biskit
Established Member
What height is the ideal for a woodwork bench. :?: I suppose it depends on how tall you are. :!:
Some say :lol: elbow level, but most are lower.
Some say :lol: elbow level, but most are lower.
Height of your work surface.
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Paddy Roxburgh
Established Member
Elbow is too high for most work. Graham Hayden (of this parish) suggested in his recent video "just above the gentleman area". Some go considerably lower. Mine is 38" (my bench, not my gentleman's area).
Paddy
Paddy
katellwood
Established Member
It could also be subjective to the types of planes used. Metal planes and the tote is at approx bench height, whereas some wooden planes the tote is as high as the planes body (approx. 3")
A lot of respect for Graham but gentlemans area only works for some and is not a good measure. Especially if you are a freak like me, short in leg and long in back. My benches were a second hand "bargain" and are far too short for me. I was shocked to read recently 5'10" Alf has a bench higher than mine and she's about 5" shorter than I and still thought it necessary to make the bench on bench which I'm toying with at the moement.
http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/benchraiser.html
I'd guess at about 3 inches below elbow but if you build it higher you can always chop a bit off. Not as easy to add some.
http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/benchraiser.html
I'd guess at about 3 inches below elbow but if you build it higher you can always chop a bit off. Not as easy to add some.
Cheshirechappie
Established Member
A much-discussed subject!
There isn't an ideal height for a workbench. It depends on personal preference, and the sort of work you do. Someone using machiney for most stock cutting and preperation will prefer something a little above Paddy's elegant suggestion. Someone using hand-planes a lot would find it about right, but someone using wooden handplanes would prefer a couple of inches lower (to allow for the planes being thicker, as it were).
However, most find ideal planing height a bit too low for marking-out work and joint-cutting. Some suggest having two benches, one at about the right height for hand-planing, one about six inches higher for marking-out. Great if you've got space for two benches. Another solution is a 'main' bench at hand-planing height, and an auxilliary bench to put on top when there's some marking-out to be done - bit of a fiddle, that one, though.
In the end - you have to find your own preference!
There isn't an ideal height for a workbench. It depends on personal preference, and the sort of work you do. Someone using machiney for most stock cutting and preperation will prefer something a little above Paddy's elegant suggestion. Someone using hand-planes a lot would find it about right, but someone using wooden handplanes would prefer a couple of inches lower (to allow for the planes being thicker, as it were).
However, most find ideal planing height a bit too low for marking-out work and joint-cutting. Some suggest having two benches, one at about the right height for hand-planing, one about six inches higher for marking-out. Great if you've got space for two benches. Another solution is a 'main' bench at hand-planing height, and an auxilliary bench to put on top when there's some marking-out to be done - bit of a fiddle, that one, though.
In the end - you have to find your own preference!
John15
Established Member
My bench top is wrist height - coincides with my gentleman's area.
John
John
Cheshirechappie":sddf5w86 said:
There is an ideal workbench height. You will certainly know when you are not working at it, either by your back pain, or inefficiency/frustration when using it that you just cannot get over the work piece how you would prefer to.. As stated. it is different for everybody.
One word of warning- you will find numbers often quoted in books, particularly Chris Shwarz et al who work almost entirely with hand tools. The figures that they quote, I found to be too low (for me) by several inches so before you cut timber... David Charlsworth, I believe advocated a bench height which was much nearer to my preference, although I forget exactly what it was now.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
I'm the same height as Alf - mine's 1 1/2" higher again. It's easy if you're building your own - just build it 3" or 4" higher than you think necessary, and cut it down if you find it uncomfortable. As you get older you find higher ones easier.
By bitter experience...
Make your bench about 4" higher than you think you actually need. Mark off the legs when the bench is apart every 1" from where you have cut them to the 4" shorter level. Mark around the legs.
Try the bench out, if it's too high lop of an inch no more and try it again for a while.
Why make it too high? Because it's amazing how much height you actually prefer to work at, it's obvious if it's too high, but I believe it takes longer to work out when it's too low....aches taking longer to develop from stooping.
Why mark the legs? Well once the bench is positioned often the bottom of the legs are damaged a little and marking out again is not as easy to enable you to cut them all off level.
Usually most people find that a bench between the first knuckle back from the tip of your little finger to where your wrist joins your hand is about right.....that's about a 4" difference in height!......and for most people accommodates the other suggested reference level.
Make your bench about 4" higher than you think you actually need. Mark off the legs when the bench is apart every 1" from where you have cut them to the 4" shorter level. Mark around the legs.
Try the bench out, if it's too high lop of an inch no more and try it again for a while.
Why make it too high? Because it's amazing how much height you actually prefer to work at, it's obvious if it's too high, but I believe it takes longer to work out when it's too low....aches taking longer to develop from stooping.
Why mark the legs? Well once the bench is positioned often the bottom of the legs are damaged a little and marking out again is not as easy to enable you to cut them all off level.
Usually most people find that a bench between the first knuckle back from the tip of your little finger to where your wrist joins your hand is about right.....that's about a 4" difference in height!......and for most people accommodates the other suggested reference level.
undergroundhunter
Established Member
I'm 6'2" and from memory mine is 38", I built it to 38" with the idea that if it was a bit high I could lower it. Its great for using planes but a bit low when cutting fine joinery, I may make a moxon vise for cutting dovetails and the such. Odd as it sounds I found the ideal height while ironing, I figured that the motion of ironing is similar to planing so went with the most comfortable height of the ironing board.
Matt
Matt
I read 2 rules somewhere. One is the length of your hand span under your elbow. One is the height of your a******e. They work out exactly the same for me. Personally I'm planning mine a little higher to start with as the guys say. You can't put the height back once it's gone.
Cheshirechappie
Established Member
marcros":11ghvimg said:
We could probably agree that most people eventually find a more-or-less acceptable compromise! :lol:
bugbear
Established Member
marcros":ougst2hx said:
That merely demonstrates the existence of non-ideal heights. It leaves open the unpleasant possibility
that all heights are non-ideal.
As CC implies, since ideal height is task dependent, if you perform multiple tasks,
your ultimate choice of height will be some kind of weighted compromise, quite
possibly non-ideal for any of the single tasks.
Life's hard.
BugBear
I'm just going to chime in and say that I'm tall (6'3") and much prefer a low bench... I've used quite a few benches, but the one I ended up owning is a school-type bench which comes to my mid thigh, allowing me to really get over the top of work, and when desired use all 18 stone of blubber as a human holdfast.
Jacob
What goes around comes around.
For most people anywhere between 30 and 40 inches depending on what you are doing, usually nearer 30.
Plus lower saw stools for sawing, and supporting larger workpieces.
Plus blocks to put under the legs of lower benches when they need lifting a bit higher.
Plus lower saw stools for sawing, and supporting larger workpieces.
Plus blocks to put under the legs of lower benches when they need lifting a bit higher.
focusonwood
Established Member
I did some research when I built my workbench, and people suggest difference heights depending on the work done...
I also measured the kitchen work surface as that seemed to be comfortable to work on.
I built my workbench to 900mm, and it works for me. I'm 6'1" and it fees about right.
I'm new to woodworking, so I didn't have experience to base it on.
I also measured the kitchen work surface as that seemed to be comfortable to work on.
I built my workbench to 900mm, and it works for me. I'm 6'1" and it fees about right.
I'm new to woodworking, so I didn't have experience to base it on.
The other factor in many workshops is the need to set the bench so that it does not foul (or in some instances lends support for) anything coming off the table saw or planer. If you need to be higher for detail work make a moxon or a mini bench that sits on top your bench.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
That's why I (amongst others) suggested making it too high, and lowering if necessary. I suspect getting older has something to do with it.
Yes and also your proportions: long legs, apelike arms or whatever.biskit":3nm64b4d said:
The type of work you intend to do is also an important consideration, as Robert Wearing put it in one of his books:
So do factor in what kind of work you're intending on doing on your bench. If you're primarily a power tool sort then 990mm or 39" could work out perfect for you, if you'll be working mainly with hand tools that's going to be a tad on the high side and something from 860-910mm (34-36") is going to suit you better so you can bear down on your tools more.
Wearing then suggests what many in this thread have already, experimenting to find the most comfortable height for you.
One thing I suggest you don't do is try to figure the highest working height you think you need and building a bench to that, instead you should have the lowest bench that'll suit. You can always raise the workpiece as needed for things like cutting dovetails by using a clamp-on vice, or just sit down instead of working standing up.
