# Workbench designs and Must haves!



## Obraz (2 Apr 2018)

Hello all 

I'm just over a year into my woodworking and I feel it's time to do away with an old kitchen worktop style of around the wall and build a central (moveable if possible) work bench. I thought I would ask the "professionals" what your do's, don'ts and must haves are! All suggestions welcome from size to vices and photos of peoples benches are most welcome for ideas.

Background: workshop is 12'9" x 9'4 total and like to build tables of all sizes. 

Cheers Oliver


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## Fitzroy (2 Apr 2018)

Warning I have yet to build a workbench! However, it is in progress. 

I enjoyed reading Chris Schwartz book, ‘workbenches from design and theory to construction and use’. He is very precise in his opinions but it makes you think about what you want to make on the bench, how you want to make it, and how this influences the bench you want/need. 

F.


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## nabs (6 Apr 2018)

you have asked a very broad question so its not easy to provide any tips, but there are a number of detailed bench building threads on this site that touch on many of the choices/techniques/tools etc needed for bench building - you might want to look at those as a starting point. 

The good news is there are plenty of tried and tested designs that can be built with a modest investment of time and money that are easily in the grasp of those of us who are only just starting out. Best of luck!


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## Tasky (6 Apr 2018)

Legs. 
Legs are a good idea for a workbench. Very popular, too, I hear... :lol: 

I'm guessing you'll want a long-ish bench if you're building bookcases, but also a fairly wide one if you're doing tables?
I'd suggest looking at the 'traditional English' types, instructional videos for two styles of which are available from Paul Sellers and Richard Maguire. Both rather good and both very easy to alter pretty much all the dimensions to suit your specific needs. 

As to vice size, I believe the recommendation is 'as big as you can get'. It will still clamp small bits, but if you need something bigger you'd already have it. 
I personally prefer a Record 53, which is 10" wide. The other often recommended is the Record 52½, which is 9". Both are available with quick release mechanisms, and in E models (for Extended, I assume) that open wider. 
The 52½ is currently cheaper and more plentiful on eBay at the minute. More so if you don't mind scrubbing off a bit of surface rust and re-painting it up. 

Caution: A lot of bad words are said about Irwin models (which includes Irwin Record, since they bought the brand name), with reports of the cast iron being quite substandard.


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## nabs (6 Apr 2018)

even the humble vice can cause controversy: some people want 1, some 2, others none at all, some people like quick-release, others don't etc - but you will hear hardly a bad world said about the Record 52 1/2. 

Incidentally, plenty of people are happy with the current Irvin models although they are obviously made to a cheaper price point than the originals

If you don't mind applying a bit of elbow grease and are interested in an older model you don't need to limit your choice to Records either - Parkinson, Marples, Toga, Paramo, Woden and Rededa all made decent copies that often go for a song as they are less in demand than the Records. 

Assuming you avoid examples that have been obviously abused or neglected you are unlikely to have any problems that can't be resolved with a good clean up, but of course if you do end up with a broken one you you can't just swap it for a working one as you can with a new Irvin.


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## Sideways (6 Apr 2018)

If you enjoy reading up on benches, I'd also recommend to you "The Workbench Book" by Scott Landis. I bought it for my dad back in the late 80's and always enjoyed looking through it when I went home to visit.

One of the great things about benches is that you can pick a basic style and adapt it anyway you want / are capable of. With that point of view, the fun thing becomes finding designs and details that you like, deciding what will suit you and combining these into a personal bench.

I'll point you to Aidan McEvoy. I found this article on his "Moroubo" bench to be excellent. I would also note that you can make a very strong and durable bench top from nothing more that 2+ layers of 18mm birch ply with vices bolted under and a softwood frame. 

As well as the decision about vices, another decision to be made is whether on not you want some sort of tool well in the top of the bench. Some folk do. others don't. It's a personal preference. I find they attract clutter and if you have a board of any size on top of the bench, it blocks access to tools lying in the well anyway, so better without.

Finally, you get to choose the height to suit you


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## Obraz (13 Apr 2018)

Hey everyone

Thank you for the replies and comments. I think I will have legs cheers for the input but I hadn't thought about height, I was just going to make it the same as the mdf I have now. However thinking about it I'm going to lover it by 20mm this should allow for the thinkness of the work (and my height). 

Vice is a sticking point as I will probably put "dog holes" in so I can plane and sand without the piece moving but at this point I don't have the money to build a bench and buy a vice. I have a clarks engineers vice and lots of hole in my worktop. I have no worries about buying an "un-cool" vice but I'm not sure if I could fix one up.

I have seen a few things in the last few days I like. Having an underneath shelf for dust extractor to live, the "clutter shelf" removable and electric plugs underneath for tools.

This project is not just to build one but to test joints and learn more woodworking techniques. I'm sure by the end of this project I will know how to rectify most mistakes and wish I had done a few things differently.

I will read a few books and maybe even post the finished project in 6 months time (or longer).

Thanks everyone.


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## MikeG. (14 Apr 2018)

Perhaps the most important thing about a bench is that it is 100% stable. How you square that with it being mobile is a big question. I certainly wouldn't even contemplate having a mobile bench. Other than the need for them to be rock solid, there is an awful lot of tosh talked about benches. You'll need a vice, but that's all you need. Everything else is secondary, and falls in the "want" category.


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## Phil Pascoe (14 Apr 2018)

Get on with it - build one and use it  . In two or three years you'll build one that suits you better.


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## Iestynd (16 Apr 2018)

I agree - build it and post a picture. 

I bought an MFT3 - its ok but to be honest its a bit high for everyday use. I also really wish it was on wheels! 
It never gets folded down so i may make a mobile cart for it to "ride on" with some storage underneath.


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## lee celtic (18 Apr 2018)

I'm quite tall. (6' 2") and have a bad back so I like my bench on the high side so I don't need to lean too much. 

The bench I've just built is mainly for assembly and cutting fabric on so it's long and wide to suit my needs.. I built it from waste timber off pallets and as others have said you will need a vise.. Check out Ebay and shop local, I've seen several vises go for less than £20 that I could have picked up and all they needed was a drop of oil and fitting. 

I added a Record 52e just because I had it and it would come in handy now and again but since fitting it I've used it several times.. soooo handy.

I also added doors to stop the storage below filling with saw dust and having to clean it all the time. Doors are good M'kay...


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## custard (19 Apr 2018)

I'm 5'11" and my bench is 920mm high. 






I'll be building a second bench for my workshop soon and I may take that up to 940mm. I've worked in a workshop where the benches were all 960mm and that seemed to function well for everyone there. If you're not thicknessing timber by hand then a higher bench has the advantages of sparing your back and getting you closer for critical work.

There's no "best design" for all woodworkers, and you can normally find work arounds on any bench to get the job done. The traditional Nicholson bench design popularised by Paul Sellers, is cheap and quick to make, and the very wide aprons make it extremely rigid. However, the wide aprons also bring some disadvantages for some applications. They reduce the space available for under bench storage drawers, and they make cramping items to the front of the bench a bit trickier. For example, if you do a lot of copy routing at the bench it's useful to be able to secure a curved template and workpiece quickly to the bench with F Cramps.





One design element I find very useful is either a lateral slot down the middle or lift out trays in the tool well. The huge advantage is you can secure work with large F Cramps from the rear. This is really useful for long grain edge shooting or if you want to use your bench as a veneer press.





I use a pattern makers style vice. It's ideal for things like chairmaking and working with curved or tapered components.





However it's pretty useless for dovetailing, so much so that I have to drag out a separate Moxon style vice every time I make a drawer. Incidentally, that's why I'm planning a second bench with a traditional Record 52 1/2, once I've got that I'll sell the Moxon which will pay for the new bench!

I've got an end vice, and because it's there it gets used,





But I've worked at plenty of benches that didn't have end vices, and when they're not there I don't particularly miss them. A bit of ingenuity will always find a solution.

If you've got a workshop with a bit more space, then instead of filling it up with cheap machinery I guarantee you'll get far more practical benefit from a "secondary" bench. Doesn't have to be fancy, but a small sturdy table with a lower shelf will give you somewhere to store components, keep tools off your main bench, and allow for glue-ups and sharpening kit without taking over your bench.





Good luck!


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## thetyreman (19 Apr 2018)

my bench is 958.5mm high, I think it's about right if you are close to 6 foot, I am just under 6 feet tall. I have recently installed 2 drawers in the far end and they are proving very useful, but that's because I don't have a toolchest, at some point there will be shelves on the left end side for my sharpening stuff, diamond plates strop e.t.c, an apron drawer and a couple of holdfasts.


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## Phil Pascoe (19 Apr 2018)

Are you sure that's not half a mil too high?


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