Wall Mounted Bench vs Freestanding Bench

[steve swantee]

Hello All, has anyone gone from a free standing workbench back to a wall mounted bench? Lately I have been thinking that I would be better served by having a wall mounted bench again. My bench is against one end wall of my shop, and it NEVER moves. Now I could leave it at that, but I'm thinking it would be nicer if it was about 10 feet long (it's currently 69" long). Also I would gain a lot of storage space underneath on the shelf and could use the wall behind it as well. I would reuse the vises on my current bench and it would be basically the exact same construction except it would have an extra leg on the front and would be attached to the wall at the rear instead of having rear legs. Anyone done a bench to this effect? Any pics of your wall mounted benches? Here's a pic of my current bench.
17-07-09_0921.jpg

Steve

[Nelson Howe]

I like to have access to both sides of my bench to work on stuff. I couldn't do that if it was screwed to the wall. But I guess it depends on what kind of work you're doing.

Nelson

[Mike Olson]

I have a wall mounted bench which i absolutely love, but my most recent project did make me bring out some saw horses. If you deal with mostly smaller projects then a wall mounted bench is great, easy access to all your tools hanging on the wall and it's never going to rack or move since you'd have to shake your whole wall.

On the down side, if you work on large projects, say a gate to keep your dog in the kitchen and you need to lay it down then you will have to drag out your old saw horses to lay it on there and let me tell you, it's not easy to do chisel work on something laying on wobbly saw horses.

edit: Pictures of mine are near the bottom of the thread for drop-down benches: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=141411

[Bill Houghton]

...if you work on large projects, say a gate to keep your dog in the kitchen...

I take it that's a randomly selected hypothetical large project, Mike.

My bench is wall mounted because my shoplet is too small for a freestanding bench. I am regularly frustrated by being unable to have clamps extending beyond it on the back. My fantasy shop* has a freestanding bench. This may be another demonstration that the grass is greener on t'other side of the fence - I'd probably be frustrated by things falling off the back of a freestanding bench, but I'd be willing to find out if someone could just bankroll a new shop for me.

One thread-hijacking question occurs to me for those with freestanding benches with tool trays along the rear of the bench: do you find them useful to keep stuff from falling off the back of the bench? It is possible that this is one of the reasons for the design? Or were traditional workers less clumsy than I am?

*My fantasy shop is a slightly oversized two-car garage, a little under five times the size of my current 121-square-foot shop. I'm always entertained by the fact that people with two-car-garage shops have fantasy shops, too, usually larger than a two-car garage by about the same ratio as my dreams. I like to think it would take me a long time to outgrow a larger shop.

[harry strasil]

My woodshop started out as about a fourth of my basement, now its about 12 by 20, with a 24 inch wall mounted bench and cabinets above and storage below along one full side of my shop. A smooth jawed machinists type vise near one end and my antique cutoff saw mounted to the bench, I have a center free standing work bench 27 by 60 with vises all around it on all sides. The wall mounted bench is usually a full of tools I use on the center bench and I usually put tools away after use. My shop made table saw gets used as an assembly bench quite often also.

[Marv Werner]

Bill,

You could have a 5000 sq. ft. shop and it would still be too small. Just more space to store stuff you think you might need sometime in the future. What is your definition of "hoarder"?

[Mark Salomon]

Although it seems obvious, the best workbench is tailored to the types of work that you do and in the manner that you do your work. If you work only with handtools I think that you'll be disappointed in a wall-mounted bench. On the other hand, if you're only looking for something to support the jewelry boxes that you make from already milled wood then maybe you'll be just fine. All workbenches are compromises. The same workbench that won't make you feel like you're 80 after a day of planing will probably make you feel like you're 80 after a day of dovetailing.