Workbench Costing
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Projects / Workbench Costing
- This topic has 13 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 9 months ago by nevynxxx.
-
AuthorPosts
-
I’m being evicted from my garage (it’s going to be come our lounge 😉 ) in the near future. Add to this, my bench is a good 50 years old, and was the “apprentice bench” in the joiner’s shop my dad used to work in. It’s a bit long, not too stead on it’s feet, and it needs re-surfacing….
So I started watching the workbench videos on Youtube, and now now I’m costing up the wood to make a new bench for the shed I shall be chucked into…
As far as I can see I need the following bits:
Two Tops, each: 6 of 47mmx75mmx2.4m
Two Aprons, each: 3 of 47mmx75mmx2.4m
Four legs each: 2 of 47mmx100mmx1000m
Two top Rails each: 1 of 47mmx100mmx1000mm
Two Bottom Rails each: 1 of 47mmx100mmx1000mm
Two bearers each: 1 of 47mmx100mmx1000mm
One “well bottom” each: 3 of 100mmx19mmx2.4mPricing this out at B&Q I get to 4 packs of 5 47mmx75mmx2.4m, 2 packs of 4 47mmx100mmx2.4m and 3 100mmx19mmx2.4m which comes out at ~£182
I have a local timber merchant who I’ll probably use to get more sensible lengths (1.8m rather than 2.4m since it will be going into an 8ftx6ft shed I expect) which may even bring the cost down a bit.
Does that seem reasonable?
Am I missing anything?
8 June 2017 at 6:40 pm #312675I’m just about to start on one myself and if you have one near to you I would highly recommend a wood recycling yard, you can check here http://www.communitywoodrecycling.org.uk/stores/ to see them all.
Here’s a price list from my local yard to give you some idea http://www.stalbanswoodrecycling.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-SWR-Price-Guide.pdf I think you can make quite a saving and you can pick each length out rather than what might be bundled in a pack.
Whichever way you choose good luck and don’t forget to post some photos up for us to see.
Best regards
Craig
11 June 2017 at 4:53 pm #312710My bench is about 3′ by 8′ by 3′ and I spent roughly around $100 on lumber at Lowe’s.
I’d consider building the 5 foot bench shown in link below for an 8X6 work space … but maybe that’s just me …
8′ lumber cut to 5′ for top and aprons then use off cuts for the legs and stretchers. Needs 17 pieces according to link.
https://paulsellers.com/2013/01/two-days-at-the-baltimore-woodworking-show/
30 June 2017 at 3:01 am #313362Just out of interest, what type of wood will you buy? Pine?
I am using mostly fir on my workbench. It is a bit softer, but considerably cheaper than pine. It should still make a good workbench though. But actually, in Germany, you would have to pay almost your price for fir. Pine would be 1.5 or even 2 times as much.By the way, don’t forget hardware and glue.
Happy building!
Dieter
3 July 2017 at 8:01 am #313433I’m confused. Why is it you haven’t considered cutting down the bench you already have? In the process, you could address the wobbly issue, and as far as I see, the resurfacing is irrelevant, you are going to have to do that anyway with a new bench.
Even if you needed a whole new leg system, you are still way ahead in effort and expense.
Maybe I’m overreacting, because 50 years doesn’t seem all that long. The bench I’m working on now i built in 1976. It never occurred to me to build a new one. For its 40th birthday I gifted it new vise ways and a new bench stop system. It will outlast me.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Larry Geib.
That’s a reasonable question. Three reasons….
The first is, it’s been abused. I considered remaking the drawers that are falling apart, re-surfacing it. But it’s had chunks taken out, it’s been moved between workshops a lot of times, so like I said, it’s not too stable… I could shore it up. but at this point, it’s as much work to make it work, as it is to build a new one…..
The second is, it’s a couple of inches too low. I’m 6’2″ and I feel in my back that it needs to be a bit higher. Yes, I could accomplis this in the resurfacing… But again… It’s as much work as building a new one….
Thirdly… I’m in this to learn. There’s a lot of nice skills in the workbench project that would be good to go over.
3 July 2017 at 11:47 am #313436I built a five foot bench using Paul’s design and the timber alone cost me £90. I found B&Q too expensive and they didn’t have the sizes I wanted. Instead I went to a timber merchants and got exactly what I wanted and cut to the sizes I required (not the finished sizes). Putting the back seats down I managed to get it all in the car.
First thing I have ever built (since school over 4o years ago) using hand tools only.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Let’s see if that works…. no pictures of just the bench, but it’s holding a few things up in that album!
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.