Kid size workbench

[Daniel Rode]

My 7 year old grandson likes to work in the shop with me. He especially likes to saw but everything is too tall to saw properly. We built a stool but standing on a stool using tools is not safe. So I'm going to start this weekend on a a workbench he can use. I'm thinking 18" x 36" made from pine 2x4s 3" x 3" legs made from the same and mortised into the top. I'll probably add a small vice as well.

I'm thinking I can extend the legs over time as he grows taller, so he ought to get a few years of use out of it. Has anyone built a bench for a child to learn to use hand tools? Any tips or suggestions?

Any tips or suggestions for building a workbench from Borg pine?

[lowell holmes]

If you Google "kid size workbench" you will find more than you can imagine.

Check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDdbDBX5F30

[Prashun Patel]

I built one for my son when he was 7. He's now 9. I made mine 24" x 48" long because the math was easiest. I also made the top out of edge-banded 3/4" plywood (2-plies). My thought was (and is still) that he won't be strong enough to require the stability of a solid top. When he outgrows it, he can build a solid top and I can use this bench as an assembly table.

I mortised and tenoned the base, making it very solid. However, I had do all that cutting; he just helped glue and clamp. In retrospect, I would have put the base together more basically with overlapping parts, a little glue and lots of screws. I think he would have gotten more out of the construction this way. I mean, I think the big value in the bench is having him help build it, and the more sophisticated you get with it, the less he'll be able to do. My son lost interest with it while I was cutting. Simple construction means he can be engaged for a higher % of the time.

If this bench will be in your shop, then I would build it the same height as YOUR bench. This may mean also constructing a wide stepstool so he can work comfortably, but it will also mean that the 90% of the time you're in the shop without him, you can use it as auxiliary support for your own bench.

pp

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on what Prashun said about the size. Construction lumber usually comes in 8' lengths so making the bench ~48" will waste less wood.

On the height, I would size that for your grandson. Then make an auxiliary base to raise the bench up to your height as needed.

jtk

[Reinis Kanders]

How about Fidgen's style sawbench?
https://www.google.com/search?q=fidg...h=1035&dpr=0.9

I have been thinking of something like that for myself and my kids. I will combine mine with with Veritas holdfast and removable vise.

[jason thigpen]

I built a Schwarz style saw bench that my five year old uses as a workbench. No vise, but it has some dog holes he likes to use. And it's just the right height for him. And, I get to use it!

[Matt Radtke]

I've done exactly this. Pictures below.

1) I scored a pair of solid core doors for $1 per door. Hello 3" thick top! Top is 24"x48" or so.

2) I made the legs from 4x4s. I intentionally made the legs too long, with a finished height of about 30" total (maybe it was 28". It's been a while) Then I cut off the bottoms of each leg and matched the cutoff to the leg. When the time comes, I plan on (somehow) re-attaching the bottoms to the cut legs.


ci8kC.jpg bS75g.jpg

[Daniel Rode]

A sawbench is intriguing. It's compact, the height is useful for a child and I'd get a useful sawbench to boot. The only downside is that I doesn't seem very sturdy for crosscutting with a bench hook but I may be wrong.

[Chuck Hart]

In the Family Handyman magazine out now there is a kids bench and plans in an article. Very comprehensive planes. You might want to look at that. Really easy to buils

[Jim Matthews]

The only downside is that I doesn't seem very sturdy for crosscutting with a bench hook but I may be wrong.

I have a pair of Record holdfasts on my sawbench.
You could achieve much the same results with a
handscrew. I've found that younger shop assistants
cut straighter, and bend fewer of my saws
when they're sawing down, rather than across.

They naturally put their weight into it,
and if they're sawing above waist height
my saws tend to bind and kink.

If the work is below waist high,
the saw stays in the kerf.

Teaching a kid to go easy, isn't.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Daniel,

Jack McKee has a design in his book "Woodshop for Kids," which looks pretty quick and simple to build. There is a picture of such a bench that a guy built in one day, the link below:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/33383

I like the design because it is quick to build, and it looks easy to adjust the height on by having more than one sets of legs. If the legs were built square instead of tapered, then small short sections could be built to scab on quickly, thus changing the height, depending on which grandkids would be using it.

Since I work full time, and normally fairly long hours, I don't have time to build an artsy bench for my grandkids. For me, I want one I can take apart and store relatively easily, since I don't have a shop, only a little bit of room in the garage, and his bench looks like it fits the bill.

With regard to height, my younger grandson was here a couple of weeks ago, and is pretty small since he is only a little over 4&1/2. I found that a good height for him to work on, using one of my coping saws on soft 1X2s, was about 15 to 17 inches.

McKee in his book advises that you don't want a workbench that is too tall, as too tall puts them at risk because of injury. My view is that you want the tools well below chest level on the kids to protect them from injury, preferably about waist high on them.

Regards,

Stew

[Winton Applegate]

I am half tung in cheek an half serious.
Depends on the mentality of the kid. When I was a kid my “Work bench” was an all steel metal working vise that wasn’t bolted to any thing. When I needed to bend stuff I stuck a pipe in where ever I could and that stabilized it enough to bend with it. I put my foot on it or wedged it under the wood pile . . . a determined six year old HAS GOT TO DO WHAT A DETERMINED SIX YEAR OLD HAS GOT TO DO !
Right ?
I was metal working. Put my foot on it and hack sawed away etc.

any way here goes
How about a MODIFIED Japanese style bench ?
Enter my portable take it every where set up.

Two super stout and higher than normal Japanese style horses. You might not want to make them out of eight quarter bubinga as I did but . . .

And then the short planing beam. Note the dadoes that index with the tops of the horses.
Then the face vise made from a Bessey clamp. A big honker I bought at Home Depot and mortised a hunk of two by four as the vise jaw. Works great though I do have to set the planing beam up on other stuff if the work is too tall vertically. At that point Toshio just angles the work up on one horse and puts his foot on it, bends over and keeps working.

In fact a lot of the clamping is done by just sitting on the board or standing on it. I have screws that stick up or are screwed down flush for planing stops. There is another thread here some where showing all that just search “planing beam” or small bench etc.

Anyway a thought. I some times clamp this or my long planing beam(s) (see last photo of the long beam standing up against the wall you can see the dadoes to fit the horses facing out in the photo) . . . one or the other in my two Work Mates to make a big honkin portable work bench. That is another option . . . the Work Mates have three working heights : totally folded, first extension with lower legs folded and the highest setting lower legs deployed.

[Eric Brown]

You might consider the Noden Adjust-a-Bench legs. See here: http://adjustabench.com/
The bench could then be easily adjusted as the child grows.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Dan,

One other idea I have been thinking about for my own grandchildren is to build a set of short sawhorses to lay a top on.

I don't have a shop, only a little bit of space in the garage, so normally my bench is a pair of horses with a piece of 1" lumber core plywood that is a little over 5' by almost 20." Because the horses splay, with the plywood clamped on them the set up is pretty stable and doesn't move around or wiggle.

The ply was part of some sort of cheap furniture that got left in the basement of a house we bought years ago. It had been worked over with paint stripper before I got it. It was cleaned up a little and then got a couple of coats of finish. I have a big metal working vise on a wooden base that can be clamped on the ply, and have enough varied clamps that usually a way can be figured out to do what ever needs be done on the plywood top. Now I also have a smaller metal vise and a small woodworking vise, and intend to set them up on wooden bases too, again to be able to clamp in place and use when needed.

Thus I could use my existing ply top, and existing clamps and vises for the grandkids. The short horses also give some flexibility, as with the ply could use that set up for an assembly table or other application where a short bench is needed. The main thing is that I can stack the horses on the other horses, lean the ply against its spot along the wall, and put the vehicle in the garage for the night.

Anyway, the grandkids will be here for Thanksgiving, so I have to have everything ready for then.

Stew

[Daniel Rode]

I decided to build a sawbench similar to this one http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...-bench-is-born!

Mine will have a 12" x 36" top and be 20" high. It should be a good surface for him to work at and I can use it to break down lumber. I'm about 50% complete. I'll post some pix when I'm done.