Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
Woodworking: Things to look out for in a workbench.
The workbench is the most utilised piece of equipment in any workshop. Whether you are a dedicated handtool craftsperson, or a hybrid woodworker, it remains extremely important.
ALL OF US in the craft need a workbench of some form. My first was a creative assembly of two scaffold planks and some milk crates (I was nine years old at the time). My second was a beat-up old
Black and Decker Workmate.
Workbenches range from simple, flat surfaces to complex designs that could be considered tools in themselves. Most are rectangular in shape, with the surface, corners, edges and legs being used as flat, square and dimensional standards. Though designs vary, every woodworking bench should be of a comfortable height for seated and standing work, incorporate systems that allow you to affix workpieces to the surfaces that can be worked on with both hands, and have features for mounting and storing tools. They should also posses a strong, heavy table with a flat, thick surface and at least two woodwork-applicable vices.
But, ‘What makes for the ideal workbench?’ isn’t an easy question to answer.
Your workbench must be the correct height for you to work comfortably for long hours. The height of the bench-top should be measured from the floor to your middlefinger knuckle when standing with your arms at your sides in a relaxed fashion. Initially, this might appear far too low,
but you’ll realise that you’re seldom working at the exact height of the benchtop. Mostly, your workpiece and the tool you’re using is higher than the surface. Even when hand planing a 3 mm-thick workpiece, you’ll be using a planing board, and gripping the handles of the plane – everything will therefore be a good few centimetres above the bench-top. Don’t ignore this point when buying or building your workbench – if you do, back and neck problems will almost certainly be in your future, not to mention inefficient planing and chiselling techniques.
WORKBENCHES RANGE FROM SIMPLE, FLAT SURFACES TO COMPLEX DESIGNS THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED TOOLS IN THEMSELVES. MOST ARE RECTANGULAR IN SHAPE, WITH THE SURFACE, CORNERS, EDGES AND LEGS BEING USED AS FLAT, SQUARE AND DIMENSIONAL STANDARDS.
Simply put, you need to be ‘above and over’ your workpiece with your tool, which will also mean you’ll do more accurate work, as parallax errors and squareness issues will be reduced.
Next, it’s time to decide on the width and depth of your bench-top. I’d suggest 600 mm deep at the bare minimum. Depending on the type of furniture you intend to build, you might want to make it deeper, although it should never be deeper than that which you can comfortably reach over. I’m a short person, so I built my main bench 700 mm deep and my assembly bench 850 mm deep. Both are positioned comfortably within range of my tool tills and clamp racks, and are therefore not placed against a wall.
For length, bear in mind that the more worktop you have, the heavier it will be, so don’t skimp on length (heavy is good). I recommend 1 800 mm to 2 200 mm.
THE BENCH SHOULD FEEL SOLID WHEN CHOPPING DOWNWARDS WITH A MALLET AND CHISEL, AND SHOULD FULLY RESIST THE ‘PUSH’ OF A HAND PLANE, BOTH ACROSS AND ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE WORKTOP.
Next on the list is weight and, again, the heavier the better. When working, there should be no rocking of the supporting base frame. The bench should feel solid when chopping downwards with a mallet and chisel, and should fully resist the ‘push’ of a hand plane, both across and along the length of the worktop.
Thickness of the worktop is crucial. 60 mm is a good start and if you can make your worktop thicker (say, 75 mm to 100 mm) it will pay off in the long run. For hand-tool woodworking, solid wood is the best product to use. Plywoods and MDF boards are simply not suitable. A few reasons for using solid wood for the worktop are that it generally has excellent shock-absorbing properties, it is easy to flatten with a hand plane and dog holes hold their edges way better. It’s also a much firmer base to which you can attach your vices and accessories. Many woodworkers are adamant that the worktop should be made from hardwood. While this is desirable and attractive, it’s not entirely necessary. Historically, the majority of woodworking benches were made from stable, straight-grained softwoods such as pines, cedars and cypresses. Whether it was a Shaker behemoth, a Roubo-, Nicholson-, Moravian-, Scandinavian- or Roman bench, softwoods feature prominently throughout the history of workbenches.
High-quality hardwoods were also expensive 200 to 300 years ago, and joiners or cabinetmakers couldn’t afford to build their benches from prime stock. Instead, they used what was available and affordable, so do the same, and don’t be put off building your own bench because of the price of hardwoods.
Bench designs have changed over the centuries, beginning with low dedicated Roman planing benches, and slowly growing in height to present-day multipurpose knuckle-high benches,
using many different work-holding accessories. Early French benches depended largely on a variety of stops, dogs and holdfasts to capture the workpiece, whereas British and American benches began to rely more on various vices (which first appeared on European medieval benches).
How and where vices are fitted further distinguishes between the different bench types. The most common types are those known as the standard cabinetmaker’s workbench (fitted with a face vice and a tail vice), and the Scandinavian-style workbench, which is characterised by a dog-leg (L-shaped) face vice that imposes no vertical limit on the size of the workpieces that it holds, accompanied by an end vice.
When it comes to good commercially available woodworking benches in South Africa, I recommend only the Sjöbergs range from Sweden and the Ramia range from the Czech Republic. Both of these companies have the enviable reputation earned over many decades of producing professional-quality workbenches that go on to become heirlooms for future generations.
Many woodworkers regard the building of their own bench as a rite of passage and something that every passionate carpenter should do at least once in their lifetime. I agree completely, so I encourage you to start planning yours.