Axminster Heavy Duty Bench

[Mike.C]

Does anyone own or have used this Axminster Heavy Duty Bench? http://www.axminster.co.uk/recno/4/prod ... -21594.htm

At £369 it seems very good value for money, especially when you compare it to the smaller and more expensive Hoffman http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psPro ... |||user||| or the Sjoberg Elite 2000 which is nearly triple the price http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psPro ... |||user|||

I know that Sjoberg are supposed to be the best on the market, but is the Elite 2000 really worth £600 more then the Axminster Heavy Duty?

Sjoberg have done away with most of their beach benches, and have replaced them with 6 Nordic ones made of Birch. These range in price from £250 to £410, and the four remaining Beech range start from £970 to £1650. Is beech a lot better then birch for making benches?

Hofmann which are priced from £450 to £950 have made both the top and frames out of beech, and they advertise that the top's are made from solid lenght's of wood and are not laminated 'like other manufacturers' Does this mean that the tops on both the Sjobergs and Axminster benches are made from short laminated pieces of beech. If so does this make them inferior to the Hofmann?

Hofmann state that their frames are made from beech, does anyone know what the frame/legs on the axminster are?

I have noticed that the more expensive Sjoberg's have done away with their tail vices, is this a good or bad thing.

Or do i forget the above and make my own?

Cheers

Mike

 

[LyNx]

Or do i forget the above and make my own?

I think you just answered your own question :wink:

Andy

 

[Chris Knight]

Mike,
I have seen the Axminster bench at a couple of shows and thought it looked like a pretty good deal, being quite solid.

I am afraid I can't answer your other questions.

 

[Colin C]

I would ring Axminster about they bench as it look very good for the money and it has the old type end vice which I think is the best IMO.
If you dont like the frame you could remake that :-k
Ps The end vice is the one I made for my bench, you will have two clamp surfaces, which can be very usefull

 

[Shadowfax]

Mike
I have an Axminster heavy duty bench. I had no time to make one so I went the ready-made route. No regrets at all. It is a good solid bench. The only things I changed were:
1/ The base of the tool tray seemed a bit weak so I beefed it up with some of the thin chipboard packing that comes with the bench. Just a case of screwing it on from underneath. No further worries.
2/ I moved the drawer further inboard so that the bench dogs clear it and the drawer does not tend to get dust and shavings in it through the dog holes.
It's an excellent bench IMO. Flat, solid and very heavy. The vices work well and I am well happy.
Cheers

SF

 

[dedee]

FWIW I would have bought the Axminster one had it been available in 5'. I bought the all beech Sjoberg bench instead.

Andy

 

[Mike.C]

Andy wrote:

Or do i forget the above and make my own?

I think you just answered your own question :wink:

Colin wrote:

If you don't like the frame you could remake that :-k

A combination of the two, now there is a very good idea, because if i do buy it, I will want to build some under bench storage,cabinets,shelves etc, so if the frame is not up to par, i could include a new one as part of the build. Cheers chaps.

SF wrote:

It's excellent bench IMO. Flat, solid and very heavy. The vices work well and i am well happy

At 112kg it certainly sounds very heavy and solid, especially when you compare it to its smaller brother the 'Medium Duty' which is 59kg.

Cheers to you all for taking the time to reply.

Mike