Benches designed and built by individuals

Updated March 29, 2009

If you'd like to add your bench to the list, e-mail me the link to your site.

European Style Benches

Peter's Masterpiece
Peter's bench is a beautiful European style bench with a really nice Shaker style cabinet underneath. It uses a combination of several woods that make it stand out. Wonderful job!

Bob's Woodworking Shop
Bob has built a number of very fine benches. Also covered is his tool cabinet.  This is a very nice site covering several woodworking projects and he also has plans for a beginner's bench. (This site is permanently down. But, I found a link from the web archive.)

Mark's Well Documented Bench
Mark has completed a really nice European bench. Using many of the ideas from The Workbench Book, he has done an outstanding job of documenting his construction process with lots of details and many photos.

Cliff Dawson's New Bench
Cliff's really nice bench. He's documented the building process and has lots of photos during construction. It all started with a felled tree. It's a modern European style bench that's built to last a lifetime.

Keith Rucker's Bench
Keith has done a terrific job of documenting his workbench construction. His is a bit of a hybrid European design with a dog leg end vise alla Frank Klausz. Pretty much every detail is shown along with detail drawings and notes in a 60 page downloadable plan. Well done!

Mike's Roubo Style Bench
For those woodworkers that like to work with hand tools, Mike Flaim's new bench is a real treat. He combines details from Roubo benches from Christoper Schwarz and Roy Underhill with several interesting ideas of his own. I thought mounting the Emmert vise on the end was a great idea. A great bench for handwork and it's built with readily available materials so it's not expensive to make. Mike has thoroughly documented the process on his blog at Fine Woodworking.

Scott's Northern European Bench
Scott has done something you almost never see. It's a true Northern Europen bench in the Frank Klauzs style right down to the shoulder vise. But, he built the bench entirely out of lumber you buy at your neighborhood homedepot. Pretty it's not, but it works!

Wood Centrals Shop Shots
There are  several workbenches on Wood Central's great website. Just do a search for "workbenches".

Contemporary & Cabinet Maker's Benches

Nice Neat Shop
A nice bench and a nice shop. Lots of open space-why can't my shop have that much room? The site has lots of photos and some jig designs for viewers. This bench is patterned after the one described in Issue 50 of "The Wood Smith" magazine.

Steve's Woodshop
Besides his bench, Steve has several nice projects here.

David Haynie's Bench
Well documented process of buildinga very nice bench with a front style vise mounted on the end of the bench.

Ken Vaughn's Well Refined Bench
Built over 30 years ago, Ken has added many details that make it work really well for him. Very well documented.

Bill's Beautifully Carved Bench Cabinet
Bill added a unique tiger maple carved cabinet to a ready made bench to hold his collection of tools.

Garrett Lambert's Modern Bench
Garrett's bench is strong on common sense for modern woodworkers. It was built for $200 in materials and in 20 hours. It uses bolts instead of joints and one vise along with hold fasts to hold the work. Simple but useful.

David's Carefully Designed Bench
Wonderful execution on a classic European layout. David does an excellent job of developing his plans and documenting his work. Pay special attention to his tail vise structure. It's a little different then I've seen before, but it looks like it should work pretty well.

Stephen Andrew's Sapele Workbench
Stephen's cabinetmaker's workbench is 7' long and 31" wide. Think that's big? Well, his shop is only 10' long and 6' wide and he built it on a beatup Workmate. He has the full store and all the plans.

Woodsmith Bench
The classic plan from issue #50 this bench features a front vise and wagon vise. The builder built the bench and cabinet out of maple and purple heart.

Scandanavian Benches

Charlie's "Das Bench"
A traditional shoulder vise and Veritas Twin Screw end vise inspired by Frank Klauz's scandanavian bench in the Workbench Book. Featuring integral drawers that are accessible from both sides of the bench. Charlie has superbly documented the construction of his excellent bench. Lots of photos. Lots of documentation and many details. And, complete plans make this a bench you'll want to see.

Larry's Workshop
Larry's site has numerous detailed construction photos of his bench. His design has a couple of unusual details in a duel line of dog holes. One set is square the other round. Also, his design has an unusual end vise design.

Mark van Roojen's Bench Page
Mark has built a couple of great workbenches over the last 15 years. One is a Scandinavian style bench. The other focuses on a Emmert vise. Be sure to check out his site.

Scott's Bench
His personal masterpiece is a left hand version of the Frank Klaus bench with a twin screw tail vise.

Stan Faulin's Bench with a Beautiful Cabinet Base
A cabinet maker's style bench made of beech with a raised panel base.

Larry McVoy's Bench
Lots of nice details in Larry's well documented quest to build a perfect bench. Lots of photos of the building process including flattening the top with a Norris handplane. He created a very unusual tail vise you'll want to check out.

Shaker Style Benches

Danny's Shaker Bench
After a visit to Hancock Village Danny set out to build a Shaker bench with full cabinet below and a shoulder vise.

Jim's Shaker Bench
A real classic Shaker Bench. Wonderful! Jim's bench is true to the classic details right down to a leg vise. He uses wooden screws, too.

Small Shaker Bench
A beautiful bench with a cabinet below and a Tucker vise plus an end vise. Lots of photos of the bench and his meticulous shop. Very nice!

Peter's Shaker Bench
A true labor of love. Peter's is a classic Shaker style bench with a nice set of cabinets below.

Big Bench
At 7'-6" long it's something of a beast. It's got some scandanavian influence with a shoulder vise and uses a wagon vise at the end. He's thoroughly documented the construction process.

Other Benches

The Mini-Bench
Don designed this so he could do woodworking while sitting on the couch while watching TV. It's small, but it's all there!

Simpler Benches

Bob and Dave’s Good, Fast, and Cheap Bench
Nothing wrong with good, fast and cheap. This enthusiastic site gets you up and going quickly.

Knockdown Workbench
A neat bench design out of plywood that can easily be assembled and taken apart.

Garage Bench
A very simple bench that works well in your garage. It's anchored to a wall and might not be best for heavy woodworking, but it works.

Another Nice Bench
A nicely done bench made out of dimensional lumber. Note that it is on wheels.