Book of the Week: Workbenches

07 Feb 2016

This week I read Workbenches: From Design And Theory To Construction And Use by Christopher Schwarz, an editor of Popular Woodworking magazine. The book describes the parts of a workbench and how each part is used to hold wood firmly in place, so a workworker can work on the wood. There are also detailed designs for two workbenches: the English workbench and the French workbench. Do you need a workbench if you want to work on wood? Probably not. You can get by with 2 sawhorses and a door. But the different ways to hold wood and the heavy base makes thing easier.

After all, the best woodworking I’ve ever seen in my lifetime was built on the worst workbenches I’ve ever seen. —Christopher Schwarz

Wood The three important properties of wood needed for a workbench are stiffness, weight and resistance to blows. You don’t want the top to sag, so you want stiff wood. You don’t want the workbench to move, so you want it heavy. You don’t want to make dents in the workbench every time you do something, so you need resistance. Stiffness Species | E-value
—|—
Hemlock, eastern | 1.20
Chestnut | 1.23
White pine | 1.24
Sycamore | 1.42
Basswood | 1.46
American cherry | 1.49
Hemlock, western | 1.49
Red oak (Northern) | 1.49
Poplar | 1.58
European beech | 1.63
Red (soft) maple | 1.64
Black walnut | 1.68
American beech | 1.72
Ash | 1.77
White oak | 1.78
Hard maple | 1.83
Southern yellow pine | 1.93
Douglas fir | 1.95
Yellow birch | 2.01
Hickory, shagbark | 2.16
Weight Species | Specific Gravity
—|—
White pine | 0.35
Basswood | 0.37
Hemlock, eastern | 0.40
Poplar | 0.42
Hemlock, western | 0.47
Chestnut | 0.48
Douglas fir | 0.48
Sycamore | 0.49
American cherry | 0.50
Red (soft) maple | 0.54
Black walnut | 0.55
Red oak (Northern) | 0.59
Ash | 0.60
Yellow birch | 0.62
Hard maple | 0.63
American beech | 0.64
Southern yellow pine | 0.67
European beech | 0.68
White oak | 0.68
Hickory, shagbark | 0.72
Purpleheart | 0.77
The Janka scale measures the force needed to insert a 0.44”-diameter steel ball into the wood so half of it is buried. Species | PSI
—|—
White pine | 380
Basswood | 410
Hemlock | 500
Chestnut | 540
Poplar | 540
Douglas fir | 660
Southern yellow pine | 690
Sycamore | 770
American cherry | 950
Red (soft) maple | 950
Big leaf maple | 1000
Black walnut | 1010
Yellow birch | 1260
Red oak (Northern) | 1290
American beech | 1300
European beech | 1300
Ash | 1320
White oak | 1360
Hard maple | 1360
Hickory/Pecan | 1450
Purpleheart | 1820
Ipe | 3680
Based on E-value and specific gravity, we see that Hickory is the best, but hickory is hard to work with and splinters easily. Next is Southern Yellow Pine, which is cheap and readily available. The problem with Southern Yellow Pine is that it is low on the Janka scale, so you can dent it easily, but Chris hasn’t found this to be a problem and recommends Southern Yellow Pine for workbenches. Historically, Beech was used in Europe, because it was readily available. Oak, Ash and maple are probably good too. Flattening Top One of the most educational parts of the book describes how to use hand planes to flatten the top of the bench.

• Identify high spots with winding sticks.
• Remove high spots with jack plane.
• Work entire top using diagonal strokes with jointer plane.
• Repeat with going diagonally the other way.
• When shavings are full length plane with grain with slightly overlapping strokes.
• Smooth plane with grain.

Question is often the Answer

If you have to ask the question, then you already know the answer. —Christopher Schwarz

In woodworking, there are many shortcuts that you can take that will save time and effort. Like, should you do more sanding or successfully finer git, should you paint on another coat of finish, or should you make it fit better or just let gravity take care of it. If you have to ask the question, you should probably do it. Woodworking is a craft. A very time consuming craft, but one that you can be sure of the quality of the final product. Alternative Workbenches Instead of the English workbench and French workbench described in the book, I’d like to point out the $175 Workbench and the 21st Century Workbench described by Popular Woodworking magazine. The $175 Workbench has all the basics you need for a workbench. The 21st Century Workbench combines the best from a variety of benches into something that you can build using the available lumber and machines such as a 6” jointer and 12” planer. Purchase Workbenches on Amazon.com or check it your from your local library.