Workbench buy/make/hybrid advice

[ajkoontz]

Round or square?

Again, a no brainer here: Round.

Not only one can use them with a holdfast, many bench accessories are designed and sold for use with round holes only. They include veritas planing stops, round bushings for mounting lamps, dogs of various kinds, etc. The Gramercy holdfasts are so affordable that at one time I owned three pairs of them (yes, 6) before I sold some away. Anyone who does handwork and uses no holdfasts is missing a lot. Even for people who use power tools, the holdfasts are better than clamps in many situations.

For a similar reason, don't let anyone fool you that 1" dog holes are better than 3/4" holes. They aren't unless you want to spend a lot of money on a 1" dia holdfast with almost zero aftermarket bench accessories to use on those holes.

Simon

I know my square dog hole preference is in the minority but I just wanted to get it out there that there are some people like me who prefer square dogs. I can't argue with any of the good reasons to go round like suggested. I don't think I would change to round if I was doing a new bench build, but round does have a lot going for it.

[RPE1]

You know, if I was wanting a bench I'd build it myself and I'd build the bench that Stumpy Nubs built.  He made it out of 2x6.  He has had it for 10 years and it's still going strong. He has plans for it on his YouTube site.  Stumpy is pretty level headed and has well thought out reasoning.  His bench his fully morticed, has dovetail features, and dog holes (square and round).  All the hype about types of wood and tossing fancy names of benches around and spending big bucks for a bench is just hype.  Poor workman always blame their tools.  It's really no different in the woodworking world than it was when we were kids.  Who has the newest, shiniest, most expensive and most importantly, the one with a foreign name.  My bench is homemade of construction lumber.  I couldn't any better work on a a fancier bench.

[Handplanesandmore]

I know my square dog hole preference is in the minority but I just wanted to get it out there that there are some people like me who prefer square dogs. I can't argue with any of the good reasons to go round like suggested. I don't think I would change to round if I was doing a new bench build, but round does have a lot going for it.

It doesn't have to be one or another. A bench can have both square and round holes.

Simon

[Handplanesandmore]

"All the hype about types of wood and tossing fancy names of benches around and spending big bucks for a bench is just hype."

This applies to a lot of woodworking things from handsaws to chisels to hammers! Many woodworking magazines help promote those fancy toys in the name of, not advertising, but tool reviews. When was the last time that you saw a review in those magazines that told their readers to stay away from some new product?

Simon

[cpolubin]

It doesn't have to be one or another. A bench can have both square and round holes.

Simon
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+1

Never had a need for a holdfast in the front row so my bench has square on the front row where the wagon vise is. All the others are round for the holdfasts and 3/4" accessories. Seems like the best of both worlds.

Cliff

[Alan S]

I find myself in the square doghole with drilled holdfast hole camp.

If you are adding dogs to an existing bench, round is the way to go as you can just drill. But for a new bench, it's easy to include square holes, and I prefer them. It's easy to make a dog for each hole, to make sure small parts don't fall through. Ball catches, either in the side of the dogs, or preferably put in the sides of the dogholes during lamination of the bench top, are very nice to make simple dogs work well.

As with others, I've found a few holdfast holes to work well, and I keep them away from the front edge. Holdfasts do work in square holes, but you'll wear them out if you use them that way all the time.

[Cooler]

You can find steel bench legs on line.  These are often very sturdy and install with screws. 

You can find 8' x 1½" butcherblock tops at Lowes for a good price or from Lumber Liquidators. 

Maple and bamboo are probably the hardest wearing surfaces.

Basically it is buying, cutting, drilling and screwing.  No real woodworking.

https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Fox-D2659-28...997&sr=8-3

$58.00 each.  Cross brace for bottom shelf.

[Handplanesandmore]

Cross brace for bottom shelf.

The legs must not be attached to the top just by themselves as they won't be strong enough to resist racking.

This is a better structure (under $300):

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gladiator-Modul...1000341801

Simon

[djcook50]

I’ve been using this Grizzly (ShopFox) workbench frame with a maple top from Woodcraft for about 15 years.  It has worked great.  I put a base cabinet in it with drawers.  The cabinet top serves as a shelf under the main top for tools, sandpaper bits, etc.  I mounted a woodworking vise and drilled holes in the top.  It has served me well,  it’s heavy, has adjustable feet, doesn’t budge when handplaning and got me going on other things I wanted to make.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/shop-fo...stem/d2910



Dave

[tedrussell]

Perhaps I phrased it poorly. My concern was that, if the guy down the street listed that as a workbench, the guy down the street might not have much experience at fabricating a woodworking bench with a 3" or 4" thick top. It would be a shame if the fabricator's inexperience (if true) lead to using some quarter-sawn 2x4 on edge for the some of the top lamination.

There are definitely 2 schools of thought on dog holes. I understand the advantage of the square dogs if you are only going to have one row of them, use a traditional end vise, and only plane or machine boards with squared-off ends. On the other hand 3/4" round holes have a lot more versatility when using benchstops and holdfasts in the round dog holes. Round dogs are not that much harder to make than square dogs to fill the holes not in use (done to stop screws and other small parts from falling in the holes).

I appreciate all that. I went down to see him, and his quote is for a benchtop made of 2x10's (flat, not on edge), cased with 2x6's. So it would be even thinner that if he made it with 2x4's on edge. He quoted half laps for the leg attachment, and I said I'd prefer M&T, which he can do. He's a nice guy who takes pride in his work and loves what he does, but between his initial design and some other things during the visit, I'm not sure he has the experience to make the kind of bench I want.  I'm pretty much back to square one.