height. If a panel is less than 30" or so I like to work across the bench or off the end for planing. I find it easier to move along the panel than reach out sideways. For the rare occasions, for me, that I need to work long wide panels I break out my sturdy sawhorses and brace the up a bit with diagonals and clamps. I'm about 5'8" and like the bench to be 38". I do have an Adjust a Bench now but for the most part it stays at 38 1/2". Most of the work I do is joinery type now. It's easier to see when you are closer to it. I do hate to bend over to work.
Jim

[Monte Milanuk]

Does the type/style of plane used enter into the equation?

Seems like when a lot of these 'standards' were established, people were using wooden body planes that tend to sit higher, and have less mass, than the equivalent metal body hand planes...

[Alexander Zagubny]

Not only were they shorter, but they also tended to die long before back problems started to show up! Or poor eyesight for that matter.

I say to completely ignore all rules for bench height. Stack some wood/books/whatever on a table and pretend to work and see what’s best. Personally, I see no advantage to hunching over a bench.

FWIW, I’m 6’6” and my bench is 42” tall and it’s perfect. That’s significantly taller than any rule of thumb even taking into consideration my height.

I'll second that. 6'1" tall and 40" bench surrogate. I used to have it about 8" lower but like 40" much more. No back pain and better sight on the piece.
However now I tend to use Veritas bevel up jack a lot and I like it's weight. Not sure what is it related the most, probably a bit of everything. BUJ offers more upright handle, lower profile and center of mass. And more convenient and precise blade adjustment. It's probably better suited for high benches or that might be unrelated shift in my preferences (realized that I prefer woodworking to restoring planes).

[Jens Hoffmann]

And that's why I have two benches: One for joinery work, where I want to have my stock higher at almost elbow height - and one for stock prep work, which is lower (32.5" - I am 6'1"). Planing lower feels a lot more comfortable to me. Sawing higher feels a lot more comfortable to me. I chose the height of my joinery bench so that my elbow would be at a 90 degree angle when sawing with my sash saw.
Your mileage may vary.

[William Fretwell]

Thanks Jens, you clearly had a definite methodology to your height choice. I too played around with saws, but mostly planes to get my height choice. You don’t say what your joinery bench ended up at, just curious?

[Zach Dillinger]

I'm 6'5" and my bench is 33" tall. I sit down while doing detail work so the low height has never been a problem for me.

[lowell holmes]

Well, you can make your bench higher than you expect and then cut the legs off to suit you after you make your mind up.

Or, if your bench is too low, you can block it up to suit.

[Jens Hoffmann]

Thanks Jens, you clearly had a definite methodology to your height choice. I too played around with saws, but mostly planes to get my height choice. You don’t say what your joinery bench ended up at, just curious?

Sorry about that. I think the joinery bench is 41" high but I will verify when I get home. It's about 40" wide and 30" deep

[Hasin Haroon]

I'll be a contrarian in this thread - my first bench was 36" high (I'm around 5' 10") as I just couldn't bring myself to build a bench around 32" high (which is what the pinky rule would suggest I think). I recently completed my second bench, and made it 32" high, and much prefer it. I find I can use the force of my legs more than my upper body, so extended planing is less tiring - I wish I'd made my first bench lower. Of course, the caveat is that you bend more, which, if you are older or have a bad back may not be ideal.

[James Pallas]

Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that all the Moxon and bench on bench stuff was all the rage for making it easier to see for joinery? Lower benches may be an advantage for planing long and wide wide boards or doing all the milling work without machinery. Could be a planing beam and a higher bench for the rest of the work would be better. I don't think a single bench can do it all well or that one size fits all. My pinky could be 3 or 4 inches higher or lower than yours.
Jim