Category: Workbenches

During the last 20 years, I’ve experimented with a lot of alternative (or odd) materials to build workbenches. Most worked fine. I think the raw materials are less important than their dimensions and the bench’s design.

Megan Fitzpatrick and I encountered laminated veneer lumber (in the video I erroneously call it LVL) used as a worksurface at a noodle restaurant near the Popular Woodworking offices. Of course, I’d seen LVL before in commercial construction. But the person who made these tables had cut slices of the stuff, rotated them 90° and glued them together. Basically, they had created a surface composed entirely of the edges of plywood.

So I helped Megan build a workbench using the stuff. It was featured on the cover of the November 2009 issue.

The benchtop has held up great during the last 11 years. It’s still as flat as the day we finished it. And it takes a beating, despite the fact that it’s only 2-1/2” thick. I wish we had time to rebuild the base. The video discusses the other modifications we’ve made to it over the years.

Some of the items shown in the video (these are not affiliate links)

• Gramercy holdfasts
• Lee Valley Quick-release Steel Vise (7” model)
• Veritas Quick-release Sliding Tail Vise 

— Christopher Schwarz

The only good thing I can say about the stupidness of venture capital is that it resulted in me obtaining this workbench.

This is a vintage Ulmia. I’m guessing it’s 1980s vintage based on what I know about the provenance of the bench (if you know for sure I’m wrong, please let me know). It was owned by American Woodworker magazine for years and then ended up in my hands via a series of binges and purges by the venture capital firm that owned F+W Media during its implosion.

One day the company vacated its bowels of a large amount of woodworking gear and projects that the American Woodworker staff had built. I was in the right place at the right time.

It’s a great bench. And the statement I make at the beginning of the video is 100 percent true (the statement about lasagne at the end of the video is also true). There are a few dumb things about the bench, but those are covered in the video (and are things I have fixed).

If you are ever offered one of these benches, and it’s in good shape (many are not), then go for it. Here in the Midwest, Ulmias tend to go for $800 to $1,500, depending on their condition. That’s a pretty good deal, all things considered.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. I know that the current company that owns Ulmia did not make this workbench. I haven’t seen any examples of Ulmias since the company was sold, so I don’t have any opinion on them. Sorry.

To be honest, the vintage Ulmia workbench in our shop is actually closer in design to Charles Holtzapffel’s workbench design than this bench. But I wanted to build a bench with a twin-screw face vise, and Holtzapffel’s bench was the closest analog to what I wanted.

But I wasn’t having Holtzapffel’s tool tray. Or the European tail vise. Or the drawer. Or the knockdown bolts.

And since building it in 2006, I’ve added a leg vise so we can swap back and forth between the twin-screw (for dovetailing) and the leg vise (for everything else).

In addition to adding the leg vise, we also added a Record planing stop, like the one on the Nicholson workbench. But other than that, the bench hasn’t been changed much.

It’s a great bench – a perfect size for our crowded workshop. And it’s usually the bench that most students grab first when they arrive (if they can’t get to my bench).

Some of the items shown in this video:

• Record planing stop. An antique from Patrick Leach.
• Benchcrafted Classic Vise and Crisscross.
• Quick-release Steel Vise from Lee Valley (the 10-1/2” version)

— Christopher Schwarz

This was the first slab-top workbench I built, and I made it entirely by hand (save for one long rip when I defaulted to the band saw because I thought I might pass out).

The bench’s size was dictated by the wood that was available, which is why it’s 18-1/2” wide and less than 6’ long. You work with what you got. It’s a good bench for an apartment, but its small stature is its biggest weakness.

The other fun part about the benchtop was that the cherry had rotted a bit, and so I stabilized it with epoxy, which I tinted with black iron filings. This was in 2010, and I had no idea that epoxy and rotted slabs would ever be a thing. And then Roy Underhill, decided to take a whack at it.

 

If you are interested in reading about its construction, Popular Woodworking has been vacating its vaults of all the plans we built up there through the last 20 years. They’ve made it a free plan, which you can get here.

If you are going to make your own version, make the top 22” to 24” wide and a full 6’ or 7’ long. And skip that stupid door below (it wasn’t my call).

Some products shown in the video. These are not affiliate links.

• Benchcrafted Classic Vise and Crisscross.
• Sheldon quick-release vise
• Millers Falls planing stop from Patrick Leach

— Christopher Schwarz

I built this bench in 2006 for my first book, “Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use” (Popular Woodworking). It was the first English-style bench I’d ever built or used, so there was a bit of a learning curve, both with its construction and in learning to make the most of it while working on it.

On construction: The bench uses clever engineering to obtain its rigidity. But cleverness doesn’t always win the day. The benchtop started out as a single layer of 2x yellow pine. That proved to be too bouncy in use. So I ended up filling the underside of the benchtop with a second layer of 2x blocking between the “bearers” that support the benchtop.

On use: I had to learn to work with the wide front apron, which is a blessing and a curse.

This particular design is based on several historical benches that I studied, including the version in Peter Nicholson’s “Mechanic’s Companion,” which also provided key construction information. The angled legs and tail vise came from other examples.

This bench is backed against my French bench and I work on it regularly. What’s most surprising about the bench is how little I’ve modified it in 14 years. I added a commercial planing stop, a few holdfast holes and a bench light.

This bench is also featured in the blog entry: “Divorce is Hard on Benches.”

Items shown or mentioned in the video:

• Record planing stop. An antique from Patrick Leach.
• European screws for the leg vise and wagon vise. From Lee Valley.
• Gramercy holdfasts
• Wooden bench dogs from Lie-Nielsen.
• Veritas Hold-Down

— Christopher Schwarz