Woodworking Workbenches: Types, Heights and Features

Planing pushes the work along the bench; sawing drags it back and forth; chopping hits it from above. A woodworking bench exists to take those forces without the work, or the bench, moving. It does three jobs at once (see the plate above):

• Stay put. Mass and a stiff base stop the bench sliding or rocking when you push a plane.
• Hold the work. Vises, dogs, holdfasts and stops hold a board on edge, flat, or on end, without clamps in the way of the tool.
• Give a flat reference. A flat top lets you check a board for twist and lay out from a known surface — the reference face and edge start here.

Makers of hand-tool benches build heavy. Lie-Nielsen’s 7 ft bench weighs 320 lb assembled with a 4 in thick maple top; Benchcrafted’s Split Top Roubo is over 350 lb with a 4 in top; Sjöbergs’ Elite 2000 is 125 kg with an 85 mm beech top. Weight keeps the bench from walking across the floor under a plane stroke, and a thick top does not bounce when you chop on it.

Weight is not enough on its own. A base that racks — its legs leaning as the top is pushed sideways — wastes each stroke and loosens joints over time. Stout legs, stretchers joined firmly to them, and a top fixed to the base make it stiff. A light bench that is braced well and fixed to a wall can work; a heavy one on a flimsy base does not.

The top must be flat where you use it, because a hollow or a twist in the top is transferred to a board planed on it. Most hand-tool bench makers use thick solid hardwood — maple or beech in the benches above. Wood hardly moves along its length: the USDA Wood Handbook gives 0.1% to 0.2% longitudinal shrinkage from green to ovendry for most species. Across the grain it moves far more, so a wide solid top can cup or change width with the seasons and may need flattening from time to time. Plywood and other sheet materials are more stable but lighter; how to choose a workbench compares top materials in detail.

Makers’ tops vary in size: Lie-Nielsen’s is 7 ft by 2 ft, Benchcrafted’s 87 by 24 in, Sjöbergs’ 1805 by 600 mm. A depth of around two feet lets you reach across; the length decides the longest board you can plane between dogs in one setting.

There is no single correct height. Makers show that themselves: Lie-Nielsen builds its bench to order anywhere from 32 to 38 in, while Benchcrafted’s Roubo is 35 in and Sjöbergs’ and Festool’s benches are 900 mm (about 35-7/16 in). Portable benches sit lower, from 31-1/2 in to about 33 in in the examples below.

The height that suits you depends on your body and your work. Planing is easier on a lower bench, where your weight can bear down over the plane and your arms are not lifted; sawing joints, cutting dovetails and carving are easier higher up, with the work nearer your eyes. Published rules of thumb tie the height to a point on the body — the wrist or a knuckle with the arm hanging — and they disagree with one another, which is why makers offer a range rather than a rule. A bench that is mainly for planing sits toward the low end; one for fine joinery toward the high end; and a raised platform or a bench-on-bench (a small box that clamps on the top) can bring small work closer without changing the bench.

Vises

Most benches have two vises. A face vise or a leg vise at the front holds a board on edge for planing an edge, or upright for sawing a joint. A tail vise or end vise at the end of the bench holds a board flat between two dogs. Lie-Nielsen’s bench has a twin-screw shoulder vise at the front and a tail vise; Benchcrafted’s Roubo, a leg vise and a tail vise; Sjöbergs’ Elite, front and rear vises. How each type grips, and why some rack, is covered in the vise guide.

Dogs and dog holes

A bench dog is a peg that stands above the top in a row of holes, so a board can be squeezed between it and a dog in the tail vise. There is no single standard. Veritas’s round dogs fit a 3/4 in hole; Lie-Nielsen cuts rectangular dog holes 1.150 by 0.950 in; Benchcrafted makes its tail-vise dog holes as angled dadoes with a step; Sjöbergs uses double rows of round holes. Buy dogs to suit the holes — or drill the holes to suit the dogs — and space them less than the vise’s opening apart, so that any board length can be caught.

Holdfasts

A holdfast is a bent steel rod that wedges in a hole through the top. Struck on the top of its arm, it pins a board down; struck on the side of the post, it lets go. It needs the right hole and a thick enough top: Gramercy’s holdfasts are made for a 3/4 in hole in a top at least 1-3/4 in thick, while Benchcrafted drills 1 in holes in its Roubo for Crucible holdfasts. Holes near the front edge and in a front leg let a holdfast hold work flat or against the bench’s face.

Planing stop

A planing stop is the simplest holder of all: a block or toothed plate at the end of the bench, set just below the thickness of the board, which the plane pushes the work against. Benchcrafted’s is a toothed steel stop in a wooden stock set in the top, raised and lowered with mallet taps. It holds boards for face planing without any vise, one after another.

Storage underneath

A shelf or cabinet under the top, like Sjöbergs’ optional storage module, keeps tools close and adds weight. It can also block holdfast holes and the space clamps need to reach the top, so keep the front edge and the areas you clamp to clear.

A fixed bench wins wherever you plane or chop: weight and stiffness are what a portable bench gives up to fold. A portable bench wins where space is short or the work travels, and for cutting and assembly with power tools, which put less sideways force on the work. Many shops have both, and a pair of sawhorses with a sheet on top — covered in the sawhorse guide — fills in for either. Choosing one is in how to choose a portable workbench.

When you know which kind you need, how to choose a workbench turns this into a buying checklist.