What bench?

[woodcassady]

Forgive me for knowing nothing -- I'm just starting out!

So, I need a workbench. A traditional bench would be ideal but I will not be working in the most ideal of spaces -- things will have to be tidied away at the end of the day. What are my alternatives?

Would a B&D Workmate be sufficient? If so, what models should I look out for? I have a tight wallet, do other manufacturers make cheaper/better models? What are the key things to look out for on eBay?

 

[Anonymous]

I started out with a B&D workmate (cheapest they did) and it served me well for a couple of years. I even clamped some MDF in it to make my first router table.

I would say spend as little as possible until you have gained skills through practice and are sure that you actually like doing it :lol:

B&Q sell cheap workmate clones - circa £19

 

[Colin C]

Or try carboots as I boght my last two workmate and they where about £10-£12 each for the big ones

 

[Pecker]

Just wanted to say Hi, welcome to the forum, and dont be embarrased to ask any questions.

Sorry, I'm not going to answer your question. but before any real answers can come forth, you need to think of what sort of work you are going to do on it. For basic type work then, yep go for a workmate - personally I think a "good quality" workmate is far better then a 9.99 put it together your self jobbie :wink:

mark

 

[Paul Chapman]

And if you need something bigger, you can glue together two pieces of 18mm MDF, screw a batten to this and clamp it in the Workmate. You could even bolt a vice to it. At the end of the day, unclamp it and lean it against a wall :wink:

Cheers

Paul

 

[woodcassady]

One other thing, how do you find using a Workmate posture-wise? I'm a little over 6ft and don't want a stiff back.

 

[Colin C]

One other thing, how do you find using a Workmate posture-wise? I'm a little over 6ft and don't want a stiff back.

Then there you might have a problem

 

[RogerS]

There's your first project! Some risers to lift it up. Avoid the Draper bench at all costs. It's rubbish. DAMHIKT.

 

[Scrit]

One other thing, how do you find using a Workmate posture-wise? I'm a little over 6ft and don't want a stiff back.

Dreadful! I'm a 6ft plusser and the Workmate is indeed too low and the worktop too small. On the other hand I still use one :? Because it will go in the boot of a car, upstairs in a customers house, it has a vice built-in, it acts as a "hop-up", portable drawer cramp, etc - so still a good buy in the short term, and something to build your first real bench on.

B&D did used to do something called a Workmate Professional or 2000 for the German market (possibly still do). They were a proper workbench height, although oddly enough not as useful in other ways. They made it here for a while, but they were three or four times the price of a WM625 (the top of the line then).

Scrit

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi woodcassady

Welcome to the forum, good to have you onboard.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Paul Chapman]

One other thing, how do you find using a Workmate posture-wise? I'm a little over 6ft and don't want a stiff back.

All the Workmate clones seem to be different heights (I have four and no two are the same height :evil: ), so if you decide to get one you might want to keep this in mind. The tallest of mine is made by Richmond and is 33.25" high.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[greggy]

hi woodcassidy, i bought 3 tressles from a carboot (£6) clamped some 1" mdf to it and made my first bench, i also picked up a lot of my tools from car boots, as well as the local free ads, then bought the best tools as and when i needed them. as for ebay make sure you buy from honest reliable sellers (like me) :lol: read their feed back, if they have negative KEEP AWAY.hope this helps.

 

[woodcassady]

Where do the real cheap ones fail? The tallest bench I've found is also the cheapest.

 

[Scrit]

It's not so much that they fail - more that they are too low for long-term use, too small, don't have a proper vice, etc,. but worst of all they are so light that they have a tendency to "walk" around the floor when you are trying to plane - so what is a boon in terms of portability can be a real disadvantage for long term static use.

One on my early benches was a water-damaged flush door (MDF alone is too prone to warping over time) clamped onto two cheap trestles with a Stanley portable vice (the L-shaped jaw jobby) on top - that's a £35 to £40 bench (although I reckon I could build a "real" bench in a weekend for £100 with a following wind and few tools). I still use temporary benches like that door today when I need extra space for assembly. Not permanent, but cheap and relatively stable.

Scrit

 

[Paul Chapman]

The original Workmate, designed and sold by Ron Hickman, was a brilliant design. I've had one for 36 years and given it very hard use and it's still as good today as the day I bought it. The first version was only saw horse height but the second version was dual height. Then Black & Decker bought it and its gone down hill ever since. Basically Black & Decker (and the other firms which produce the Workmate clones) keep paring it down and it's now a mere shadow of Ron's original concept. As Scrit says, it's too light and tends to bounce around - the original one, which was much heavier, was designed so that you could use your own weight to keep it fairly stable - and it had an adjustable foot so you could stop it wobbling on an uneven floor. And the vice bars were solid beech. Today's ones are better than nothing - but only just :roll:

Cheers

Paul

 

[KarpEnter]

Hi Woodcassady,

Welcome to the forum ! =D>

I would give this a try http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/167657

The Wickes one is good as it has a tilting facility at different angles especially if you want to plane the edges.

Regards
K

 

[woodbloke]

Paul - I remember I saw one of the original Workmate's in the COOP in Addlestone in the early 70's - wasn't the one you bought was it :lol: :lol:? - Rob

 

[garywayne]

Hi woodcassady, Welcome to the forum.

I use a workmate, have done for a while now, only because I have no other option. It's a right pain ITA. I recommend you don't do it unless absolutely necessary.

If I where you I would go for the most stable construction that I could afford. Don't skimp on a bench if you can help it.

 

[RogerM]

Any of these any good? Seems to be a reasonable selection - or maybe design a composite based on the most appealing features of each? Just my twopen'rth - I need a new bench myself.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Paul - I remember I saw one of the original Workmate's in the COOP in Addlestone in the early 70's - wasn't the one you bought was it :lol: :lol:? - Rob

I bought mine at the Do it Yourself exhibition at, I think, Earls Court. If you carried it home you got £1 off the price so that's what I did, via the Underground and British Rail. It proved it was portable but my arm did ache a bit (my wife had bought a metal bending kit and some metal and I had to carry that as well ). It was a great hit at the exhibition because most of the other exhibitors bought one and were using them on their stands. On Ron Hickman's Workmate stand there were these gorgeous shapely girls with T-shirts with the slogan "My vice is Workmate". Very clever (and good looking ). Before 1970 the portable bench concept didn't really exist and with DIY taking off Ron Hickman had a ready-made market. It's a pity the ones made today are so poor.

Cheers :wink:

Paul