Bench Lust… I mean List!

I just got back from the Woodworking in America hand tool conference, and wow, was that impressive.  The companies making tools, the talented presenters and – most encouraging – the numbers of young woodworkers attending made this past weekend something special.

But, what really got me going was a visit to the vendor’s area very early on Saturday morning.  There, I saw an impressive collection of workbenches tool manufacturers were using to display and demonstrate their wares.

If you don’t have a bench, or are looking to replace one… well, I have some inspiration for you.

Here are a sampling of the benches out in front… some sweet specimens:

Lake Erie Toolworks' bench
The Lie-Nielsen Workbench
The Lie-Nielsen Workbench
Blue Spruce Tools Bench
Blue Spruce Toolworks Bench
Clark and Williams Plane Bench
Clark and Williams Bench
The portable demo bench from Tools for Working Wood
The portable demo bench from Tools for Working Wood
A commerically available Sjoberg bench
A commerically available Sjoberg bench
An interesting plywood topped bench from Blum Tools
An interesting plywood topped bench from Blum Tools
A demo bench from Lee Valley Tools
A demo bench from Lee Valley Tools
The Sauer and Steiner bench
The Sauer and Steiner bench
A short saw bench
A short saw bench
An offering from Adjust-A-Bench
An offering from Adjust-A-Bench
A bench in potentia
A bench in potentia by Horizon Wood
And, one very strong bench built my Megan Fitzpatrick!
And, one very strong bench built my Megan Fitzpatrick of Popular Woodworking

10 thoughts on “Bench Lust… I mean List!”

  1. Just remember, Vic, every bench ever made is a hybrid of at least a few dozen designs…. That’s just the bloodline of of all benches!

  2. Nice survey, Tom. I’ll have to send you some shots of my cannibalized Craig’s list mini-monstrosity.

  3. If I had to pick the favorite from what I can see in the pictures it would be the Lie-Nielsen Workbench.
    If I had to pick one I could afford it would be the pile of wood on the floor or to make one like Megan’s.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.