The Workbench Design Book: The Art & Philosophy of Building Better Benches

I recently received a couple of instructional books. Without a doubt this was the last one that I picked up. The printing was bland, the paper was of moderate quality (at best) and the images are all in black and white. From all outward appearances, I thought that I’d purchased a dud. You know the old saying, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. In my experiences, this was never more true. After finishing those other high-gloss, academically tedious books, I was bored senseless and reluctant to begin reading. I’m happy to report though, this was the most well-written, engaging and informative book in the stack. Schwarz has a “just the facts, mam” style peppered with honest self-criticism that almost demands your trust. His narrative is from the heart and with the kind of experience that doesn’t impose itself, but rather asks you to take your own situations into account. He’s funny too, and I appreciate a bit of off-topic humor to make a point. The benches included in the plans try to accommodate all situations: budget, time, flexibility, etc. each chapter has an evaluation of his take on the plans as well. It’s everything that I was looking for and more. To be completely transparent, I’ve not yet started any of the plans but I’m looking forward to doing so. I really enjoyed the read - it was like having a conversation with an experienced friend.

Great book and Chris Schwarz-isms humor throughout. This is the 2nd workbench book. I have both. This has some review of book one, but a lot more designs. There were only basically 2 benches in the first book; 8 in the second. This has a chapter on updating your bench. For me, there was more theory in the first book and I read that a couple of times. But then as I'm working on the design for my bench, I am spending much more time in this book. I would guess I will spend more time with this book than with the first, but I consider buying both even though there is overlap. I wonder if my local library was better equipped if I would have just borrowed the books. I think once I'm finished my bench, I may not use these books again. Consider the Fine Woodworking Best Workbenches book as well. It has many design ideas that may compliment the ones in this book; particularly the Garrett Hack bench and the Essential Workbench. There's good detail in that book for making the breadboard ends. I think too much emphasis is placed on the wooden screw vices. I'm very happy with my purchase. If I could choose only this one or the first one, I would choose this one.

Schwarz provides detailed analyses of the features needed for a good workbench, and evaluates a wide range of designs and how well they meet those goals. This allows the reader to evaluate their particular needs; identify the features critical them; and assess design options to best meet them. This volume is a companion to his From Design & Theory to Construction & Use book, focusing more on practical examples than that more theoretical volume. The set of designs included covers a wider range of designs and options which complement the couple included in his From Design & Theory... book. Between the two, they cover most popular options. The designs included could be built as-is, but to best meet your needs, you will likely mix and match features among the various types. The only flaw I find, is that Chris concludes in many cases that the best choice is heavier, thicker wood assembled with more precise joinery, rather than taking more advantage of structural design approaches, like cross bracing - but I acknowledge that he's built and used benches a lot more that I.

Bought this book, and The Workbench:, A complete Guide to Creating Your Perfect Bench. Was sucked in by the amazing photography of The Workbench. For this book, it was the high praise for this book and it's author, from Mark, Matt and Shannon of the WookTalk podcasts. While the color photography of the other book is stunning, the detailed line drawings and b/w photos of this book, combined with Christopher Schwarz's detailed guidance on what not to build and why, are humorous, rational and very instructive. Having read it now, cover to cover, twice, I have a clearer idea what I want, and what I don't need in a proper bench. Thank you, Mr. Schwarz.

I'm planning to build a bench for my home shop. The choices are overwhelming, when it comes to design, material and hardware. This book hasn't eliminated all of the decision frustration, but it's gone a long way by giving me a lot of practical advice from experience. Most (not all) of the plans have a materials list, which helps. While reading, I had some questions that were broached, but not covered as deeply as I was hoping for. I haven't read any other workbench books, so I can't compare, but I can say that I love this book and have spent many hours reading and reviewing it over the past month while I try to figure out what the heck I'm going to build. As mentioned, I really like Chris' writing style. I've seen him on The Wood-wright's Shop and he's entertaining and very knowledgeable. His book was just as entertaining, I found. I definitely recommend it.

Kudos to Chris Schwarz et al. for revisiting the first book and creating this exceptionally well-written and researched collection of work! ~ Hundreds of photos detailing key fabricating and assembly processes ~ Nine plans that are also available in Google SketchUp format ~ Numerous practical thoughts and interesting philosophies to guide you to build a great customized bench ~ Chapter devoted to work holding hardware, (but does not discuss the brilliant BenchCrafted Criscross) ~ Entire chapter of drawings on bench designs that an intermediate woodworker could easily build from ~ Nice section on building a wall hung tool rack ~ Chris's challenge: Chapter Seventeen, The Best Bench Never Built If you are up to the task of creating a bench to last a lifetime, you'll love this book. Nick D. Benson Operations Manager National Center for Craftsmanship Fort Collins, CO

This book, a followup to Christopher Schwarz' earlier manifesto( Workbenches: From Design And Theory To Construction And Use (Popular Woodworking) ), contains a lot more of his options and ideas about workbench design and construction. It also contains detailed photographs, measured drawings, and step-by step directions for building nine different benches. But Schwarz doesn't want you to build these benches- at least, he doesn't want you to build them exactly as he presents them. Instead, he wants you to design your own bench, based on the way you like to work. Want to build an 18th Century Roubou workbench using 21st Century hardware and LVLs? That's cool with Schwarz, so long as it works for you. There's a lot more in this book that you can easily digest in one reading. I've been making sketches and rereading various chapters since it arrived, making plans for the bench that will replace my lightweight Sjoberg. Right now it looks like a commercial laminated top on tenon-joined 4x4s with a mix of hardware, but it's not done yet. If you do hand work, or a mix of hand and power tool work, and the commercial benches you've tried or looked at don't seem to make your work any easier than using a door and a couple of sawhorses, check out this book.

Awesome! The author is a world-class expert and he used his vast research throughout this book. His writing is non-elitist and offers practical suggestions anyone can understand. I was surprised at his assessment of the Black & Decker Workmate portable bench, included among his descriptions of the best hand-built bench designs over the past four hundred years. However, I was most impressed by the way he combinied the best features of all the classic benches and explained the steps for building a perfect bench for a specific person's needs. The book left me with the feeling "I can really build one of these!"

I bought this book having read parts of Christopher Schwarz's other popular book "Workbenches: From Design and Theory to Construction and Use" The reason I decided to buy this book is that I really enjoy Chris's ethos on woodworking especially how he champions hand tool use whenever possible. This book departs from the former as it looks at a whole host of different benches, rather than just two, including those for specific operations such as a power tool bench. It contains a lot of similar ideas to his previous book, and actually develops further the guidelines to building an ideal bench. Each bench that is contained in this book is critiqued (usually using the aforementioned guidelines) to give you an idea of the advantages and disadvantages. The best way to approach the ideas laid out in this book is with the knowledge of what kind of woodworker you are. You may find like me that no particular bench in this book is the one you want to build. The author himself encourages the reader not to replicate his designs but to invent their own using the inspiration of the book coupled with an idea of the tasks they will need to use their bench for. This book also helped me to realise that one of the benches I currently use could be much more workable, there is a brilliant section on improving existing benches and also a look at some of the most recent developments in workholding. If like me you are contstantly chasing the perfect design for the ultimate bench it is important to realise that this is an exercise in futility as what you learn by building a bench, especially by hand seems to automatically instill and inspire new and better ideas for your next. This book helped me skip parts of that process by elminating some ideas I wanted to try but also gave me the problem of about 15 new ones I want to implement. I would recommend this book to those looking to build their own first bench, and also to those who are undertaking this task for the umpteenth time.

I'm planning to build my first dedicated woodworking work bench this winter and bought this book to help out with planning. The book doesn't focus on telling you what the one right workbench is, rather it offers several designs discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each. The goal is to help you design and choose the workbench that is best for your own needs. Chris Schwartz does an excellent job of making it an easy and interesting read while presenting each aspect of a workbench.

dettagliatissimo, storico con un pizzico di simpatia e tantissime foto e disegni

語学力が有ってもこの本は日本在住の人には2分の1位の 効果しか望めません。もしも、この本の設計づ図を模倣し制作するには、肝心の重要部品を輸入しなければならない。 インターネット通販でも利用してUSA より購入しなければ日本では購入できない物も有ります。 全てを手作りをする人を除き★3ッ。ただし内容は充実しています、自作派には良き参考書間違いなし。

Wer sich mit demGedanken trägt, eine Hobelbank zu kaufen, selbst zu machen oder eine bestehende zu verbessern sollte sich dieses Buch unbedingt vorher zu Gemüte führen. Der Untertitel "The Art & Philosophy of Building Better Benches" trifft genau den Kern dieses Buches und vermittelt dem Leser alle Grundlagen die man zum Verständnis dieser Thematik braucht um sich eine funktionelle Werkbank, die den eigenen Bedürfnissen und Arbeitsweisen entgegenkommt, zu kaufen oder selbst zu bauen.