Workbench Book

[Slim]

Can anyone recommend a good book about building your own workbench.

The two I have been looking at are:

The Workbench - Lon Schleining
and
The Workbench Book - Scott Landis

Does anyone own these books? If so, are they worth buying?

Many Thanks

 

[ajbell]

SlimJim

I have the Scott Landis book
and am in the process of completing a bench based
upon a design in the book.

The book has quite a bit on the historical development of
benches which may be of no practical interest
however there are plans and descriptions of a number
of benches from very basic to more complex so you should find
a bench to suit.

I have not seen the other book so can't comment on it.

Andy

 

[Paul Chapman]

I have the Scott Landis book and it is very nice. However, I reckon that there are enough examples of good benches on here, such as the one built by Tony recently https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... hp?t=13922 (and Lord Nibbo built a very nice one not long ago) that you could get most of the information you want by searching the forum.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[David C]

The Landis book is fantastic.

I was disappointed with the Schleining book, they included my design and got many details wrong!

David

 

[Anonymous]

Howdy Jim

Have you already got in mind some idea (even if its only vague at the moment) of what sort of bench you want to use, and for what purposes? Eg a fine cabinet maker will have a different set of priorities than say a chair maker, or guitar maker, or boat builder......The workbench book is fine, I first read it about in 1990 and looked at it once or twice since. It is undoubtdedly a very attractive book to study, but it is also potentially confusing as there are so many ways to create a work bench depending on factors such as budget/what sort of woodwork will it be used for/what level of building skill do you posess already/what materials do you have available etc?? It might help to get a clear idea of your needs and aims for using a bench, and as they say, form follows function.....the design may well sudgest itself. Heres a pic of my recent bench.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m85/ ... dtools.jpg

Its not as gnat's precision as some bench's, but my particular way of working with wood isnt like precision engineering (at the mo anyway, that might change in which case a higher spec bench would be in order). I personally needed a solid heavy bench that I could comfortably plane on, and big enough to do a door or gate on. So I used 6x4, 4x3 and 6x2 stock to build it, with traditional diagonal framing brace's and drawpegg'd mortice and tennon's, a 2 inch thick top with 4x3 "joist's" underneath it. I added an oak bench stop and use 2 forged iron holdfast's as well. I needed a rock like grip on the vice combined with a decent jaw depth so have added a post (leg) vice made with a bench screw from axminister. I can happily clamp a seat blank either on top with the holdfasts or vertical in the vice, and shape it with my adze's with no fear of the bench or the seat blank moving. Also it doesnt flex or "rack" when planing timbers held on top of it. It took me about 8 hours to make (not including flatting the top with my oak jointer which took an afternoon) Total cost something ITRO £40 plus cost of bench screw (about £13)

 

[Slim]

Hey Mr Spanton,

Its really just an idea bouncing around my head at the moment. My books are full at the moment so I won't have time to start building until summer probably.

I would just like to do some reading and research so as I can decide for myself what I actually do need.

Thanks for your responses guys.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Simon,

If you have a surf around on the internet there are hundreds of examples of workbenches, many of them with construction details. Here's one that I bookmarked as an example http://homepage.mac.com/maclif/shopproj ... index.html It's a little bit different because it has an enclosed end vice as opposed to the more normal 'L'shaped affair. If you click on the links there are lots of construction details.

It takes a bit of time but there are lots of examples out there if you have a spare hour or so to look around.

Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Alf]

May I draw workbench devotees' attention to an excellent source of information here.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Tierney]

I've got the Landis book, which I can recommend. It has detailed plans in the back of the book and is also an enjoyable read. It is also worth looking at David Charlesworth's book one and having a good look in this forum. I plan to build a new bench this year and will probably base it on either David Charlesworth's bench or one from the Landis book, and incorporating the wealth of tips that are on this site.

I can't comment on the other book.

 

[George_N]

May I draw workbench devotees' attention to an excellent source of information here.

Cheers, Alf

Unfortunately Alf, a lot of the links on that page are dead. Bugbear's web site also has some very good links.

 

[Shivers]

Howdy Jim

Have you already got in mind some idea (even if its only vague at the moment) of what sort of bench you want to use, and for what purposes? Eg a fine cabinet maker will have a different set of priorities than say a chair maker, or guitar maker, or boat builder......The workbench book is fine, I first read it about in 1990 and looked at it once or twice since. It is undoubtdedly a very attractive book to study, but it is also potentially confusing as there are so many ways to create a work bench depending on factors such as budget/what sort of woodwork will it be used for/what level of building skill do you posess already/what materials do you have available etc?? It might help to get a clear idea of your needs and aims for using a bench, and as they say, form follows function.....the design may well sudgest itself. Heres a pic of my recent bench.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m85/ ... dtools.jpg

Its not as gnat's precision as some bench's, but my particular way of working with wood isnt like precision engineering (at the mo anyway, that might change in which case a higher spec bench would be in order). I personally needed a solid heavy bench that I could comfortably plane on, and big enough to do a door or gate on. So I used 6x4, 4x3 and 6x2 stock to build it, with traditional diagonal framing brace's and drawpegg'd mortice and tennon's, a 2 inch thick top with 4x3 "joist's" underneath it. I added an oak bench stop and use 2 forged iron holdfast's as well. I needed a rock like grip on the vice combined with a decent jaw depth so have added a post (leg) vice made with a bench screw from axminister. I can happily clamp a seat blank either on top with the holdfasts or vertical in the vice, and shape it with my adze's with no fear of the bench or the seat blank moving. Also it doesnt flex or "rack" when planing timbers held on top of it. It took me about 8 hours to make (not including flatting the top with my oak jointer which took an afternoon) Total cost something ITRO £40 plus cost of bench screw (about £13)

I liked you multi pics --have you tried this free program.

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

looks like it does a nicer job than photoshop.

not a bad little setup there jonathan.try putting a backboard on the bench & fixing it to the wall for more sturdiness.

regards.

 

[Alf]

Unfortunately Alf, a lot of the links on that page are dead.

Obviously I'm not going through the lot, but so far they've all been fine. :? Might be helpful to drop Rob a line with the dead ones.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

not a bad little setup there jonathan.try putting a backboard on the bench & fixing it to the wall for more sturdiness.

Thanks Nige
I know what you mean about a backboard (like an upstand type of arrangement??), not that I need any more solidity as such, that bench would support an abrahams tank, and it simply will not rack :lol: BUT it would be a useful addition if only to stop tool's dropping over the edge. :lol:

Cheers Jonathan