Hey, let somebody else build it for me....

Updated May 3, 2009

Fine Woodworking Magazine Workbench Review
A Fine Woodworking Magazine review of several ready made workbenches was published in the special Tools and Shops issue in the winter of 2006/2007. An excerpt is available for free or those that a premium subscribers the full review is available online.

Diefenbach Workbenches
High quality workbenches of the European variety. Many sizes and types available

Richard Maguire's Traditional English Workbenches
I don't think I've ever seen more robust workbenches then Richard's. Made out of super dense steamed English Beech, featuring massive legs and 4" thick tops and traditional construction, these benches are incredible. He offers both Roubo and Dominy styles in various sizes, all built to order. Note that shipping from England could be a consideration.

Wood Direct Benches

Laguna 5' Workbench
Laguna Tools who is famous for their excellent bandsaws and other power tools, now offers a line of European styled workbenches. An owner found that these benches are made in Bulgaria.

Laguna 7' Workbench
Laguna Tools 7' long workbench that uses a wood front vise and a true tail vise.

Laguna Signature Series Workbench
Laguna Tools 8' long workbench is their best. A massive bench with a long tail vise and a full cabinet below to store your tools.

Laguna Workbenches
Laguna Tools who is famous for their excellent bandsaws and other power tools, now offers a line of European styled workbenches. An owner found that these benches are made in Bulgaria.

Lie-Nielsen Workbenches
Toolmaker Lie-Nielsen now offers a beautifully made European style workbench using excellent German made hardware. Each bench is essentially a custom order to your specs. Wonderfully made. Highest quality.

Sjoberg Elite 3000 Workbench
The Elite series is Sjoberg's best. I've worked on them and can say that they are very well built. A serious cabinet maker's bench! Nearly 8' long with solid beech construction. A shelf and cupboard unit is available, too.

Sjoberg Elite 3250 Workbench
The Elite series is Sjoberg's best. A smaller 6' version cabinet maker's bench. Solid beech construction.

Grizzly Eurostyle Bench
Though not as heavy duty as other benches and being made of birch, these benches offer good value for the money. The only complaint I can make after looking at them at Grizzly's office is that the vise hardware is a little undersized.

Waldman Small European Workbench
A European styled workbench with a 2 9/16" thick solid top and full width end vise: the 59" x 20" Waldmann is constructed of high quality, kiln-dried, glue-laminated European red beech wood. The bench feature a heavy-duty trestle base and completely sealed finish. At $777 through Amazon, this is certainly one of the lowest cost heavy duty European made workbenches available.

Waldman Large European Workbench
As above, a European styled workbench with a 2 9/16" thick solid top and full width end vise: the 74" x 23" Waldmann is constructed of high quality, kiln-dried, glue-laminated European red beech wood. The bench feature a heavy-duty trestle base and completely sealed finish. At $977 through Amazon, this is certainly one of the lowest cost large European made workbenches available.

Large Waldman Workbench and Cabinet
A European styled workbench with a 2 9/16" thick solid top and a tail vise: the 74" x 23" Waldmann is constructed of high quality, kiln-dried, glue-laminated European red beech wood. The bench feature a heavy-duty trestle base and a full width cabinet. Available at $1149 through Amazon.

Rockler Workbench
A new bench from Rockler. It's 24x72 solid top with a good base. I saw one of these in a Rockler store the other day and for a fairly light bench it looks to be a pretty good one. Available at $519 through Amazon.

Workbench World
Ready made workbenches of many types. Located in Australia. Cost of shipping to the US would be interesting...

ULMIA Benches

Most woodworkers (including myself) consider the ULMIA European style workbenches to be the finest made today. Lots of pros who don't want to take the time to build their own bench just buy one of these. (Hey, even Norm Abram uses one of these in his shop) But, be forwarned--they are expensive. There are several designs available and several sizes as well. And, if you like the benches, but, can't afford them or just want to make your own based on the ULMIA designs, Woodcraft offers detailed plans you can buy very inexpensively. See the Plans for Sale section of this site for the link.

Available from Fine Tools:

ULMIA Benches

Available from Dick Fine Tools in Germany:

ULMIA Benches

Available from Garrett Wade

Master Cabinetmaker's Bench
Ultimate Folding Bench

German Benches

Hoffman-Hammer

Inexpensive Benches Available Online

Not as much fun as building your own, but it's just a click away...

Sjoberg Joiners Beech Workbench
Would work well in a small shop and not very expensive. Lite duty front and end vises.

Sjoberg Benches and Accessories
Though Sjoberg benches aren't as heavy duty as the Ulmia benches, one of the nice thing about the company is that they offer many types of benches in lots of sizes. And, they have a complete line of various cabinets, tool holders and accessories.

MBI Silver Vein Workbench
You can order this bench from Costo.com for only $359.99. It features the ability to size it to 60, 72, 84 or 90” when you cut the top to length. The MBI Silver Vein Workbench features an adjustable width system that allows you to customize the width to fit your own space needs. Premium, industrial grade sealed 1.5" thick shop top. Though it has no vises, you could add a nice metal front vise and you'd be all set.

Blum Tool Company Portable Workbench
Definitely not a Workmate, this bench can actually work for light duty woodworking. A very clever torsion box design with holes to position pipe clamps for front and end vises.

Fisch Precision Tools Work Bench
Less then $200 this bench has two vises and might work okay for small woodworking projects.

Woodcraft Benches

At a store near you. And, available online, too.

Sjoberg Benches at Woodcraft
If you have a Woodcraft store nearby you can stop by and see the line of Sjoberg benches they carry or order one online if your too far away.

Lee Valley Benches

Innovative designs. Nice exclusive Veritas products. Plans and Equipment are also available.

Veritas Workbenches are a contemporary design for a cabinetmaker style of benches that makes extensive use use of the innovative Veritas line of round bench dogs and accessories.

Veritas Carvers Bench

Portable Benches

Lots of innovation going on here. Besides portability, these benches are useful as a second bench or perhaps as the bench upon you can build a serious workbench.

Skil X-Bench Workstation This one has many optional features that might be of interest to woodworkers. There's various accessories and inserts for routers, jig saws, sanders, tail vises, storage, etc. Looks to be well made a quite adjustable.

Rockwell Jawhorse Workstation I saw a commercial for one of these on TV one evening. Assumed it was just another gimmick. Was I ever wrong. This thing is a serious tool for carpentry type duties. Apparently, a whole lot of people agree. Interesting accessories, too. Gets super good reviews on Amazon and pretty much every where.

Triton Superjaws Workbench Sure looks a lot like the Jawhorse above. Not sure which one got there first. Has some different details.

The VIKA In many ways you can think of this as a very well designed new take on the Black & Decker Workmate. Though it doesn't have a built in vise, it makes up for it with lots of new features. I saw these at Costco a few months back and just had to pick one up. It folds flat and adjusts in all kinds of ways. Very useful. You can get more information and order one on the VIKA website or if there's a Costco nearby you can pick one up at a considerable discount.

Black & Decker Workmate The classic! What can I say? In fact, I built Workbench 1.0 one one of them. I still have two of them and use them around our property.