I wanted to make a small bench what would be dedicated for sharpening. I wanted to have a place where my sharpening stones would be ready to use. I used to have to find a place to set everything up, and sometimes I didn’t do that ahead of time. This meant I might have worked with a tool longer without sharpening. That’s not good, because a dull tool is a dangerous tool.
I came up with this simple bench. I made it somewhat heavy, to it to keep it from moving around. I also made it somewhat low. The lower height helps when you are doing some freehand work. It allows you to lock your arms in place and move your body to maintain your angle on whatever tool you might be sharpening. I’ve talked about Rob Cosman before, and this is a technique he talks about in one of his DVDs. If the height isn’t right, it shouldn’t be that hard to make an adjustment.
This bench is about 35” Wide, 22” Deep and 29” High. There is room for a shelf to hold sharpening supplies and jigs.
5 comments so far
Karson
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35077 posts in 4151 days
#1 posted 12-30-2007 08:55 PM
Nice design. I made a workbench that is about 27” high. I sit on a chair and It’s great when triming up tenons and cleaning out mortises. And also for sharpening.
Great idea.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware soon moving to Virginia karsonwm@gmail.com †
mot
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4911 posts in 3787 days
#2 posted 12-30-2007 09:14 PM
That’s a nice design. Workbench height can be a real issue. My workbench is the right height for hand planing. It’s too low for chisel work and sawing. My assembly table is the right height for fiddling and tinkering, but too high for planing. It’s always a compromise. That’s why I made the small workbench that sits on top of my workbench. I like your design though.
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Dorje
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1763 posts in 3747 days
#3 posted 12-30-2007 09:16 PM
Looks good – I’ll be on the lookout for number two!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
Mike Lingenfelter
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503 posts in 3864 days
#4 posted 12-30-2007 09:21 PM
Yes, bench height can be tricky when it comes to different operations. My brother is a Manufacturing Engineer and always talk at the 5S process. He would have a different station/workbench for each procedure :). He was happy when I told him I was going to have a dedicated station just for sharpening.
Beginningwoodworker
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13347 posts in 3423 days
#5 posted 04-04-2009 06:59 PM
Nice design.
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