Building a new Roubo workbench and was looking for some suggestions. My current bench is an 8ft long split top Roubo. I've moved and my current bench is too long for my new shop space so I'm rebuilding and hoping to learn from the first bench.



Split Top vs Anarchist Workbench
I'm struggling with whether or not to build a split top again or go with a solid top like the Anarchist Workbench. I do use the gap stop as a planing stop occasionally, but that is about it. In practice, I find that tools in the gap stop are more in the way than they are useful. Additionally, keeping two slabs coplanar has been a bit of a challenge as they move/change independently. This is probably my fault as I used various species of hardwood (whatever I could find at the time) from different sources to cobble together a top. I haven't found any need to use the gap as a place for clamps. I use round dog holes and use holdfasts and the veritas Hold Downs for clamping to the bench. For those that have worked on both a single slab and split top. What did you prefer?



Vise Hardware
First bench has Benchcrafted leg vise but no tail vise. The new bench will have a leg vise and a tail vise. I know Benchcrafted hardware works really well, but it is also quite expensive. Are there other options these days?