Workbench Selection/Opinions

[John Adank]

Ok, I’ve finally decided to purchase a workbench. Since, my workshop is split between my basement and garage, I need another bench for the garage. I have no interest in making another bench so I’ve narrowed it down to 3 ready made benches below. I have it narrowed down to the Lie-Nielsen standard bench, Hoffman & Hammer All-Aorund and the Sjobergs Elite 2000. I’m starting to shy away a bit from the Lie-Nielsen at $2,500 plus another $300 for shipping. If I go that route, I may need to save some more money but it may be worth it. The Hoffman & Hammer All- Around is currently $1,200 Plus probably another $200 in shipping. The Sjobergs Elite 2000 would be $2,195 plus another $215 in shipping.

Any opinions, suggestions or experiences with these benches would be appreciated.
Thank you,
john

Lie-Nielsen Standard bench. $2,800 w/shipping. 7’ long x 2 ‘ wide w/shoulder and tail vise, 4” thick solid maple 340lbs. 6-8 week wait.

• The shoulder vise is a chain-drive twin-screw vise, with 12" spacing between the screws, 8-1/4" of travel, and a 22-1/2" maple jaw.

• The rugged tail vise has 6-7" of travel and a non-traditional “no L-block” jaw.

• The front stretcher is 4-1/8" wide and flush to the front of the legs and benchtop. Trestle legs are 3" square and flush with the front of the bench.

• No skirt, no tool tray, just plenty of clamping surface.

• 4" thick solid Hard Maple top.

• 7 feet long (including tail vise handle) x 2 feet wide (excluding the shoulder vise).

• Bench height is customizable between 34" and 38".

• Weight is 340 lbs.

Sjobergs Elite 2000. $2,308 w/shipping. 71”long x 23-5/8” wide w/two vises and round dog holes 275lbs. 3-5/16” Beech top, includes deluxe 6 drawer cabinet and accessory kit. Available now

Constructed of dense, clear European beech, this stout structure comes equipped with two massive 29"-wide vises that open to 5-3/4", won't rack and can be configured for left- as well as right-handed use. A double row of round bench dog holes allows you to work from any combination of vise locations using the four unbreakable 1" steel bench dogs that are included.
The Sjobergs Elite 2000 bench top is 71" long (76" with the vise) by 23-5/8" wide and 3-5/16" thick, and wrapped by a 4-5/16" skirt. At a standard height of 35-1/2", this bench weighs 275 lbs. – large and heavy enough to handle the most demanding woodworking projects.




Hoffman & Hammer about $1500 w/shipping 71”long x 23-5/8” wide w/two vises and round dog holes 220lbs. 2” thick European Beech Top with 4” skirt. Available now.

fications (Metric measurements are precise manufacturers specs, inch measurements are approximate.)

• Table Size — 23-5/8" x 70-7/8" (600mm x 1800mm)
• Table Size including vise overhang — 31-1/16" x 80-11/16" (790mm x 2015mm)
• Table Top Thickness — 1-15/16" (50mm)
• Table Skirt Thickness — 3-15-16" (100mm)
• Table Height — 34-1/4" (870mm)
• Front Vise Width — 19-1/2" (495mm)
• Front Vise Opening — 7-3/4" (195mm)
• Tail Vise Overall Size — 9-7/16" x 24-7/16" (240mm x 620mm)
• Tail Vise Length — 20-1/16" (510mm)
• Tail Vise Overhang — 1-5/8" (40mm)
• Tail Vise Travel — 8-13/16 " (225mm)
• Weight — 220lbs (100kg)
• Bench Material — European Beech

[Jim Becker]

What kind of work do you expect to do on this particular bench? It could have impact on recommendations.

[John Adank]

Sorry, I forgot to mention the most important part. Mainly, something to set my work on and assemble it, sand and finish work. I’m just starting to acquire some planes to to do some hand work. I really need something to set my work on and be able to clamp things down to keep them from moving.

[Jim Becker]

So I'm going to throw a suggestion out to you...use a more portable solution for your second bench since it's nor intended for heavy hand-tool work based on your description. It appears that you have a heavy bench in your basement shop that can handle that, although that's an assumption on my part. That way, you can get more utility from both in the garage and elsewhere. For the money you're looking at, you could have a couple of Festool MFTs which have excellent square clamping capability for assembly work. And you can throw a sacrificial panel over them for finishing work. You can arrange them end-to-end or side-by-side to vary the shape and size of the surface, too. One thing I've keenly learned at this point is that flexibility can be a wonderful thing, no matter how large or small a shop is.

[Jacob Mac]

If you are considering the LN bench, you might also want to consider the benchcrafted bench

https://www.benchcrafted.com/classicbench

[John Adank]

That’s a good suggestion. I have one of those already down stairs and use it quite a lot. I’m thinking something more substantial and robust and with a vise. Now you got me thinking about one of those Armor benches on wheels with all the dog holes. All those holes really do give you a lot of versatility.

[David Eisenhauer]

Caveat: It is your money, your shop and your preference when all is said and done, so just thinking out loud from my perspective for my needs/wants. The benches you mention are more purpose-built woodworking bench type designed for hand milling and joinery work. Of course you can sand, assemble and finish work on them, but it would seem that the cost of one of the purpose-built benches would not be warranted for the sand-assemble-finish work. Couple of questions - Do you anticipate moving towards more traditional hand tool woodworking in the future that would better utilize the capacity of the new bench? What is the size/shape of the bench you already have? Could it be used for timber milling and joinery work (perhaps with the addition of vises, dog/holdfast holes, etc) or converted to the sand-assemble-finish work tasks if your new bench is dedicated to more milling-joinery work?

[John Adank]

I do see myself acquiring a few more hand tools in the future but propbably for jus cleaning up edges to join or faces to smooth out. I will still be sticking with my power tools for the majority of work but I’m picking up things here and there with some of the planes that can compliment the power tool work. Some storage under the bench would be nice as well. I will take a look at the Benchcrafted becnch as well. I was just looking at American Workbench as well. Pretty hefty table around the price of the Sjobergs and it’s made here in the USA. I haven’t herd of any reviews or opinions on that one

[Phil Gaudio]

The LN bench is outstanding: excellent hardware and an overall excellent design. Here is pic of copy I made using their hardware:
IMG_3022_zps97252e83-2.jpg

[John Adank]

That looks great

[Phil Gaudio]

Thanks: building one of these is a project. In retrospect, the price LN is asking for their version is more than fair.

[Mike Kreinhop]

John, your thread is very timely for me as I was doing similar research for my shop. It wasn't until I saw Julie's bench in a different threat that I had enough information to make a decision.

The LN bench is not an option for me because of the shipping expenses. This leaves the Hoffmann & Hammer Allround , Sjöbergs Elite 2000, and the Holkraft HB2010. The H&H factory is about two hours from me and the company where I bought my Minimax SC2 is a distributor for Holzkraft workbenches with some stock, but not the HB2010. That left finding a local retailer for Sjöbergs.

I was about to purchase the H&H Allround, but discovered one of the big-box hardware stores in the next town is a stocking distributor for Sjöbergs workbenches. A quick trip this morning, and the purchase was complete for the Elite 2000 and the drawer cabinet that goes with it (identical to the workbench in the Sjöbergs video below). The cabinet was in stock but the workbench is coming from a different store and will be delivered to my house next week, along with the cabinet.

My cost, with free delivery, was about $1,600 for the workbench and cabinet. The deciding factors for me were availability and mass. The cost was not as important, but I wanted a workbench that would not move around easily once assembled. Had I not found a source for the Sjöbergs, I would have bought the H&H Allround.

Here is one of three videos I found for the H&H, Sjöbergs, and LN workbenches. The vBulletin software won't allow me to include more than one video, so I'll add the other two in separate posts. I didn't look for a Holzkraft video because I saw variations of it at the distributor.

[Mike Kreinhop]

Video two of three:

[Mike Kreinhop]

Video three of three:

[John Adank]

Thanks for the info Mike. Are you located in the US? Looks like you got a really good deal. That same bench would be about $2500 with shipping to my home. I’ve watched all those videos you provided to try and help me make a decision. My concern too was that I have a bench that doesn’t move or wiggle around when using it.