I’m ready to start gluing up my 2 3/4″ maple workbench top and am torn between including a tool trough or not. Been thinking of doing one down the center, which would also help with movement of the top and enable me to run both parts of the top through my planer. I plan on using the bench mainly for hand tool work, rather than as a place to set machines, sand, etc. I seem to be going around and around about it, so any recommendations for or against a trough?
Brian
Replies
Tool Trough Pros: It's a nice place to store stuff.
Tool Trough Cons: It's a nice place to store stuff.
;-)
Seriously, I have one at the back of my bench and it is a dumping ground for all sorts of cutoffs, tools, etc. I clean it out about once every few months so it doesn't get too out of control. I would think a trough in the center of a bench would just get in the way (or at least the stuff in it would) when you need to work on anything that would span the width of the bench.
I use my bench a lot for hand tool work (but I still use it for sanding, setting machines, etc.) What, you don't need to sand stuff when you use hand tools? You'll have to show me that trick -- I hate to sand! The only way I've found to escape it is to let My Lovely Assistant do it as part of the finishing schedule. She uses the benchtop for sanding irrespective of whether I plugged in or not during the construction phase. ;-)
I don't see why incorporating a trough in the middle of the surface solves your planer problem. You just plane the top in a few sections and carefully join them. Putting a trough in the mix would just complicate that.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I have not had one on any of my benches and never have missed it. They are junk collectors. You can make your bench that much wider too, you’ll use the added space. As to the planner, I am on my third bench and have flattened the tops on each one with a router sled and P-C router with a 1 ½” bottoming bit, works great and is very fast. BTW, you’ll sand on your bench, believe me.
Brian,
The bench I made awhile back (more than 20 years), has a small tool trough in the middle. By small, I mean about 1 foot by about 8 inches. Good place to store bench dogs, and some wiping rags, but not big enough for too much junk to accumulate.
That said, if I were doing a bench now I would probably leave it out - it's not that useful.
Bob
Brian, my first bench, after the two of construction lumber, was a cheapo "Nordic style" with two vices, round dog holes, a tool trough 6" wide and a top 24x50 on a 2 1/4 hard wood frame & legs.
I will never have another tool trough. Why?
1- collects dirt, saw dust,small parts and tools.
2- makes cleaning up harder as ya can't vac it without mining it first for small parts and tools.
3- it fosters sloppy tool care as parts don't get put away, just lost.
4- it steals from the useable size of the bench top--you WILL wish you had that space back within 3 projects after you build it.
5- the tool trough will always be where one leg of the chair or bench that you need to level comes to rest so now you cut a block as a filler (oh, clean out the saw dust and junk first) or cut up a new sheet of ply to cover the bench and trough.
6- it complicates the construction of the bench for no good reason except for being an old tradition and wastes time and good wood stock.
As already mentioned, do your top in sections that your planner is happy with and then carefully glue them up. Paddy
My 2 cents-
Built mine with a trough about 3 years ago. Would not do it that way again.
It's a collector of useless stuff instead of a storage spot. I like a clean shop but I'm not disciplined enough to clean out that tray all the time. I use my bench for a run off table for my TS. I can't count how many times I've had to clean out the tray because something useless was sticking up above the table.
Magnus
"Remember, a bad carpenter always blames his tools" -Joe Conti-
Brian,
I have one on the back of my bench and I use it to keep smalll handtools that I'm currently using. I find it handy but can easily be abused, i.e. using it for a junk collector. Takes some discipline but I do like a certain amount of order in my life.
Oh yeah, and the last thing I do before leaving the woodshop is to put all tools back where they belong, cept for the ones in the trough as I will be using them again real soon. When I finish a project the trough gets cleaned out and everything is put away.
Otherwise I spend way too much time lookin for stuff.
Of course you must understand that on Napies bench his tool trough grabs stuff from all over the place. As a matter of fact that dang trough of his does it when he's not looking too, all by itsef. So don't blame Napie for the bad name his trough has inherited, from him. Hi Napie! :-)
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
last thing I do before leaving the woodshop is to put all tools back where they belong.............
I would too, if only I knew where they belonged.
The only reason for a trough is as a place to hide your sharpening jigs....
My present bench, which is my 2nd, has a tool trough. My third, which I may build soon, will not. They are like black holes. Everything falls in there, mostly things you don't want to. Make your bench that much wider, and store your tools elsewhere, and close by.
Jeff
I put a tool trough on my first bench. It just filled with sawdust. I prefer a open shelf just under the bench and a small tool cart. The small tool cart is what my dad used when he worked on cars.
So I'd have to say no.
Len
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time. " J. S. Knox
I have used benches with troughs, but my present bench does not. I have a shelf immediately under the top and then a second one about a foot below that. The top one is where I keep the dogs and clamps I use frequently. The second one is where I put the tools in use at the present time. It is easy to reach under and pull out the plane or ruler or pencil I need and yet they are out of the way and it is possible to clamp things to the top from either side.
OK, guys, it's on: no tool trough. This will really streamline the project; I just ripped a few more boards to make up the difference. I feel like a modern woodwerker again. Nice to have a crew figuring this stuff out for me while I'm off installing baseboard, the lowest form of finish carpentry . . .
Brian
P.S. didn't really want to send this to myself, but I can't figure out how to send to "ALL". Wasn't there an easy way before?
Brian,
Hasn't changed that I know of.
To send to ALL, simply reply to any message in the discussion and then click on the down arrow to the right of the name in the To: box, just to the left of Others. It will display a drop down menu of names, one of which is ALL, usually up near the top of the list.
Doing this you can also redirect your reply to someone else by selecting a name. One thing I'm not sure of is if the list of names reflects only those who have responded to the current discussion. I assume that to be the case.
Regards,
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
While I am solidly in the "no tool well" camp, I think my side is overrepresented here: general opinion is more evenly divided. You do need to consider your workbench as it is used with other surfaces in your shop. I just divide the uses differently, and think that accessible tool storage is better provided off the bench surface, for instance on an open nearby shelf allocated to the purpose. But I am considering the way I work, and my crowded shop where shelves are nearby, with room for the workbench and only one low assembly table. I also see no crime in using a workbench for purposes someone else does not.
Brian,
I won't tell you to build it with or without a tool trough, but if you do, either make atleast one end open or put ramps at the ends to facilitate cleaning it out. I'd rather have a shelf below. How useful is a center trough if it's covered by the workpiece? If you want the trough to store tools rather than simplify construction, consider having one along the back. I've seen ones that slide along the back edge as well as ones that slide away from the bench perpendicular on pipes.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Tool troughs are great. The problem arises when one tries to press a planing and joint cutting bench into service as an assembly table. You need both and each one has distinctly different characteristics and uses.
Don't give work surfaces the short-shrift. You need at least three: a planing bench, a regular assembly table, and a low set-up table. The low set-up table is about the same height as you would make a pair of sawhorses (the low kind a hand tool woodworker would use). Great for crosscutting, boring holes with a brace, or anytime you need to really get on top of the work. And you'll want to use it when you assemble relatively tall carcase pieces too. A regular assembly table has a height somewhere in between your bench and the low table. This is where you do your panel glue-ups, drawer assembly, case assembly, and practically any other operation where you are gluing joints together. A small vise can be mounted on either one of the types of assembly table.
One does not get glue near the planing bench. Ever. If space is an issue, then make something that breaks down. There is no excuse for not having sufficient work surfaces in a serious shop - amateur or professional. In fact, where amateurs are concerned you can usually gauge their commitment to the craft itself by their collection of assembly tables, parts carts, etc. Guys in it just for the tools usually just have the main bench. Guys actually building stuff, and a lot of it, figure out early on they need work surfaces other than the planing bench. And don't worry about whether or not the Dominy shop had them or the Whogittyboo shop had them. Don't sweat it if frickin' Moxon didn't write an epistle about his collection of assembly tables. You need them. Trust me.
A standard European style bench, basically a bench for planing single boards at a time and for cutting joints, is one helluva lousy assembly table if you are a furnituremaker. And an assembly table is one helluva lousy planing bench.
Tools sitting in the trough are never "in the way" if you're planing a board, cutting joints in the front vise or the shoulder vise, or if you're chopping mortises. They are only "in the way" if you are trying to do case assembly on a 24" wide workbench which is a fool's errand as far as I'm concerned.
I have tools whose place IS in the trough. That's where they live. They're used so often I wouldn't want to take one extra step to get them or have to constantly open and shut drawers. We're talking about paring chisels, a gent's saw, a knife, small square, pencil or two, twelve foot tape, small fine ceramic stone, dovetail template, a couple of scrapers, etc.
Does the trough have a little dust and a few shavings in it? Yep. Big deal. I'm a woodworker, not a maid. When it gets a little thick in there I wrap my hand around a shopvac nozzle and vacuum up what will come up by running the nozzle a few inches above the trough(I have ramps but I rarely empty the trough to sweep every last mote of sawdust out).
Think about your methodology before you make a final decision. If you use a workbench for what it was designed for a trough is not in the way. It's a great help - a stepsaver and a timesaver.
Knock something with Starrett or Lie-Nielsen stamped on it off the backside of the workbench and onto the floor and you'll bloody well wish you'd had a trough. Plain flat tops are for assembly tables where the worst thing you might knock to the floor is a bottle of glue.
Workbench design cannot be considered in a vacuum as is often the case. Your commitment to using other work surfaces vastly impacts how you end up designing your main bench.
I'm sure before long somebody will come along saying that they use their main bench for everything and a bunch of other blah, blah, blah. I would let it go in one ear and out the other. You need the three I mentioned above (and maybe more). I can absolutely promise you that you won't regret it.
Edited 5/21/2008 4:54 pm ET by TaunTonMacoute
i am building a 3" thick beech workbench right now. i am building a small removable tray. i was sure that i didn't want the tray to be permanent, but it can be a nice accessory. i think it is nice to be able to put down a tool at your working heigth but not protrude above your top.
have fun working on your bench. i know i am:)
Every day is a gift, that's why it's called the present.
Right on Charles.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I do agree with you about multiple surfaces, and I would never use my new bench for glue ups. I do not think that tools in the trough would be in the way very often. But I am not a dedicated hand tool user and do not plan on planing long boards on a daily basis. My bench backs up against a wall so other easy sorage options are doable. I have a large, tall utilily table the same height as TS, BS, and know I need to build a lower assembly table soon, if I can work it out spatially. Anyway, thanks for your words and your passion.Brian
Waxed paper is inexpensive (I buy mine at the dollar store) and will protect your bench, letting you do glue ups without getting lumps on your new bench. Every flat surface in my shop eventually gets used for something innapropriate and the waxed paper and sometimes a router mat keep them pristine.------------------------------------
It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump. ~David Ormsby Gore
Brian,
I have to echo what Bob (Kiddervilleacres) said about the back trough and the work habits and also the general bench philosophy of Ton Ton.
A center tough may be problematic but only if you work against it's concept. Use the tools (the benches) for what each functions best at. It seems that everyone has decide that there can be only one battleship in the harbor and that it must also have a carrier deck and a troop ship below. Fine for some but I don't believe sloppy work habits and laziness should define the qualities of a true bench.
I use it (the trough) on my cabinet makers style bench to hold tools I'm currently working with. I may use three planes and a scraper working on a set of legs. I don't like excess walking back and forth, no matter what the distance to get one plane, put it back, get another etc. for each leg I may be working on. They sit in the trough. At the end of the work, they go home again.
For most of my life, I was a professional photographer and much of that time, I did large studio advertising and product work. I can't tell you how many times a new assistant would leave a 35 with the strap hanging over a table or a Hasselblad magazine unseen because some junk polaroids were covering it, or a 8 x10 view camera with it's rails hanging out, waiting for the next person to snag it and render a $14,000 Sinar useless. You learn not to leave stuff out.
I don't leave stuff on the benches nor do I let "junk" accumulate in the trough. No shavings either. Shavings, unless being used for burnishing off or are sitting around just for atmosphere and pretty pictures, are an invitation to rust and many little black shop clouds. Junk goes where it belongs right off the bat. I try to of deal with the junk immediately, as to not have it in the way or bothering me later.
Regards
BB
Its really not worth agonizing over that much. build your bench with a tool trough and then rout a rabbit along the edge if the trough on both sides then you can cover it if you with with matching wood and you can even bore a finger hole so you can gain access easily.
just my 2 cents.
Chaim
Make your own mistakes not someone elses, this is a good way to be original !
I can't think that I've ever worked on a bench that didn't have a tool well, or trough if you prefer. I've been using benches to do my job for about 35 years, and before that as a schoolkid about six years.
I've never found a tool well to be a problem, and you'd think in all those years I'd have noticed if it was. I like somewhere to put my tools that traps them and prevents them falling on the floor. After all, if you leave your square sitting on the flat surface of the bench, all you have to do to make it into a useless piece of wood and metal is sweep it onto the floor accidentally. If your square is in the tool well, it's very hard to to do that. The same applies to planes, saws, chisels, and anything else you're working with.
So, as far as I'm concerned a tool well is only a problem if you really want it to be one. For me, it's always just been part of a workbench. The name is a significant key. It's a workbench. It's not an assembly bench, nor is it wood finishing bench, or any other kind of bench. You work wood on it in readiness to move the wood to other surfaces for other processes. Whilst it's true that in a limited space yours, and my workbench, has to serve multiple functions, I still expect to find a tool well. If I'm using the bench to asseble stuff, I clear the bench and do the assembly work. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
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