Comments on: Hot or Not? Store-Bought Workbenches

By: Dimithri

Dimithri — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:48:39 +0000

My first workbench was a slab of heavy wood resting on milk crates.

Now the slab of wood is mounted securely to a discarded kitchen pantry.

Also got a black and decker workmate ($20 at garage sale)

Build it yourself, and add stuff and refine it as you gain experience.

By: Pay Day Loan

Pay Day Loan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:21:02 +0000

Pay Day Loan

Speedy provider of online payday loan advance including the easiest payday loan qualifying.

By: Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Hot or Not Roundup

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Hot or Not Roundup — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:34:41 +0000

[...] Store-Bought Workbenches: Not. With the exception of zillion-buck, customizable options — which are firmly out of the range of most Toolmonger’s budgets — virtually every Toolmonger recommended building your own. Wanna know a secret: I have a store-bought bench. Sort of. I’ll post a picture of it next week. [...]

By: Toolmonger » Blog Archive » From The Flickr Pool: A Good Basic Workbench

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:20:59 +0000

[...] As readers told us, Toolmongers build their own workbenches (unless they’re rich). TM reader and photo pool member Schnaars posted this photo of his home-built basic workbench which meets all our standards for a basic unit: functional, inexpensive, and practical. Good stuff! [...]

By: Teacher

Teacher — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 01:33:16 +0000

I vote not. Mine is simple..8 feet long and 2 feet deep and ~34″ high. made out of 2×4’s and 2×6″. Really just a heavy table with a shelf underneath. My dad and I did it in one afternoon. I take pride in knowing I made it and seeing it change color as it gets stained, burned, cut etc. It would kill me to do that to a store bought bench. Plus I(230 pounds) can jump up and down on this one and it doesn’t move.

I also have an old executive desk I use for an assembly table and tool storage.

Question: My bench grinder is mounted on an old microwave cart I found at the dump. Is that store bought or home made?

By: JasonY

JasonY — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 05:28:15 +0000

NOT! You can make one so much better quality than you can buy one, and customize it to boot.

By: nrChris

nrChris — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:57:31 +0000

Not with the caveat that some of the high end woodworking workbenches are very very nice and useful. Personally I had too much fun making mine and have been keeping a notebook of how to improve it on round 2.

By: Eli

Eli — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:32:56 +0000

Ikea has a stainless covered work surface that I talked my wife into buying for her desk. Like a hundred bucks, add legs. She’s already complaining that it’s too cold for her (rubbing hands with glee). That thing will be around forever, and you know where stuff that sticks around forever ends up !

By: William

William — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:04:29 +0000

From reading this thread I am excited to build a work bench at my new house next month.

At make they have a nice post on work benches and designs. http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/06/simple_workbench_and_mega.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

By: Brau

Brau — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:29:42 +0000

I also add NOT! If you can’t build one yourself, you likely won’t need one at all, unless you are providing a workspace for employees.

By: jeff

jeff — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:17:25 +0000

not. definitely not. what could be more gratifying than building your own workbench?

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:59:17 +0000

I reluctantly vote Not. If you are going to have a workbench and actually use it then you are capable of building your own workbench designed to your needs. If anyone needs ideas on what can be done with custom workbench projects just search through Flickr for workbench. Tons of stuff to see.

I have a custom built and a “found” workbench. I built my own trestle table style workbench (Hey, Brent! ) to fit my height and reach. I also have a 1950’s steel table that is substantially heavier construction than modern office furniture. Both are in the Toolmonger photo pool.

By: Stu

Stu — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:47:02 +0000

NOT……but if you are rich, there are some very well designed and built workbenches out there in industrial catalogs. But they are 1000’s of dollars. The Home Depot style ones are crap. usually…

By: Tbirdsaw

Tbirdsaw — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:38:58 +0000

Not. We have a workbench from my great grandfather that is still in use today. It was just modified (cut in half and split) to fit in our remodeled garage.. so now we have two workbenches.

By: James

James — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:32:45 +0000

Definitely not. Even for a total newbie. If you’re learning to build stuff, why throw away a chance to learn, practice, and get something useful out of it?

By: Andrew Freese

Andrew Freese — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:06:49 +0000

Not.
But not because of antipathy towards store bought. I’ve built mine twice now and it was a fun learning experience both times (the second build 5 years later is MUCH better). And I’m pretty mine is better (at least for me) than any store boughts except those I couldn’t afford.

By: Michael W.

Michael W. — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:18:17 +0000

I’m going to waffle. I make furniture for a living. I have used both types and have found both useful. I bought my boy’s a used Sjodberg woodworking bench (it was a great buy at $25 bucks). It was nice to be able to get them up and running without tying my time up making them a bench to use.
I also have a very heavy duty steel marver (basically a very thick steel tabletop mounted on a hydraulic base) that we used to use for glass blowing. I use it for any kind of metal work I need to do. I’d would hate to try and make something like it.
On the other hand I love making my own benches (yes I have more than one) and just picked up a small (30″x48″) laboratory type workbench, the kind with the cool heavy, slate-like, top for free. I’m going to strip the metal down, repaint it, and use it for nasty chemical work!

By: Douglas Kwan

Douglas Kwan — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:51:34 +0000

hot if you are new to working with you hands. not, if you already know what you are doing

By: Pete Hartman

Pete Hartman — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:43:36 +0000

OH, BTW that’s a vote for NOT even so.

By: Pete Hartman

Pete Hartman — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:43:08 +0000

When I built my workbench I had no idea what I was doing. I took a standard plan and added thickness (to level with my chop saw, one of my first serious power tools) and there I was.

I find now that it’s extremely difficult to use for any real woodworking, because I don’t have any standard clamps big enough. I have to use pony’s on 2 foot black pipe to get anything reasonable. I really need to build a real woodworker’s bench, but…..too many other projects

By: crashin

crashin — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:30:54 +0000

I say hot, but the one I bought had only the very basic work surface.

By: Sean O'Hara

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:26:25 +0000

I’m going to have to weigh in with Leslie and say that when first starting off if you need something to get started, store bought units give you a great jumping off point to figure out what is what.

I will admit that two years ago when I got mine I didn’t know what design would be best for me and didn’t have the cash to build it anyway. A few years later I have a much better idea of what improvements I need and how I am going to go about doing it with the one I build.

Also if your scope is generally smaller projects or crafts such as modeling or carving a store bought rig can be just whatcha need to get rolling without major headache.

So “Hot” if your new “Warm” if you just don’t need a custom rig and “Iceberg” if you’re a seasoned shop vet with a shop full of gear.

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 31 May 2007 19:15:04 +0000

Not… I built a trestle style bench… In the photo pool. The way I built the trestle style let me put a lot of equipment under the bench.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 31 May 2007 19:01:28 +0000

I vote not. Even though my work bench is no where near complete (two kids in two years kills any free time) I take pride in knowing that I will have built it myself. I just hope when we move to a bigger house I can get it out of the basement.

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:07:31 +0000

NOT!

A decent but simple bench is pretty easy to make, if you can’t manage that yourself, you really have to ask what you are going to do with it.

Plus for me, the two most important features of a bench are 1/ a top surface that I don’t have to worry about drilling, cutting or scorching (ie I can do these things and not care), and something firmly attached, so when I am swinging off a vice trying to bend something my bench doesn’t fall over.

I just finished making a pair of saw horses, because the ones at home depot were either a/ lame - I want a saw horse I can stand on & not worry about it breaking, b/ expensive or c/ both. So a couple of hours later I have a pair of sturdy horses. Same deal.