Workbench width

[Grahamshed]

I will soon be building myself a new workbench. There is no specific use in mind, I just need to replace the old desk I am currently using.

Said desk is 36 inches deep ( front to back ) but most bench builds I see are only 20 inches or so. What are the reasons and advantages of having it so narrow ?

 

[Zeddedhed]

I've asked myself this question often. It seems a lot of people like the narrower bench style. When I built mine I ended going for 750mm (29.5 inches). The rearmost 8 inches are a tool well. Works just fine for me. I like the space - there's plenty of room to stand a piece of furniture on it when needing to work on the whole piece at a higher level.

 

[NazNomad]

I'd say most work is carried out on the front few inches of the workbench, there isn't a massive benefit in having dead space at the back (unless you create a tool well etc. like Zeddedhed).

 

[Bluekingfisher]

If will depend if you intend to use it purely as a work bench or and in addition as an assembly table.

Workbenches were traditionally around 24" wide, more than enough for the bench work intended. The lenght was/is usually more of an issue.

David

 

[marcros]

personally for me, i hoard stuff and it would get pushed to the back, so if i were to build another, i would go for somewhere in the 16-20 inch region. that is unless it were also for assembly, in which case I would size it towards the typical work that I make.

 

[AJB Temple]

Received wisdom is a narrower bench allows for better assembly and clamping of furniture and carcasses. This is the main reason.
Wide benches mean that stuff at the back can be out of reach.
Some people like a tool rack behind the bench.
Narrower bench takes up less space.

Chris Schwartz discusses this subject at unbelievable length in his second book where he has about 10 bench designs. He is anti tool wells too, as they just collect rubbish. However, I have a tool well and have no problems with it. Rigidity is more important than width.

 

[WoodMangler]

I have my bench in the middle of the shed, so I can work from all sides.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"Received wisdom is a narrower bench allows for better assembly and clamping of furniture and carcasses. This is the main reason."
Much as I prefer my bench narrower than it used to be, that is the one drawback - it makes assembly more difficult, I just don't have enough room. I can't quite work out where that's coming from. In an ideal world I'd have a large "table" for assembly and sawing, and a bench about 2' - which I have now.

 

[bugbear]

"Received wisdom is a narrower bench allows for better assembly and clamping of furniture and carcasses. This is the main reason."
Much as I prefer my bench narrower than it used to be, that is the one drawback - it makes assembly more difficult, I just don't have enough room. I can't quite work out where that's coming from. In an ideal world I'd have a large "table" for assembly and sawing, and a bench about 2' - which I have now.

Yeah - you can't really separate workbench design from workshop design.

BugBear

 

[BearTricks]

Mines 606mm because that's the width that mdf comes in from Wickes.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr_P]

I've got two huge 88" x 34" former metalwork benches and have them against the wall, the back is full of tool cabinets/chests so my most used section is now down to about 21" wide. Having said that most of my work is very small but if I did try and make something on the larger side I could re-jig things and have a wider bench if required.

The best thing about having such big benches is the sheer weight /mass, when I put something in the vice it stays there rock solid. I've seen plenty of better woodworkers than I on youtube with better looking benches that seem to move a lot when planing/sawing. Maybe its exaggerated by cheap tripods.

 

[artie]

Mines 8' by 9'

:shock:

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

At work I have an 8x4 bench with a sacrificial mdf or ply top (currently mdf but it has been ply and maybe will be again) as it can take a piece of ply for cutting with the track saw. At home in my shed I built an English apron style bench 3x7 with a central tool well, mostly because I copied Paul Sellers YouTube design. I don't really get the idea that the back is out of reach (maybe people have shorter arms than me), however if I were to build it now I would make it narrower so it could be in the middle of the shed and I could work on both sides, as it is I have to have it up against a wall which is a bit annoying. As for the tool well I would prefer it at the back as Zeddhead described unless I had room to get to both sides. All that said I'm not planning to remake one any time soon
Paddy

 

[wcndave]

Narrower is easier for assembly cos you can get to things for clamping. If you're making a drawer, and it's 18" wide, or deep, or anything 18", and you have a 3' bench, you can't clamp down. for sanding, planing, assembly etc. Most things that are big can be laid on side, or top.

I have made a split top roubo based on the woodwhisperer / benchcrafted design. It's rock solid, and slightly deeper, perhaps 26", but even with that I lose count of the number of times I have used the split down the middle. It's so useful to be able to clamp something from both sides of the bench.

Also a smaller bench has more chance to go in middle and get used from all sides, very handy.

Personally I put tool on the bench, or on the wall rack, or sideboard.

At the end of the day, what's the right bench is what's right for you. end of. most of the time we work with boards with limited width, but longer. Even making kitchen cupboards of 60cm depth I had no problems with assembly or working those pieces, in fact i found the opposite.

I made a really bad video here: https://youtu.be/4AsIiyfgGko
if you want a tour of my bench, there are others out there.

I liked Paul Sellers, however didn't want the apron.

I like the roubo split, the end vice, the massive leg vice, the sliding deadman (getting a lot of use now with big panels)

If it were solid across, and it's not that wide, I'd wish I had clamping access holes all the time.

When I had a wider one, against a wall, the back became a mess and I'm not strict enough to keep it tidy, so I had a narrow bench anyway!

 

[custard]

For some styles of furniture making it's very useful to have a bench that's reasonably flat, so that you can use it as a reference surface, use it as the underside platten of an impromptu veneer press, shoot edges with the side of the plane riding directly on the bench top, etc.

If you have a 36" deep bench you'll probably never attempt to flatten it, if you have a 16" deep bench there's every chance you'll give it the occasional skim with your jointer plane to keep it true. Mind you, this is a counsel of perfection, if you're tight for space then your workbench becomes your assembly bench (even though they're really two very different beasts), and then you really need the additional depth.

There's also the question of where the bench is located, a bench that can be accessed from both sides is fundamentally different from a bench that's pushed up against a wall.

 

[Grahamshed]

Thanks guys, that has help enormously

 

[sitefive]

If I had a large workshop I would make in the middle of it a table that is as wide/long as you can make it yet still is accessible from both sides.
Since my ''workshop'' is in a 15m2 large room which is also a living room I make do with an old dining table that can be extended when needed.