We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
I’ve built a few benches in my time, benches for show and benches in a hurry. I’ve also seen, written about and filmed other benches being made. Each bench and each maker has a process and something unique that they want to add to their bench – and they darn well should! There’s nothing quite as personal as a woodworking bench with the fair amount of planning and energy that goes into making the “one” for you. Honestly, as long as you remain a woodworker, you’ll likely make more than one bench. Our interests shift slightly and we also grow as craftspeople, requiring different operations from our benches. Nothing wrong with that!
The one constant in making benches is they all seem to take longer to make than expected. I know some folks who take months to build their bench – often just due to a lack of available time. But even if you stay at it, things often run a little longer than planned. So… we took a bench build with craftsman Alan Turner and turned up the speed dial a bit. Under five minutes to build a bench seems just about right (sorry to all of you who revel in the process – no offense!). And if you appreciate this style of building, you’ll find a number of our “Pared Down” videos on our YouTube channel. Enjoy!
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
