Workbench in an apartment

[Noho12C]

Hi all,

I moved from Sweden about 6 months ago. I had there a room in the basement where do some woodworking (well, rather shavings and saw dust, but was fun).

I am now living in a flat, and bought couple of months ago a sjoberg smart vise, that I put on my living room table. I can get a bit of stuff done, but nothing really serious (quite complicated to hand plane and at the same time try to keep the table in place with your feet...).

So, I have been considering lately to buy a workbench. I have a spare bedroom where it could fit, and I would be using only hand tools. So noise shouldn't be an issue (no neighbors above nor below).

Do any of you has a workbench in is apartment ? Is it even "legal" ? (I'm renting the flat)
What are your thoughts about it ?

Thanks for any opinion and feedback !

Chris.

 

[sunnybob]

there is no law concerning a workbench in a flat, unless you are running a business for profit, because then you would have to pay business rates (and health and safety would get involved).
you say no neighbours above or below, so you have no problems at all.

 

[Noho12C]

Thanks for your reply ! it's just that it seems kinda weird to have a workbench in a flat, but if I'm not the only one, then it's fine.

oh, and nope, no business (with my skills, i would go bankrupt very quickly )

 

[sunnybob]

I have seen pictures from a man who lives in a hi rise flat, he has a storage cupboard on the ground floor. So he built a wheeled work bench that totally fills the cupboard that has multi uses and does his woodwork in the parking area.

Theres always someone stranger than you.

 

[Bm101]

If you ever drive down the A40 westbound out of London you'll see 4 identical blocks of 2o odd storey flats. I used to clean the windows there. As I was abseiling down I past the balcony of one flat I came across a work bench of small size but beautifully made. An old Polish chap came out and about 15 floors up we had a conversation about woodworking. There's me hanging off my rope 15 floors up and I'm having a chat with this old gentleman having a coffee and a cigarette. Lovely man and it made my day. Blokes I work with were completely baffled. Crack on I say. He had about 6 foot square of space to work in. Opened my eyes a bit tbh. It was probably the point I stopped trying to buy my way out of problems and address my skills shortage. So there you go. Take from that what you will.

 

[ED65]

Do any of you has a workbench in is apartment ?

"Apartment woodworking" is now quite a known thing. It has actually been around for a very long time, it's just with the Internet it has become more publicised in recent years.

Instead of buying a workbench I would suggest making your own, because most of the cheaper workbenches aren't as heavy or as stable as they need to be for hand-tool woodworking. While they can be fitting with bracing to lessen racking you can build one that is far more stable from softwood and chipboard, plywood or MDF, usually for far less money. Here's one I happened across in a library book recently that I posted in another thread:

You might also like to have a read through of this thread from 2013 that's 10 pages long so there's sure to be much good information in it: workbench-advice-t68948.html

 

[Noho12C]

Thanks for the inputs ! very helpful and appreciated !

I already built a workbench (when i was in sweden) but this time i would like something better that can last a while. I am considering to get the sjoberg elite 1500. heavy, thick top, vices seem good (apparently not much racking), and not too big..

 

[Rorschach]

Crack on with it. If the flat is rented then I suggest you don't do anything like fixing to the walls without permission but other than that you should fine. Hand tools will make some noise still, vibration mostly so keep your work to reasonable hours.

If you intend to do business then your rental agreement may prohibit that, so be careful. No need to worry about H&S or business rates though, they won't apply.

 

[Harbo]

Not much more different than having a model train layout in a spare bedroom and the work that entails.
My study is the fourth and smallest bedroom and my desk is often used for soldering, minor repair works and housing my computers [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]

Rod

 

[MarkDennehy]

Definitely can be done...

https://theapartmentwoodworker.com/
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/workb ... nch-in-use
http://www.closegrain.com/2013/12/apart ... bench.html
http://imgur.com/a/LKZsR

 

[Andy Kev.]

Here's a possible solution from a bloke called Heiko Rech (who writes for what appears to be the only German woodworking mag) in which he shows an arrangement for bolting his Festool MFT-3 table onto the wall and so ends up with a bench which can be used for planing as it is rock solid and of course it can be used with Festool power tools if you want. The text is in German but the pictures are pretty clear:

http://holzwerkerblog.de/werkstatt-2/ar ... tool-mft3/

 

[deema]

Have a look at Logan Cabinet Shoppe from the USA, he appears to operate out of a spare room in his house. He made a bench as well as a whole range of stuff.

https://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com

 

[custard]

If you ever drive down the A40 westbound out of London you'll see 4 identical blocks of 2o odd storey flats. I used to clean the windows there. As I was abseiling down I past the balcony of one flat I came across a work bench of small size but beautifully made. An old Polish chap came out and about 15 floors up we had a conversation about woodworking. There's me hanging off my rope 15 floors up and I'm having a chat with this old gentleman having a coffee and a cigarette. Lovely man and it made my day. Blokes I work with were completely baffled. Crack on I say. He had about 6 foot square of space to work in. Opened my eyes a bit tbh. It was probably the point I stopped trying to buy my way out of problems and address my skills shortage. So there you go. Take from that what you will.

What a great story!
=D>

 

[DTR]

If you ever drive down the A40 westbound out of London you'll see 4 identical blocks of 2o odd storey flats. I used to clean the windows there. As I was abseiling down I past the balcony of one flat I came across a work bench of small size but beautifully made. An old Polish chap came out and about 15 floors up we had a conversation about woodworking. There's me hanging off my rope 15 floors up and I'm having a chat with this old gentleman having a coffee and a cigarette. Lovely man and it made my day. Blokes I work with were completely baffled. Crack on I say. He had about 6 foot square of space to work in. Opened my eyes a bit tbh. It was probably the point I stopped trying to buy my way out of problems and address my skills shortage. So there you go. Take from that what you will.

What a great story!
=D>

+1 =D>

 

[ED65]

I am considering to get the sjoberg elite 1500. heavy, thick top, vices seem good (apparently not much racking), and not too big..

:shock: Well if that's your budget go for it, we wants what we wants, and if the Sjöbergs Elite is what you're after you're unlikely to be happy with a more utilitarian bench. But have to say it: you could set yourself up for less than half that. And just think of all the lovely kit you could get with £700!

 

[MIGNAL]

My bench isn't too dissimilar to the one you posted. Mine has good quality 2 x 3/4" birch ply top. When the top becomes too worn/beaten I'll flip the boards, giving 4 surfaces in total. Given that I'm still on the first surface some 10 years on I guess it will see me out. The rest is just decent, fairly straight grained softwood, all bolts together. The ply base and back will make things very stable. Probably can all be done for around £150.

 

[gmgmgm]

In a previous workshop, I had very limited space. My workbench was several 4x2ft 18mm sheets of MDF, stacked up, clamped together and pushed against a wall. Using any support or table to hand. The MDF made a solid and heavy worktop; and creative use of clamps and a square block of wood allowed most things to be held.

Just make sure you plane into the direction of the wall!

 

[Andy Kev.]

Here's a fascinatingly original solution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpQprRclcss

I think I'd go for this if I had very limited space as he offers a system which allows everything from joinery to planing and it's partially collapsible.

 

[Noho12C]

sorry for the late reply. I finally decided to buy one from France, from Etabli Francois. The good thing is that you can customize them, so I asked for a thicker top (100 mm instead of 75 mm), round bench dogs holes, length at 175, and no drawer.
I might have gone a bit extreme with the top thickness, but i dont want it to move or rack when planing (though the legs construction play a big role in that). All in all, it will be cheaper than a sjoberg, and have exactly what i was looking for. Taking 6 weeks delivery time (they were closed for a couple of weeks for holidays in August) and I should get it next week. I'll (try to) post few pics when I get it and let you know !

 

[Biliphuster]

Etabli Francois are new to me, I look forward to seeing some pictures.

Is shipping it from France not going to be brutally expensive?