I am designing my first workbench which I plan to start building soon. I was going to build one in the style of Tage Frid and Frank Klausz benches, but am leaning toward something similar to Lon Schleining’s Essential Workbench. I’m thinking this mainly due to simplicity of design and assembly of the top and vises. I also plan to add a cabinet of drawers for storage in the base, and a shoulder vise hinders this somewhat.
My plan was to build the main top out of hard maple as is done traditionally. However, the hard maple at the sources I have locally is running about $5/bdf for ‘white’ and $2.60 for ‘natural’. Does anyone have a suggestion on which wood to go with? Is ‘natural’ hard maple a good choice for a bench, or is it the same wood as ‘white’ hard maple but without the desirable white color for fine furniture? The lower cost of the ‘natural’ maple would save me money.
Also, I have come across a source of local Walnut that is priced reasonably for 8/4 kiln dried. However, after looking at previous posts, a walnut bench top may not stand up to as much abuse as the maple. I did find one bench online that has a walnut top by Doug Stowe. It is a different design than I was planning on and actually uses planks for the workbench top. Maybe this is evidence that walnut can be used successfully for a top?
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/fw_readshow_181.asp
If anyone has any suggestions for me I would appreciate it – thanks.
CK Stuart
Edited 7/19/2007 6:52 pm by CKStuart
Replies
I wouldn't worry too much about tradition. Maple is heavy and long wearing which is desirable for a work bench, but you'd probably be fine with almost any hardwood.
What to keep in mind is that even though you want the bench to look great, you're building it to use. All wood will wear, and all finishes will get scratched up. In that respect I recommend going with the cheapest hardwood you can find. Maple is a great choice, and will look great when you're done. If you suspect the wood may be soft, then make the top thicker... you can always plane it down a bit if it gets too heavily worn.
Myself I'd probably stay away from Walnut, unless it was really cheap. It's too dark for my shop.
Buster
Chris Schwarz has been investigating historical designs and building workbenches for the past year or more, eventually culminating in a book due out in the next month or so. His blog has journalled some of the processes, discovered some evolutionary dead-ends, and adapted useful features. Do a google search and you'll find some of his information.
P.S. Go with the colored maple, it won't make much difference in a bench.
I have the Frid workbench, of which I was about 2/3 complete by the time the Klausz workbench was published. So I have a few features of the latter. One thing I found important was to adjust the height to your stature. I'm 6'5" and raising it a couple of inches from the norm was a real back saver from my prior (inherited) bench.
The newest issue of Woodworking Magazine is now available for downloading. Chris Schwartz has the complete article on his latest work bench that looks very interesting.
I used maple, beech and birch laminated in 12" sections so I could plane them before final assembly- all vey hard- all light color but the slightly darker birch adds a nice contrast. Save a few buks on the birch and beech and then blow the savings on a nice plank of curly maple and something cool for the outside edges and the tail vise
I don't know about prices in your area- you'd need to check for yourself. I am still using the bench I built 15 years ago so go ahead and treat yourself to some quality lumber
Dave
The best woodworking bench in my opinion is John White New Fangled workbench from FWWhttp://http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignArticle.aspx?id=28530
Be particularly careful about the cabinet/drawers you plan to put in the base. Make sure the overhang of the top is extensive enough to allow generous use of clamps. You don't want to have long boards all clamped up and ready to be worked only to discover that the router bit you need is the drawer whose access is now blocked by the clamps. (It's happened to me.)
Norman
I found a nice site for workbenches! It's always good to look around prier to the purchasing and construction faze! one never knows what might turn up!
http://www.workbenchdesign.net/im
Chaim
Chaim,
I tried the link but IE didn't find it. Chopped off the /im and it worked.
http://www.workbenchdesign.net/
Nice resource. Especially liked his panel raising woodie.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks Bob
Your a really thoughtful guy.
I'm still trying to get the knack for irfanview.
I still can't seem to get the jpeg files small enough to upload! Wish me luck and thanks again.
Chaim"paitience little grasshopper" when you can take the chisel from my hand you can then leave the school!
Hi Chaim,
In Irfanview when you click on Image (up at the top along with File, etc.) a drop down menu appears which lets you select Resize/Resample. Click on this and in the Set New Size dialogue box, there is a selection for Inches which I use. A good size width is 9 for Knots.
Also, when you click on File/Save As, make sure the file type is jpeg. Sometimes it defaults to BMP. You don't want this and you can change it easily there.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks I try it next time I have somthing to post!
Chaim"paitience little grasshopper" when you can take the chisel from my hand you can then leave the school!
I don't beat on my workbench so even though I did use hard maple (and padauk) I probably could have used anything that is stable.
BTW, on vises, I really like my Veritas twin screw end vise. Highly recommend it over traditional vises. I have a patternmaker's vise on the other end, equally happy with that one.
Morning CK...
I have built around 20 of them over the past 35 years, some for me but most for friends that paid me to make one for them. I have used about everything for material from traditional to one I built from 6"-12" scraps that I finger jointed using a finger jointing machine at an industrial site. Others have had replace-able inserts for the tops, etc.
At this stage of the game, I don't think the material used for the top is as important as building a rock solid base and adding the exact features you want to match your shop needs. And that includes style, height as mentioned, over-lap for clamping, vises and last but not least; the amount of space you have to accommodate it. Again.. unless you have a black-smith shop.. I don't think that major hardness is that much of an issue. Dents doesn't jeopardize anything.
The current bench-top I have is made of ripped 2 1/2" #2 grade birch ply laminated face to face with a removable 3/4" birch ply insert. Then a maple skirt was added to the outer perimeter. But in this case I decided instead of replacing the insert after about a year and a half when it finally cupped slightly, I would try something else I was curious about just to see how it would work.
I simply hand planed the top (ply and all) and coated with bondo. Then quickly leveled it by using a flat edge pulled across the too as you would with concrete as in a drive-way, etc. Once dry you ROS it lightly and get back to work. Pretty.... nah! Flat.. ya betcha and with a minimum of work to get it back to that condition. So.....
My base is made from Doug Fir from a single beam recovered from a civil war warehouse here in Atlanta I had ripped to smaller pieces. I simply re-laminated it to get the sizes I needed for legs and runners. Again.. the material is not as important as the joinery. I asked 6 HS football player so try to rack my bench when complete with whatever method they could come up with using their force.
They couldn't rack it even before I added glue to the joints as the final step. They had an extremely difficult time sliding it also, as I put a piece of that rubbery mat stuff you use on table-tops to hold down stock while routering, etc. under the massive feet. They are still trying to figure out why they couldn't make it move? ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..
BTW.. sometimes a work-bench can be play a multi-purpose role with a little thought. Don't over-look any possibility in purpose that might be advantageous to you and your shop set-up.
Good luck with your first...
Sarge.. john thompson
I'm at about the same point as you except I'm mounting mine on Noden legs so only have to make the top. Called around Friday and the hard maple is going to run me $6.45 a B.F. for 5/4. I think it's a bit less for 4/4 but for an increase in work and glue ups. My hardwood source also has European Beech for $4.50 for 4/4 or $4.75 for 8/4 (no 5/4). I'm going to take a look at that when I go out there. I've seen a few pics of some benches made of Ipe which can be gotten at lower prices, but the stuff is a bear to work. The weight is a plus though. I thought about Ipe but think I'd prefer having a lighter colored wood just for vision reasons.
If you build it he will come.
I read and hunted and thought about my workbench. Basicly, I found good European or American woodworkers of old had Maple tops, vises with wooden jaws, a tool tray, and storage beneath for handtools.
To save some space and use the same materials, I combined a workbench with an assembly bench in the form of a "T" shape. To save on costs, the 2-1/4" thick Maple came out of two old metal leg worktables, the wooden jaw vises on sale from Woodcraft, and the metal vises from a closeout a Home Depot or at the monthly flea market. The raised panel Oak doors, Walnut lumber for the stripes, and Oak trim came from the same monthly flea market for pennies on the dollar.
The two front pivoting 6" casters have both a foot brake to lock the caster and an indexing pin to lock the caster at any one of the 4 compass points. If you don't lock the pivot points on the casters at 90 degrees to the table, it will move around the caster points of the casters. It's mass rolls much like a piano, but so much easier, yet it can be locked in place and is steady as a tree stump.
It works for me.
Bill
My first bench was based on Woodsmith's European workbench from about 15 years ago--a good plan BTW. After doing this for years though, my first bench need replacement--it was a first project, so it wasn't built as well as I could have. My new one (maybe 2 years old) is based on Ian Kirby's bench from Woodworker's Journal. His is a massive top, with a big stop for handplaning, a good vise, and no bench dogs.I made some changes:
1. I did the sliding stop for planing, it's great
2. I wanted a patternmaker's vise, so I got a Taiwanese knockoff. It's OK, not great. If I had to do it again, it would be an old Emmert or a new Lee Valley Tucker
3. I put in lots of dog holes where I thought I would need them, and coupled them with Lee Valley dogs and bench pups, etc. I put in too many dog holes; I didn't need as many.
4. He recommended no tool well, and I agreed. All I did with the old one was accumulate lots of dust and shavings. Too much mess.
5. I put in something I always wanted: a Lee Valley twin screw side vise, the one with the chains. I never use it. It's tough to move, and not worth it. I regret that one.
6. I built a big heavy base and put drawers in. You can see it on my gallery in my club website:
http://www.liwoodworkers.org/gallery/gallery_member_main.asp?m_id=27
Another change I would now make is to get that Adjustabench set of legs, so the top could go up and down. My top is maple. I was actually considering ipe to make it even more massive, but I didn't want to chew up my saw blades, and I didn't want to carry that much ipe either. It's also a dark color, and this was where Ian and Frank Klausz disagreed. Ian suggests the bench be a light color, making visibility easier. Frank didn't care. I admit, if it's good enough for Frank Klausz, it's good enough for me. He's amazing.
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