hello, i am new to this forum and relatively new to woodworking in general. my real job is farmer with my dad, but sometimes especially in the winter i have lots of spare time. i though i would turn my hobby into a profit by making workbenches. i came up with a design thats relatively easy and cheap to make and solid. i would like to know what more experiences woodworkers have to say about my design. the bench itself is 150cm x 50cm and 85cm tall, it’s made of norwegian red pine, it’s got a leg vise and a top vise both with dogholes. i make all the hardware myself to keep the costs down. in total the bench costs €25 in wood and €5 for the hardware etc… and it takes about a day and a half to make, so i try to sell them at €150 to earn decently. i sold my first 2 fairly rapidly and im in the process of finishing 4 others as i make them in series wich goes much faster. i also don’t fully assemble them so that people can carry them in their cars and finish them themselves at home. anyway here are the pics, it’s not a professional bench, but it’s rather an affordable bench for occasional woodworkers, i personally wouldn’t use such a bench, but people will only buy a bench when it looks like a classic bench. what would you do differently?
Replies
G,
It looks like a standard bench as can be bought from many stores but with some highly sellable differences: the low price and that leg vise. There may be a good market because of those two factors alone.
The bench in the pics seems to have been made for a left-hander.....? Presumably you can swap the vises to the other ends?
Some possible innovations:
Make a similar but scaled up version - maybe 200cm X 60cm.
Offer to make at a height to suit the customer.
Make a premium hardwood version in whatever traditional bench hardwood is available to you locally at reasonable cost.
Make a premium beefier version (everything a bit thicker in section).
The premium versions could offer improved hardware (at additional cost of course) such as an LV twin screw vise.
I imagine the hardest part, as with any business, will be advertising, marketing and selling, not to mention the paperwork to do with taxes et al. Maybe the best approach is to make a small number for stock but otherwise make to order?
Lataxe
My only suggestion is to consider the issues in Chris Schwartz's book, and consider building a second model with legs flush to the edge of the bench, Roubo style.
Best of luck!
thank you for the replies,
i actually started making the parts for 1 benchtop in beech, wich is the cheapest hardwood around. i reckon that the top alone will increase the price by €40. but it's also the first time ever i worked with any hardwood.
it looks lefthanded, wich is actually a mistake that came from assembling the first benchtop upside down. but i realised that having the legvise on the right appears to be most handy for right handed persons.
maybe someone can explain why all the other benches have it on the left? but for me it seems more handy on the right mostlywhen using a handsaw. i have my face vises always on the right on my own benches for that same reason.
im going to design other models that are more practical, inspired form the roubo and 21st century.
but no matter how much more practical those are, people without the experience won't easely buy anything else that doesn't look like their idea of a bench.
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