Grizzly Workbenches

Hi I haven’t seen one myself but in a study of them by fine woodworking about 16 months ago they were really not well reviewed at all.

Cowboy

I bought one for my home shop because I didn’t have time to devote to making one and I needed something quick. I’m not real happy with it, quality is just not there. Vise hardware is not the best.

I’ll be making one to replace it, when I can find the time.

I do not recommend their work benches….............one other thing, They are made out of soft maple.

-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)

I do not believe many of the Grizzly Tools have ever rated top ratings by anyone : i.e magazines or other wood authorities ….I could be wrong on that.
I just looked at the Grizzly catalog and most of their workbenches advertised as Birch and a few as maple …
They do sell maple workbench tops of varying sizes.

Christopher Schwarz ’ book …Workbenches ..Design and Theory to Construction and use
has a listing of weight of common workbench woods.. specific gravity of Soft maple is listed as .54 yellow Birch at .62 Hard maple at .63 and Chris Schwarz personal favorite Yellow Pine at .67 of which he built the English Workbench and the French workbench. And beauties they are …

I do not own any Grizzly tools ..tho i live only 2 hrs from the Bellingham Washington Grizzly plant …
I think IF i had the space …I would def build a bench …..and my uncle used to tell me If your grandma had wheels …..she would be a bicycle …

-- Mike in Bonney Lake " If you are real real real good your whole life, You 'll be buried in a curly maple coffin when you die."

I believe Cowboy is correct, Fine Woodworking did do a review of benches. I think they had big problems with the stablity, hardware and the general overall quality of the bench. I think thier final rating for it was just above firewood and below that of my grandfather’s saw horses.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

FineWoodworking.com reviewed them, in issue #188:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/workshop/workshoppdf.aspx?id=27577

Your library should have a copy of this issue.

-- Al Navas, St Joseph, MO, http://sandal-woodsblog.com