What is the best height for a workbench? This is a question I get asked weekly. If you’re planning on building a workbench for your woodworking, then it’s worth giving some thought to your height before jumping in with the tools.Getting your bench height completely wrong will cause you some … [Read more...]
Another Titan is Born
So far this year seems to be the year of customized workbenches. Looking through the schedule there’s an unusual balance of very unique builds compared the number of standard models and some of them are very unique indeed.Taking on one-off work is very exciting; it keeps me interested from the … [Read more...]
The Tale of Little John
There’s nothing like a charming character to warm up a long and dreary winter and fortunately we’ve had our Little John to help keep things moving for us this February. The first batch of our smallest workbench began as planned and it’s brought a whole different feel to the workshop. This is far … [Read more...]
Roughing It Up
I received an email this morning asking if I feel it’s a good idea to use a toothing plane on a bench top. I was slightly unsure of the intent at first but soon realised that this was a question of roughing up your bench top to increase the friction. Yes absolutely, I think that increasing grip on … [Read more...]
All Style and No Substance??
Whenever I’ve taken my workbenches out to a show I’ve always enjoyed lovely feedback and appreciation. One line that I can guarantee will come up at least a dozen times though is “it’s too beautiful to use!”. You’ll think I’m mean but it’s always that line that leaves me feels somewhat deflated - … [Read more...]
The Little John Traditional Hand Tool Workbench
Our 5’ workbench has now been named and is ready to step out in to the big bad world. We introduced The ‘Little John’ last month and if you haven’t seen it yet you can catch up with that post here. After taking him along to the European Woodworking Show we’re confident that the design is right and … [Read more...]
Workbench Designs
A english workbench should be heavy, very heavy. So I build a lot of benches with good thick 4” tops and simple but robust bases. Now a days we tend to call this the French bench, mainly due to recent trends in workbench designs. I don’t think the evolution of workbench designs was clear cut or … [Read more...]
Or Maybe Bigger IS Better?
Yesterday we introduced our new 5’ workbench yet today we’ve been putting the finishing touches on more of a Wadkin grade bench! This is our 8’ Nautilus but built with a bit of a difference using what is pretty much quarter sawn oak. To top it off the customer opted for two snazzy hand wheels teamed … [Read more...]
When Bigger isn’t Better!
This is a working prototype of the latest bench to be added to the Maguire Workbench range. At only 5’ in length it is rather on the small side for us, and it certainly feels that way after some of the huge benches that we’ve been building recently. This 5’ model is a first for our range despite a … [Read more...]
Richards Castle Bench
Now and again Richard likes to build a bench that is a little different to what he’s done before to keep himself challenged (like it isn’t difficult enough!) On his current build the motto has been ‘bigger is definitely better!’ Since all of the benches that we build are pretty robust in size this … [Read more...]