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I'm trying to design my perfect work bench. This bench is to stand and sit at to glue in linings, do binding, inlay, fretwork and all those kinds of tasks that take the lion share of the time. I have a very nice woodworkers vice I will incorporate and was thinking I would make a block top with 3/4" dog holes throughout. Then I became concerned that while doing inlay I would be constantly losing pieces down the holes. I realize I could just throw something down when inlaying but I really don't want to have to do that. So I will nix the holes except in one area.

The question: If you were designing your ideal work station what would you include? I plan to make it 6' long and 3' deep with the window at the back. I plan one bank of drawers below and maybe some kind of guitar vice at one end. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

I don't think you need any dogholes. From my limited experiece, a solid vice(s) to hold a solara or two, and a few nice flat top tables to keep things flat. Alot of money and a wife that looks the other way is a must too..P.S. Cam clamps...clamps and more clamps..and Padmas advice,,some wood just don't want to be a guitar...=)

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

My bench has plenty of dogholes, and I wouldnt be without them ..they get used all the time, especially as planing stops. I also use a fence and wedges setup to bind fingerboards which relies on dogs to work .. you could do it without, but the dogs are so simple and handy.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

...As thick, level and heavy as possible for planing and fretting.
...Good strong vises
...and lots of dog holes

I built this bench from a Lee Valley plan 5 years ago and I'd be lost without it. I also believe that access from all sides is far more useful than having it positioned against a wall.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I built this one a while back and am generally satisfied. Here's the good and the bad:

Lee Valley twin screw vice - outstanding. Excellent for a host of reasons.

4 rows of round dog holes - also excellent. I use these in conjunction with the vice to hold my dish sander and downdraft table to the bench. Plus 100s of other things. Round dog holes are a must IMO when working on non rectilinear things.

Shoulder vice - hate it. Wish I had a regular face vice or nothing in that spot. There's only a handful of times I've used it for anything where a standard face vice wouldn't work.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

A couple years ago I purchased a Diefenbach bench (workbenches.com). Their "Classic German" model. 24" wide and a little over 6' long (could be a little shorter and be just as nice). Made out of red Beech. It is pretty stout. I personally love the two vises on this bench. It has a single row of dog holes down the front. This has worked very well for holding whatever I needed to hold. This model came with a tool tray which collects tons of debris/crap (clean right now) but if I had to do it over again, I'd still probably get/build the bench with the tray. It's a good place for chisels and stuff you don't want rolling off onto the floor. Also, if the bench was any wider than 24 inches, It would be hard to put it up against the wall and still reach things easily that might be stored behind the bench.. Also many benches come with a single stretcher in place of the upper and lower ones like on my bench. Either one is fine, but I plan to build a cabinet that goes between the stretchers on my bench with lots of drawers for rasps, measuring stuff and bigger items further down. For me that would be perfect, other people may not like a bench set up like that.. Just my $.02

Regards, Peter Z

A different possibility.....

Build the highest bench that is comfortable (about 36" for me) and build a box to stand on when you want the bench lower.

Save yourself the time and money of a nice maple top and use a few layers of plywood or particle board. Then instead of bench dogs, you can just screw into it. You can also drill into it, saw into it, etc. and flip the top over when it gets trashed. Replace it when that side gets trashed. Mine have lasted many years before changing.

I would take the time and money from the nice top and build drawers underneath to add weight and stability (not to mention storage).

A body vice is nice to have on one end.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I always envy Filippo's bench. I have every picture he's posted of it in a file.

low for woodworking, medium for setup and assembly work, and high for inlay.

If space is limited, you can build two small tables with legs or feet that slip into dog holes
one for set up and one for up high work.

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Why are they called "dog holes"? Seems kinda animist to me!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

It might have been because the original iron hold downs sorta looked like a dogs hind leg.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Those are beautiful benches.

I'm thinking about using a benchcrafted wagon vise on my next bench. I'm taken my the smooth action and design.

Here is a video of the wagon in action: http://www.benchcrafted.com/videos/benchcraftedtailvise.wmv give it a second to load.

Any opinions on how this would work for our applications?

I'm not sold on this vise yet- http://www.hovartercustomvise.com/. I'd like to read more reviews on it. But again, the design is amazing.

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rono

I like a fairly tall work height (36 to 37") and fairly narrow top (21"). I'm 5'11". I also like round dog holes and lots of them. My top has three rows and I use that middle row for Veritas holdfasts and other jigging. Anyway, works for me. If I were to ever build another, I might make it even narrower.





Of course, too much wider and I might not be able to reach across it.

My favorite for guitar building is an island made up of particle board boxes screwed or bolted together and topped with three layers of 3/4" material with Melamine on top and HD particle board under. Use 5/16" carriage bolts into T nuts on the bottom for levelers. Weighs a ton and rock solid. You can drill holes anywhere for vises, dogs etc. and screw stuff to it. Stick a go bar deck above and put shelves in the boxes to store stuff.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Joe

Super cool but repeat after me: ROUND dog holes....Round dog holes.

I do like it but I think for stuff we do the twin screw is going to be a better bet.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Nice benches guys. Filippo, your shop rocks. I had to start somewhere, so I put a $99 top on a couple of California Closet bases (from Target) which are nice for organizing tools, and just bought a long bench from Harbor Freight for $99 which is bolstered with some extra braces in strategic places. That bench came with a single screw wood vise at the end. When I want to be able to work all around a piece, a stand which was made to mount a grinder allows me to screw a parrot vise on top and can stablilize the bottom with concrete stepping stones or bolt it to the floor. My poor woman's version of the excellent guitar vise stand by Dan E. That stand was $35 at HF. Not fancy, but functional enough as I learn how I want to work for different jobs. Beth

Thanks. I now have a BAD case of bench envy. Whaa.

Hey, Joe. You've got my workbench, I see. I like the addition you made to it.
There are a lot of things you can do with these little guys.
Some of the benches posted in this thread are so beautiful I wouldn't be able to use them for fear of scratching them up, lol.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I second Filippo, Todd....I'd love to see that repair bench. Beth

Yo Michael,

check this short video out. Me gonna make me next bench like it. Is a simple build and me got the lumber and the vices ...so why nots. Only me not gonna be ordering no plans. Just seeing the video is enough.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/build-a-roubo-workbench-video-preview/

Here is what it look like.



Here is a link to a much simpler version in video.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/workbench

and what it looks like is...

and this is an example of a bench on top of a bench.


go here too http://www.finewoodworking.com/workbench

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Personally I love my bench i put together, my secound woodworking project... i agree with those that say you should build the bench you plan to build things on because i really learned alot of good habbits and techniques for getting by with just a few tools.

The bench i built was Tom Casper's torsion box design, the thing weights 150+ lbs and is solid as a rock.

http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/projects/archive/2009/03/04/tom-s-torsion-box-workbench.aspx

good set of plans are found here, as well as some other bench designs that are nice if you are into that spending a half grand on nice maple, personally i am not, would rather spend the money on tools

http://www.workbenchdesign.net/bench1.html

oh and i also recently made a parrot vice cleet that fits in my front vice so i can add it for working on frets and finished necks and take it off when i want to use the front vice for bigger stuff, very handy.

Even though I own a big Ulmia Bench, my other bench, the one I find most useful, is like the one you describe.

The old traditional benches are lovely to look at but just not nearly as practical, in my opinion.

This is exactly what I intend to do when I finally set up a shop. The bench will be constructed of a double layer of 3/4 plywood for the top, and the frame built with 2x4 or 2x6 boards. Instead of drawers though, it'll have open shelves underneath. I'm gonna beat the living daylights out of it anyway, I see no reason to spend $300-$400 on a maple top. Nothing wrong with them, just not where I choose to spend my cash.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Having a small shop. Space is always a premium. I solved some of this problem by making my table saw function as a base for my bench.

I have a bench top covered with formica on top of my table saw, when I need to use the table saw it slides to the side on top of the other bench. Most of my material is small enough that this has not been an issue, and when it is a problem I can completely remove it and lean it up against the wall while I cut and then put it back in place. The table saw is a Ryobi BT3000. It has a router table built into the table beside the saw blade. So really it is serving 3 uses.

The two benches pictured are where I do most of my work. The one on the right is a kitchen island made of particle board and is rock solid and seriously heavy. On the far right there is a leaf that folds up and down and this is my set up area. It is only put in the up position for this purpose so there is no worry of metal shavings, wood particles, glue or anything else damaging an instrument after it is finished. It is covered with a rubber mat to protect finished instruments. Also has tons of little cubby holes on one side, 2 drawers and shelves on the opposite side.

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Tim