Replies

1. 
   Balls | Jan 25, 2009 04:38am | #1

   Hi Randy,

   I'm building one of the "John White - New Fangled Workbenches" at the moment.

   Once it is built and you are standing in front of the bench, you will appreciate the fact that the "clamp well" is as close to the front of the bench as it is. If it was any further to the rear of the bench, I would be bending over to work on jigs and work clamped. So I believe that it is well designed. (I too had some concerns about how well the bench would fit my needs, so I have built it as cheaply as possible ... thinking of it as a prototype. However, now that it is almost finished ... I think that it will suit my needs and will now not need to build another.)

   I have another bench for heavy duty use, so I never intended to use my bench for chopping, etc ... which I think may cause problems with the "Dry Wall screw type joinery". Having said that, I'm confident that it will serve me well planing, holding my routing jigs secure, clamping, sharpening, sawing, chiseling etc.

   Before building this project I spent 2 months searching the web for similar ideas for benches. I then spent 6 weeks recovering from surgery and used that time to further think through the building of Mr Whites Bench. I now acknowledge that the things that appear to be "light weight" are actually designed that way for a purpose. It is not until you think through how you will use the bench that you come to understand this. ie. I don't think that your modifications to the front are necessary - since the purpose of the heavier front on other benches is to keep the workpiece at 90 degrees - and the planing beam achieves this purpose. (I now think that a whole book could be written on the subject of this bench.)

   Thanks again to John White and Fine Woodworking. The fact that there wasn't a detailed plan actually helped me to get much more out of this project.

   Good luck with your bench,

   Best regards,
   Chris Ball