Black & Decker Workmate - Do you?

[HeathRobinson]

They have their drawbacks like movement when planing and the legs that seem to stick out just that little bit too much.

I guess I'm just interested in other peoples solutions to this type of situation.

I think I'd best describe myself as an ambivalent voter for the workmate. Useful, but not the start to finish means to an end that I'd hoped it would be :lol:

My most recent attempt at a solution was to use the workmate to produce it's successor - a workbench for use in my living space. I was pretty convinced I could make it work but through various prompts came to realise that that plan was pants.

So the call for aid went out and woodbloke strode up to my humble abode with his trusty steed (no, I don't mean Alyson!) and gallantly purchased my workbench wood with some Tesco finest cream eclairs and a well to do screwdriver.

Now I am without workbench, but with the infernal workmate, and for some unfathomable reason it is marvellously relaxing knowing that my very environs have constrained the technicality and stature of my wood working. One much humbled is also one much relaxed.

Take heed and inform one's wife that thine work shop is too small for even box making and it is good only for the drinking of fermented beverages and relaxation and the ogling of lovely tools and all will be good.

 

[woodbloke]

They have their drawbacks like movement when planing and the legs that seem to stick out just that little bit too much.

I guess I'm just interested in other peoples solutions to this type of situation.

I think I'd best describe myself as an ambivalent voter for the workmate. Useful, but not the start to finish means to an end that I'd hoped it would be :lol:

My most recent attempt at a solution was to use the workmate to produce it's successor - a workbench for use in my living space. I was pretty convinced I could make it work but through various prompts came to realise that that plan was pants.

So the call for aid went out and woodbloke strode up to my humble abode with his trusty steed (no, I don't mean Alyson!) and gallantly purchased my workbench wood with some Tesco finest cream eclairs and a well to do screwdriver.

Now I am without workbench, but with the infernal workmate, and for some unfathomable reason it is marvellously relaxing knowing that my very environs have constrained the technicality and stature of my wood working. One much humbled is also one much relaxed.

Take heed and inform one's wife that thine work shop is too small for even box making and it is good only for the drinking of fermented beverages and relaxation and the ogling of lovely tools and all will be good.

Simon - no further plans afoot yet for another bench? - Rob

 

[matt]

Dang! I got all nostalgic and fixed the old workmate. The only thing I'm missing now is one of the short springs that ensure the front legs (one of) snaps open or snaps shut (and is held shut rather than flapping about waiting to take out my ankles).

...and today purchased another pressed steel workmate on eBay for £26... It's:

A - Like new.
B - Identical to my current pressed steel so exactly the same height (a problem I suffered with the previous different workmates. Constantly having to prop up things to get a level.

In hindsight I'm convinced the trick to using a workmate is to have two. I can't imagine trying to do use one as the main workstation/bench etc. Having two the same height is going to be a revelation...

Now... what to do with the old one. It's "Vintage", you know...

 

[woodbloke]

Matt - send me one of the springs off your old one...I've got the same problem!! :lol: - Rob

 

[sheldon]

Does anybody out there happen to remember the model number used for the first Dual Height Workmate produce under the B&D brandname - i.e. the one on which all the frame sections and legs were entirely alloy parts ? Indeed did these first ones have model numbers?
I'd quite like to replace on of the H-frames on mine if I came across a 'dead' one.
Regards

 

[GLFaria]

Does anybody out there happen to remember the model number used for the first Dual Height Workmate produce under the B&D brandname - i.e. the one on which all the frame sections and legs were entirely alloy parts ? Indeed did these first ones have model numbers?
I'd quite like to replace on of the H-frames on mine if I came across a 'dead' one.
Regards

Hi
Just registered, and this is my first post on this forum. English not being my mother tongue, I must apologise beforehand for any glitches that you will undoubtedly find on my posts. And - sorry, I have atendency for writing long-ish posts...

I have owned a Workmate for some 40 years (still the same old one, pretty hard beaten, but still going strong). Now being retired, I manage to use it almost every day. There is no other way to work when you live in a flat - 7th floor no less - and have just 3 square meters available... I mostly use woodworking hand tools (noiseless unless you need to hammer something...), including hand planes. How does one do to plane with a Wormate? Well, just prop the thing against a big heavy cupboard. Plane a longer piece? Place a low bench as a "shim" between the WM and the cupboard. Etc... you must develop some inventiveness when you have no other means...

I already have had to make some repairs and refurbishing - the most difficult so far was bushing one of the threaded holes where the back aluminium frame is fastened to the base. I had to (slightly) enlarge the hole in the frame, then turn and thread a brass bushing, which I then epoxied into the enlarged hole. It has worked nice for about ten years so far.
I am in for a lot more work on it in a short time - eliminating all the play that developped on the slides along the years (I probably will use steel shims) and a big refurbishing of the tops. The real problem is - I need the WM for doing he work... Got to get around that one...

You may ask - why bother with all the work and not buy a new, modern equivalent ? Well, I am sorry to say there is no modern equivalent! This is a # 625 type Eo5, made in Ireland in the early 70's, I would be loath to let it go, and I have no need for toys, which seem to be all they are producing nowadays - never mind the brand (unfortunately, this seems to be true of many manufacturers who cater for the amateur market - they just don't take amateurs seriously, so they sell them junk labeled as "amateur grade"; take Stanley since the 70's as just one example; Bosch seems to be going the same way...)

As for sheldon's question:
according to Landis (The Workbench Book), I believe the first models produced by B&D were designated mark II. I don't know if that designation evolved into something different, as B&D seems to have adopted a different designation for every small modification they made to the original design... On the mark II a substantial number of parts, including the base and the lower legs, seem to be aluminium castings (I have only seen photographs, not the real thing). It also had thicker tops than later models.

I believe there were several different nos., marks or types produced with steel bases and aluminium frames, the last one being the 625, which is the one I own (#626 already had a stamped all-steel frame). However, any one model seems to have included several different sub-types, differing only in small details (hence type 625 Eo5 on mine; I know there was a #625 type 6, as I found a parts list - albeit a short one - from a spare parts supplier). I tried to find some more informations about this specific model, but even B&D in England were not able (or at least so they told me; as far as I'm concerned they may as well simply not have bothered to search...) to find anything about the #625 in their files :shock:

Anyway, I attach some pictures of the one I own:

 

[bugbear]

I too have one of these:

Superb item, loads of uses, wouldn't be without it.

Useless for stock prep with hand planes though.

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

This site might help - a type study featuring 141 carefully captioned pictures of Workmates!

http://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Workmate-Type-Study/5539701_TNtt7z#!i=1009291940&k=Spf8NSq

 

[carpenteire2009]

GLFaria, fantastic first post, I think your command of the English language would put most to shame! I noticed a very interesting stamp on the rear of the ply jaws of your Workmate: "Made in Republic of Ireland", my own home country. Indeed my father has one just the same, which was manufactured in a Black & Decker plant somewhere in County Kildare I believe. I understand my father bought through his cousin who worked in the plant at that time, sometime in the early 1970s I guess. I remember my father used to have some scraps of the multi-ply (which I assumed to have come from the plant) lying around his workshop for years- it was incredibly strong and durable. I remember the cast alloy frame cracked on his Woprkmate about 25- 30 years ago and he was able to have it welded by a local fabricator, although I think it was quite a feat to weld aluminium alloy back then. It is still going strong to this day, having seen seen duty in the garage repairing vintage cars and various remodelling works on buildings over the years. I posted some time back on repairs to my own "modern" workmate:

repairs-and-upgrades-to-a-b-d-workmate-t65215.html

Thanks for sharing your "Workmate" story.

 

[JohnPW]

Useless for stock prep with hand planes though.

BugBear

You need to put something between the workmate and a wall, and plane against the wall, ie you move your plane going towards the wall. For planing bigger work, you can clamp a board on top of the workmate. You can use use battens to stop your workpiece moving around, same as on a normal work bench.

There are limits though and it's never going to be like planing on a work bench but it's not completely useless.

 

[Racers]

The jaws are far to bendy to plane thin stock. I used to use a workmate stabiliser, a 56Lb weight to stop it moving around.

Pete

 

[Harbo]

I have two of the very early ones with a very thick ply top and ply base. Also no extension feet in those days.
Very stable and have been very useful over the years.

Rod

 

[CHJ]

First one I came into contact with and used was one of the ones Ron Hickman sold himself at trade shows, so versatile I tried hard to locate one but wasn't able to get one myself until B&D took up the design and produced the first alloy ones, somewhat more DIY quality than the original but it lasted me 'till late 90's.

 

[GLFaria]

...your command of the English language would put most to shame!...

Thank you, you are too kind. I am afraid we should at least qualify this as " English written language...". As for the English spoken language, it is a true puzzle as far as I am concerned (speak of putting together a number of totally different letters and pronouncing them exactly the same way, or putting together a set of the same letters written in the same order and pronouncing them in totally different ways, with completely different meanings...)

Thank you for the link, I am going to start exploring this forum, I believe there is a lot to be learnt here. I must remember to take some pictures when I next refurbish my WM.

AndyT, thank you very much for the link. Very interesting information, even though it is limited to the models sold in the US; I don't know if there were significant differences between the models sold in Europe and in the US. I already downloaded the Excel spreadsheet; a pity it starts a litlle late (type E, 1975).

The exact model I own is shown in pictures 49-58, on page 3. I am also fortunate enough to have one GripMate as shown in pictures 97-98, page 5 (it was unfortunate I did not buy two of these at the time, it is an invaluable accessory).

 

[GLFaria]

Forgot to ad this link to a beautifully refurbished top:

http://shedprojects.blogspot.pt/2011/06 ... refit.html

 

[chippy1970]

First one I came into contact with and used was one of the ones Ron Hickman sold himself at trade shows, so versatile I tried hard to locate one but wasn't able to get one myself until B&D took up the design and produced the first alloy ones, somewhat more DIY quality than the original but it lasted me 'till late 90's.

My dad made the first one for Ron. He came into my dad's engineering shop one day and asked him to knock up the prototype from his plans.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[Paul Chapman]

First one I came into contact with and used was one of the ones Ron Hickman sold himself at trade shows, so versatile I tried hard to locate one but wasn't able to get one myself until B&D took up the design and produced the first alloy ones, somewhat more DIY quality than the original but it lasted me 'till late 90's.

I bought one of the original Workmates manufactured by Mate Tools. Must have had it for about 44 years and it's still going strong. It was a brilliant design and so well made. What a pity Black & Decker have dumbed it down so much

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[modelman093]

Still got an original beech topped Mate Tools model. Lost a couple of the little swivel plastic feet but expect that some can be found on the bay. Great bit of kit.

 

[Cordy]

Made a bracket to fix to garage wall for mine; holds quite well

 

[scholar]

Made a bracket to fix to garage wall for mine; holds quite well

That's clever, but I don't need it now as my body has evolved to achieve various strange contortions to allow me to plane whilst holding one foot on the step or rear bar of the Workmate....

Workmates of all permutations have the limitations variously described earlier. I do have a lovely Lie Nielsen workbench that I try to keep for "proper woodworking", but I would not be without my numerous Workmates for all sorts of other jobs, too numerous to mention, but often involving a hacksaw, a hammer, an angle grinder, a spraycan, just a quick sand here and there etc etc.

I agree with the comment that they are very handy when used in pairs.

From memory my collection includes:

- one pressed steel blue model (not the oldest style, but one of the original mass market models I guess).

- two of the WM750/Workmate2 (?) models with the larger, moveable, rear jaw (I have made an insert that enlarges the work table surface)

- four (!) Workmate 2000's. These have not been mentioned, but are a different thing altogether. I saw one being used by someone at a craft fair and since then have scoured eBay etc for these (I think I'll stick at four so you are free to know this now!).

The WM 2000 was not perfect either as on the earlier models, the central top section was poor quality blockboard that warped and the jaws were relatively poor quality plywood, but I do find them very useful for garage jobs, working on site etc. (One day they will get a proper upgrade with some decent birch ply). These models are heavier and thus less easy to lug around, but they are pretty stable (although of course a hefty workbench is much better for heavy planing). The WM 2000 does allow you to clamp a board standing on the floor, which the other models don't as mentioned.

Here are a few pics of my best one, bought second hand, but pristine, for about £40 I think. It seems to be a later model with a more stable veneered hd fibreboard centre section.







Cheers