Official Luthiers Forum!

I am officially tired of trying to work on a pair of Black & Decker Workmates. It's time to make a real workbench, and I am interested in your thoughts.

I will be making guitars as well as some furniture. I have read Landis' book cover to cover, as well as a bunch of other workbench material. (BTW, I don't think much of the "Luthier's Workbench" in Landis' book.)

So what thoughts do you have about your workbench? What vises do you use, and what do you like and not like about them? What unique set-ups do you have on your bench to accommodate guitarmaking jigs? What other pros and cons are there to your bench? How would you build yours differently if you were doing it again?

I don't want to end up building mine again, and I don't want to find myself saying "I wish I would have thought of that sooner." So all thoughts are welcome now!

Thanks,
Kelby

I like free standing workbench's that you can walk around if you have the room. I don't so mine is up against the wall. Some people myself included like have a go deck above the work bench (attached to the cieling so you can clamp things anywhere on your bench, now that I have said that, I don't yet. If the workbench is against the wall I like a lot of pegboard to hang things within easy reach and some drawers under for storing non hanging things and guitar parts. I have several old clothes dressers that I use for that purpose. I have a machinist vice that is on one of my benchs and a 14" woodworking bench on the other, they a both usefull for different things and I'd hate to give up either. Think carefully about the height you set, I like mine about 32" - 36" above the floor. A good bench is very sturdy and can take some pounding. I use 2x lumber and then layt on som MDF that can be replaced when needed. Have fun, I'm sure you'll get lots of advice on this one.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

After reading all the books and planning a nice maple top, I ended up taking Frank Fords advice on using plain old plywood and I'm glad I did. I have no worries about messing this top up and a box of drywall screws are the best clamps for jigs and fences that I've found - right into the bench top. Mine is 8' x 32" that way two full sheets of plywood, ripped at Home Depot, make a three layer top. It is held up with a 2x4 frame that is doubled on the corners.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Tools/Bench/mybench. html

It doubles as a go bar deck with the roof being the underside of the selves above it.

The one thing I would not live without on this bench is the pipe clamp guitar holder that, I beleive, Landis has in his book and Sylvan shows here. http://www.wellsguitars.com/Articles/Guitar_Holder.htm

Oh, yeah, the whole thing is put together with deck screws only. Even the top layers. Scott Thompson38457.9516087963

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

Kelby, I've got three workbenches, and each one has its plusses and minuses. The last one I built uses a solid core door as the top--flat and heavy--with 2x4 legs and stretchers. Underneath is a shelf, 18" off the floor to store all the whatnot, and this shelf is set in from the front so as to give leg (knee) room when seated at a chair. Thus the height is lower than the other benches.

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I'm putting together a 2x4 Plus bench this weekend that will be 4' x 2'. I've also got a Craftsman bench top but I've got to make a trip to Home Depot for 2x4's for the base, so that may be next weekends project. I don't have a problem with access from just one side, though I have been considering adding a round form on a lazy susan to one of the benches to make gluing lining and binding easier. Like yourself, up till now I've been making do with a couple of Workmates. I still know there will be times when they will come in handy.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Here are a couple of photos of the workbench that I inherited when MARS went out of business here in Cincinnati. I believe these workbenches were built for all the MARS stores. I had three of these benches in my shop at MARS. We always liked the simple design. It is very sturdy and I believe it can be built out of one 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood. It is just glued and screwed. I've raised my bench with two 4x4's to make it easier on my back. I've also added a hardwood table top (rubber wood I believe) that I was given by a foreman at the furniture distributor I worked for years ago. I like the hardwood better than working on the ply top. I holds up to abuse better. I can measure and provide a cut list if you are interested.2005-04-16_003539_Workbench.JPG2005-04-16_003604_Workbench2.JPGNeil38458.0292939815

4x4" douglas fir legs, eight 2x4" stringers to stop it wobbling when hand planing a work piece clamped in the standard type wood working vice that's mounted near one end. Solid core door for the top. And a few drawers underneath.

All made from recycled materials; my father-inlaw gave me the vice which was pretty old and needed a major overhaul, and he got me the old door for the top, the rest I scrounged. I think I paid about $10 or $20 for the bolts that hold it all together.

You want it big and heavy and rigid, nothing worse than a work bench that wobbles or moves just when you don't want it to.

Before that all I had were a couple of old directors chairs with the backs removed, they make great fold-up saw horses, but pretty crappy benches.

Thank you all for your thoughts!

Scott, the bar clamp system looks pretty handy. I will definitely have to use some system for holding a guitar body, whether it's that or something else I'm not sure yet.

i have a number of benches whose design and substance more or less reflects the purpose/use.

my first after returning home to the us was/is a repair oriented, normal height (curled knuckles at relaxed arm length above floor), 7'x 3' doubled 5/8" salvaged ply top over 4x4 df uprights with 2x4 stretchers. this bench is fitted with two magnifying florecent articulated arm lamps. one of these is mounted on a pattern makers vice   as is sold by s-m and most woodworking supply houses (though it is good to see that the woodwork9ing places have seemingly forced s-m to get their prices semi-real on this item; about $95 at the w/w stores and s-m now but previously $135+ at s-m = rip off). i use this bench mainly for set up, refrets and light repair.

my second was/is tall (about elbow height) identitcal construction, which i use for a lot of close up work; the extra hwight takes a lot of strain off my back. it has task lights at either end and univice(sometimes called a parrot vice) mounted.

my third is refectory style dining table of solid but cheap construction bought at a yard sale for $20 which i have paired with the first listed above. the sizes and heights are almost identical. again this mounts two task lights and is used for set up and light repair of not guitar type instruments.

i built aimple shaker style 2" x 5' ww bench from some mystery hardwood bought at auction for $1.00/50bf approx. with two general woodworking vices fitted. very useful for building activities and if just interested in a bench for building this be my choice but including the pattern makers vice.

i also have a 5'x3' mobile bench bought at a garage sale and a simple 2'x8' ply topped 2x4 underpinned bench set up as a sanding bench. this has two drawers and a small machine vice mounted.

i have been fortunate in recent years to have the space to be able to use this variety of benches for different tasks and to largely keep building and repair activities separate.

Here a some shots of my bench I built last year. I specifically wanted a clamp I could use for holding the guitar neck while carving it. This is what I came up with and it works like a dream.

Robbie, now that is a workbench. Nice work! Do you worry about scratching it? It is almost too beautiful to use as a workbench.

[QUOTE=Neil] Robbie, now that is a workbench. Nice work! Do you worry about scratching it? It is almost too beautiful to use as a workbench.[/QUOTE]

I did want to use it for my kitchen table but the wife wouldn't have it!
I worried about scratching it and getting it dirty for a couple of weeks but then I started using it and didn't worry much about it. The finish is linseed oil and wax so it cleans up pretty easily.

Robbie - what is the total cost and time you have into that bench?

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Robbiue, That is a beautiful bench. I too went for a Swedish design when I built mine a couple of years ago. Mine is decidedly more utilitarian but is made of all hard maple and is moveable (casters) beacuase my shop is long but extremely narrow. This style of bench lends itself very well to carving and the use of hand tools. Even with the casters, it is extremely stable.

Hope this helps, Steve Brown

[QUOTE=jfrench] Robbie - what is the total cost and time you have into that bench?[/QUOTE]

I have about $450 in material - two vises, european beech and jatoba.
I have about a month of work putting in about 4 hours a day.   

i have bench envy!!!

Robbie,
Very Nice work. I like the bench dog holes in the top.
When I built my bench I made sure it had them.
Although it is not nearly as nice of a bench as yours, I
find this feature very useful for a lot of different things.

Thanks for the compliments. My bench has done everything I designed it to do and more. The bench dogs are a nice feature.

Terence,

Your bench looks well thought out and functional. How could you go wrong copying Charles Fox?

I have the standard scandanavian l-shaped bench. I put a row of dog holes down both sides. The one thing I wish I had done is line them up from side to side. Now if I want to use dogs on both sides of the bench I have to come up with some sort of shim.

I need to true up the top. The move from Utah really moved it around quite a bit.