#143. The best workbench.m4a

so me personally anyone that's followed us for long enough they'll know that i've built a lot of workbenches i've built this guy that's in front of us which is the slot bench which i named the slot bench because it's just slotted together i couldn't think of a better name for it and this has been my primary workbench for some time now Prior to this I had used a Nicholson style bench for quite some time.

I've used Roman word benches.

I don't know how many Roman word benches I've built.

I've built quite a few Roman word benches.

and i've built knock down work benches i've built mobile work benches i've built fold down work benches with a lot of benches i've built over the last few years there's been kind of one thing that i have tried to incorporate into that building that's for that bench to be somewhat portable so for the bench that's in front of us at the moment the slot bench this goes together without any screws without any bolts and if there wasn't a load of junk underneath it i could probably take this apart well i don't i don't know maybe a minute or two if that and that was the whole premise of this bench is that it could be taken apart and put back together within a it has been an exceptional bench and I haven't had a single issue out of it but the thing about it is the underside of it I didn't really do anything with it and I'm losing out on real estate as it were so I have got junk just shoved underneath it and it could be set up better for storage underneath but all in all you know it has been quite a quite a good workbench obviously as i said the thing i like about is i can take it apart just say for whatever reason i needed a bench this size or it was going to be beneficial for me to take this bench somewhere i could do so so i think with all the benches that i've built and kind of all the benches that i've seen in a couple of benches that i haven't owned but i have used I think the main question would be, which bench is the best? And I don't think there's any straight answer to that.

And I can hear people screaming at the screens on the phones or on the TVs or whatever, wherever you're watching this.

You say, no, it's a Rabu, no, it's a Nicholson, whichever is your preferred work bench.

And...

I think, to a degree, they've all got their own merit.

I mean, there is a question that I have asked myself, and I already knew the answer to it, and I don't know why this question popped up in my brain, but the question was, should you build a bench that's 400 pounds? And it's been a while since I've seen anyone like kind of boast that they've got a bench at £400.

But I remember some years ago, I think it was like kind of bragging rights on YouTube and other social media networks in the woodworking community.

I've got a bench and it's £400.

You know, and then you would see them with chain blocks so that, you know, they're kind of lifting the top of the bench up to sit on top.

And I think, if I remember correctly, I think this was like a kind of a rebu, the one I'm thinking about at the moment.

And now that I'm a little bit older, I've got a lot more experience kind of in woodworking and especially in traditional woodworking, hand tool woodworking, should we say.

I'm a bit more wiser and I understand the pros and cons of this.

And yeah, the pros, like, yeah, it's going to be a nice solid bench and a 400 pound bench isn't going to move anywhere, which is going to be absolutely excellent for the likes of planing.

So if you're planing material down, a good example of this would be, you're flattening maybe a table and you're really giving it some welly so in the past i've done stuff like this i've even done stuff like this on a roman workbench and obviously it's the the bench has been all over the place i've actually done it on this bench um this bench has got some weight in it but it's moved you know significantly about so you would think to yourself Well, yeah, if I build a bench at £400, like Bob's your uncle, it's sorted, done and dusted, it's a done deal.

But I kind of disagree with you, if you're thinking in that way, because if you're building a bench at £400 and weight, that's £400 of material.

£400 of material is going to cost you quite a lot of money.

It's going to cost you considerable more... it's going to cost you considerably more for material than it would for say building this slot bench which by the way there is plans free plans of course don't want any money off you there is free plans there so i'll leave a link in the description if you do want to build something like this bench but it is going to be considerably a lot more expensive So one of the things I've learned, whether it's with this bench, a really light portable bench where I can take my folding bench is a prime example.

And this bench, the folding bench, it's not heavy and I wouldn't say it was light either.

It's comfortable for me, I can pick it up, I can carry it out of the garden to the van, put it in the van comfortably.

take it to wherever it's going, take it out of the van and wherever, situated in a room if I'm doing some work in a room, building wardrobes or whatever it may be.

So it is light enough to do that.