Value of used woodworking benches?

[Steve Mathews]

The thought occurred to me last night while thinking about building a woodworking bench, why not purchase used instead of building one. Considering my newness to woodworking, cost and availability of hardwoods, time, etc. it may be a good way to go. Surprisingly there are quite a few listed on Craigslist within a reasonable distance away. Asking prices however are all over the board. So, what's a fair price for a proper woodworking bench with a maple top?

[Dave Sabo]

It's like anything else in the secondary market.

Whatever the traffic will bear.

Some will say 1/2 of the new cost. Some 1/2 replacement cost. Condition also determines price and premimum or discount. An Ulmia maple bench is going to command more money and multiple than a habor freight bench or a home brewed one.

What kind of vises are on it? An old pattern makers vise can be worth $500 alone.

At a minimum , you can easily figure the raw materials cost and add whatever you feel warranted in labor and then adjust for condition.

[Warren Lake]

old Ulmias the longer one last time I priced were 2,550.00 Canadian new with the drawer. There arent too many out there maybe 10-15 percent of shops ive been in had old school work benches. Few times you would see a shop with five to seven benches and you knew you were in a shop that had been around 50 years. Guys came they were taught in europe on them and they set up their shops that way. Sometimes by the time an auction comes up some things have been pulled. Prices ive seen have been 200.00 to 700.00 at auction. On one of the sites that sell stuff I could see them being more than 700.00 if in good shape the parts alone would cost that

[Ted Reischl]

Building your own workbench will teach you a lot about woodworking since you said you were new to it.

If'n it were me. . .since you are new.... I would build my first bench out of something like southern yellow pine. You are looking for weight if you are going to be doing some handwork on the bench. SYP is heavy. There are lots of good designs in magazines like ShopNotes (which is available on line via DVD or USB drive for about a hundred bucks for over 100 issues). There are some designs that uses lamination techniques to avoid chopping huge mortises. Also different techniques for creating a top. People immediately sneer at the mention of pine. But stuff like SYP is very hard and durable.

Building a bench like that will not set you back an arm and leg and you can make it exactly the size you would like it to be. Since it is out of inexpensive material you will not feel bad if you want to modify it.

And sometimes you get lucky, like I did about 20 years ago. I actually snagged a FREE maple top, 3 inches thick, 8 feet long X 28 wide. It was in like new condition! No dings, dents, cracks or splits in it. I added aprons, tool tray, vises, etc. I also scrounged 6 X 6 japanese pine of some kind to build the base out of. The pine was used to build packing crates for big honking industrial machinery.

My advice is to build your own.

[Rick Malakoff]

If your new to the hobby another alternative wold be to invest in a Harbor Fright work bench, which is not very expensive in the grand scheme of things. Check out YouTube for some reviews and if you decide to go that way you'll have a place to work today and to build yourself a proper workbench in the future.

Rick

[Frederick Skelly]

Building your own workbench will teach you a lot about woodworking since you said you were new to it.

If'n it were me. . .since you are new.... I would build my first bench out of something like southern yellow pine. You are looking for weight if you are going to be doing some handwork on the bench. SYP is heavy. There are lots of good designs in magazines like ShopNotes (which is available on line via DVD or USB drive for about a hundred bucks for over 100 issues). There are some designs that uses lamination techniques to avoid chopping huge mortises. Also different techniques for creating a top. People immediately sneer at the mention of pine. But stuff like SYP is very hard and durable.

Building a bench like that will not set you back an arm and leg and you can make it exactly the size you would like it to be. Since it is out of inexpensive material you will not feel bad if you want to modify it.

My advice is to build your own.

I agree. I did mine this way. At the time, I knew little joinery. So I literally built the legs from fence posts, crossbraced at top and bottom with 2x4's that I attached with deck screws. I made the long stringers from 2x6's held in place with all-thread from one end to the other. (You could screw the stringers on if you really wanted to.) The base is absolutely rock solid. I made the top by laminating 2x4's face to face. My top is about 3 1/2" thick and I dont freak out if it gets a nick in it. So far, I haven't run into anything that a high end bench will do, that my "dimensional lumber" bench can't do. And I use hand planes and hand saws a lot.

And it even looks nice. Nice enough that other woodworkers regularly complement it.

Build your own Steve. You'll learn a lot.

Fred

[Bradley Gray]

I think buying a bench is a grand idea. If you stick with woodworking your skills and tool selection will no doubt improve with time. You will also have a better idea what style of bench to build if you decide to later on.

As far as pricing, it will vary greatly depending on where you live so if you watch the craigs list ads you will get a sense of it.

You can always make an offer based on what it is worth to you.

[Robert Parent]

Building a bench is a good idea as others have mentioned. In my case I found it difficult to build most anything with any level of quality without a bench of some sorts (kinda like the chicken or the egg). I bought one of those cheap imports to start with and to this day it still is being used for misc tasks.

Costco, Sams Club or similar places at times have sturdy import benches that are great to start with.

Robert

[Chris Hachet]

Import benches will work, but building a basic bench is very simple-construction grade lumber and a 2 x top. I would suggest building something very low cost-after you use your bench awhile, you will know what you want on your second one.

One good vise, flat top, and a good bit of mass is what you are looking for. You can set this up as an outfeed table for your table saw if you wish.

Melamine makes a good cheap bench top, as you can finish on it, repair routers and other small tools on it, sand on it, et al, and it will clean right back up. It will also repel water and oil if you sharpen hand tools on it. The downside is that it is very slick...

Good luck and check in at the Neanderthal section of our forum for some bench ideas.

[Prashun Patel]

There's no rule of thumb. You have to go see the bench and kick it's tires.

Test the top for flat, test the vises. Make sure the legs don't rack and the bench doesn't wobble. Does it have adequate, usable dog hole storage? Can it be easily moved?

So much of what makes a bench good is personal ergonomics and personal methods of work.

That being said, I think it's probably easy for novice sellers to underestimate the value of the hardware but overestimate the value of the whole bench.

If you have time to woodwork, I would personally spend the time to make my own bench. Not only is it more affordable; it's a valuable learning experience.

[Stan Calow]

I agree with Rick: check out the maple tops you can get at Harbor Freight, and build your own base. That's what I would do if starting over. You can also find used benches at estate sales often enough (a lesson in that).

[Joe Jensen]

Price new for what you want. Then go see used ones. What if a used one exactly like you want looked like brand new and was 20% less than the new one? I'd buy the used one. In my mind why buy new if like new is close in price. It all depends on condition and how close it is to what you want.

[Chris Hachet]

Price new for what you want. Then go see used ones. What if a used one exactly like you want looked like brand new and was 20% less than the new one? I'd buy the used one. In my mind why buy new if like new is close in price. It all depends on condition and how close it is to what you want.

And a host of subjective questions the end user has to answer.

[Jeff Ramsey]

You might want to consider southern yellow pine depending on your location. Once the resins cure it's hard stuff. It was used for joists and barn beams in older buildings, and depending where you live is plentiful. When buildings or barns near me are demolished, the framing is often available for friendly prices and much cheaper than maple.

[Chris Hachet]

You might want to consider southern yellow pine depending on your location. Once the resins cure it's hard stuff. It was used for joists and barn beams in older buildings, and depending where you live is plentiful. When buildings or barns near me are demolished, the framing is often available for friendly prices and much cheaper than maple.

It is also much easier to work with than hardwood. Another benifit is that it transmits less sound when you are beating on it with hand tool work...