Fast, Easy, Fantastic (but not Cheap) Workbench

This summer, I had to build six knockdown workbenches for a class I’m teaching at Etherfarm, a beautiful farm in the Driftless region of Wisconsin.

The workbenches needed to look swanky and also serve as worktops for other sorts of classes (cooking, art, fly tying, insect taxidermy). I didn’t have time to make six yellow-pine workbenches, such as the one in “The Anarchist’s Workbench” (a free download). So I took a different path.

The top is a 3" x 24" x 60" hard maple top from Alexander Bros. ($590 plus shipping). The base is a pair of cast-iron legs from JCS Casting ($926.25, which includes shipping). The vise is a 10" Milwaukee-made Morgan that I bought from Lake Erie Toolworks ($335 plus shipping). And then we bolted and screwed it all together.

Each bench took us less than 45 minutes to construct. If my time estimate is in error, I’ve overstated how long it took us. We used a cordless drill, a few bits and the Rockler Portable Drill Guide. Honestly, that is the entire set of woodworking tools you need to make the bench (plus a ratchet and wrench to snug the bolts).

The bench weighs 208 lbs. (237 lbs. When I add a carver’s vise to the benchtop). It is damn sturdy and doesn’t move under heavy planing work.

This is probably the fastest and easiest way to build a workbench that I would accept in my workshop. But it is not the cheapest. The total bill for each bench was $1,851.25, plus some bolts and some shipping charges. That makes it more expensive than an entry-level Ramia bench (which is really too flimsy for my work) but considerably less expensive than a bigger-and-somewhat-decent Sjöberg.

You could make this bench for a lot less money by purchasing a vintage quick-release vise. A vintage Jorgensen will set you back about $100 (maybe less). And you could make the top yourself. Figure on buying 35 board feet of hard maple ($175 in the Midwest), plus you will need machinery.

So you can slice and dice this idea all you like – cast your own legs in the sand at the beach if you like.

The purpose of this entry is to talk about the benchtops and the cast legs. I’ll cover the Morgan vise and the Rockler drill guide in the future after we use them some more. All I can say about them right now is that they work and they are the color blue.