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Thread: Value of used woodworking benches?

  1. #16
    Steve,

    A lot depends on the hardware so its difficult to estimate without knowing that.

    I recommend posting some examples and get some specific feedback.

  2. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Robert Engel View Post
    Steve,

    A lot depends on the hardware so its difficult to estimate without knowing that.

    I recommend posting some examples and get some specific feedback.
    Here's an example of one bench being considered. What do you think of the price? Seems high to me.

    https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/fuo/6115673425.html

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    Houston, Texas area
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Mathews View Post
    Here's an example of one bench being considered. What do you think of the price? Seems high to me.

    https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/fuo/6115673425.html
    I haven't priced used workbenches, but my first impression of that bench is that the legs are not really substantial and it seems priced more like the antique market (i.e. high for its function). The top would need to be flattened (unless you like the look, again an antique thing).
    Mark McFarlane

  4. #19
    Yeah,too high! Maybe the Smithsonian will buy it. If you live in a town that has a restaurant supply place ,see if they have any used maple tops. Some are in odd configurations that many new buyers don't want. Reconfigure as you like and enjoy the smell of bacon!

  5. #20
    I wouldn't wear another man's underwear and I wouldn't buy his bench either. Buy a used vise? Sure! Building your own bench is an important right of passage for any serious woodworker. Just an opinion of course.

  6. #21
    So what value would you put on the bench on Craigslist?

  7. #22
    Join Date
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    Exeter, CA
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    691
    Although not answering your Q, I vote for building your own bench, and using it as a learning experience. Thats what woodworking is all about. I built my current bench about 20 years ago and also built the top of laminated hardwood, its still a great bench. i purposely overbuilt using common 2x6s with through tenons and threaded rods to take up any slack, but haven't had to. It was fun and its a fully functional bench to this day. Randy

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Atlanta
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    I'm with the other fellas - that price is insane and I don't think the bench is in all that great of shape either. Front vise has considerable wear on it and I can see the the cupping in the top from all they way over here on the east cost.

    I also thought the legs looked a bit wimpy.

    The max I'd value that bench at would be $900. Even then , I wouldn't pay that much for it. I'd concur that it's probably marketed to the design crowd, but even so, it's not really special enough looking or patina-ed for most show pieces.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Pleasant Grove, UT
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    1,503
    I saw a bench listed on the Colorado Western Slope Craiglist this week for $750, looked to be a stouter bench than the one you link in Phoenix. That said, the price of a used bench is whatever you can get it for. If I were to kick off tomorrow, my kids might sell my bench for $100, even though they know it cost a lot more than that. Why? Don't they love me? Yes, they do, but I suspect that they really, really don't want to move the thing.

    Build or buy, up to you. Yes, it's a "rite of passage", but so is having your face tatooed (if you're Maori). Since this isn't the Whimsical Westerling Society of Woodworkers (another competitor to the Stonecutters), YOU don't have to undergo the rite in order to actually BE a woodworker.

    Finally, for those suggesting that he build a bench out of Southern Yellow Pine. Please, pay closer attention. He's in Northern Arizona. SYP is almost as uncommon there as it would be in Seattle. Those of us out West rarely see SYP, just as y'all back East don't see a lot of Douglas Fir. (BTW, there used to be, and may still be, a small sawmill out in, IIRC, Ash Fork, although it could have been Seligman.)

    For the OP, I have built 2.5 benches. The first used a base of Douglas Fir 4x4 and 2x4, held together using threaded rod, topped with a solid core door sheathed with Masonite. Bench 1.5 was the same base, with a purchased 72" x 25" x 1.75" Maple top. Bench 2 is a Split Top Roubo, 9' long, now my primary bench. Bench 2.5 is Bench 1.5 reworked. The base has been widened, the lower shelf raised, and along with the wider base comes additional width to the top made out of laminated Douglas Fir with 1/8" mild steel sheet on it.
    It came to pass...
    "Curiosity is the ultimate power tool." - Roy Underhill
    The road IS the destination.

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