Replies

1. 
   dougmeyer | Sep 03, 2007 11:44pm | #1

   I picked one up last Dec for my father for his X mass gift. I also posted something on here about that. I had some issues with getting the thing dropped off at the house but once that was worked out (it was an issue with the Shipper and the Importer (i miss remember her name) got on them about it and it was fixed the next day.

   As for the Bench itself we had no issues putting it together other then that the vices screws needed to be lubricated to work very well.

   As for the issue with the Spacing I am not sure what they are talking about as the travel on the tail vise works fine (not sure about one with and full end vice as the one we have has a tail vise).

   As for fit and finish I say it is very nice. I will admit this is not the same as the LN but then again by the time I got it to my door the LN would have been about a grand more for the same bench (say half again as much as I paid give or take).

   So I would not have an issue with telling anyone to get one of these. They are very nice. If money is NO object there may be better benches but I would say this will make you happy.

   We will no pause for peaple to jump in telling you to make your own (as alwas seams to happen when the question about a prefab bench comes up) :)

   Doug Meyer

2. 
   Oldtool | Sep 04, 2007 02:29am | #2

   Just a comment, but making a good bench is so easy. I just finished one using a very old design, but the hard maple runs about $300 and add in another $150 for vises, you are talking around $450. It takes about 3-7 days depending on the time you can commit. I really enjoy making them because I usually don't get a chance to work with the bigger lumber. Make everything in sizes to get thru your planer and the job is a snap. Sometimes I make up the butcher block section larger than I can handle and have a saw mill plane it. I tried the hand planer and it just took more time than I was willing to give, but it came out good.

1. 
   9619 | Sep 04, 2007 09:04pm | #4

   Oldtool,
   Nice post. What design did you use for your workbench. I need to start building one. I like your approach. PLease post a photo if you have one. If not, a description would be fine. Are there plans available for the one you did?
   Thanks,
   MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot. 

1. 
   Oldtool | Sep 05, 2007 04:33am | #9

   The bench I built last week was 48 wide by 22 deep and 33 tall, same as the original which was about 85 years old and I sold for $775. The original wa sHard Maple and had a pipe vise on the end opposite the Abernathy wood vise. I did put on a pipe vise this time mainly because I could not get myself to cut into the beautiful Maple blank and I did not recess the wood vise which I should have, but again I could'nt. This is a lovely little bench, but too small for me, but I make to sell them. The Maple costs me $ 176 and was 2 3/8 thick and 14 1/2 wide. I normally butcher block the first 8 inch or so , this was thick and nice and I just followed the original.

   
1. 
   9619 | Sep 05, 2007 05:11am | #10

   John,
   Thank you very much for the photos. Nice design. I wish you good fortune in your business of selling them. Looks like a sturdy and good lookin' bench.MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot. 

2. 
   BiffSteel | Sep 10, 2007 07:32pm | #17

   OldTool, tell me your methodology for drilling the endgrain holes in the stretchers for the bolts.   What are you using for alignment to get those buggers straight and centered?

   Thanks

    

3. 
   rshelly | Sep 04, 2007 01:59pm | #3

   I purchased on last January and was also concerned about the FWW article, but I took a chance on it.

   I didn't experience any of the issues with it and I couldn't be happier with it. It was packaged well and went together very easily.

   It is a very heavy, solid bench. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you buy one.

   Randy.

4. 
   AdamCherubini | Sep 04, 2007 10:55pm | #5

   I just saw one and found it lacking.  The one I saw was brand new and fairly loose.  The legs are pretty small and set in from the edge of the bench which I found worrisome. 

   I suspect that the hardware that holds the legs together could be have been torqued to take out some or all of the looseness.  As I said the bench was brand new.

   I wasn't crazy about the vises.  The tail vise was fairly tight.  Face vise seemed fairly useless/purposeless.

   But what I like least about these benches is the lack of thought given to edge work.  It seems they have put a lot of effort and money on only one aspect of a workbench- surface planing.  They have a beautiful thick top.  Very impressive. But provisions for sawing, edge work, cutting grooves or moldings? Forget about it. What are they?  Nobody does that anymore, so you don't need it.

   I built a Nicholson style bench a few weekends ago.  Used doug fir from the local home center.  Didn't get around to making vises for it and that bench was stiffer and seemed better suited to handwork than the Diefenbach I saw.  And the darn thing was designed to be collapsible and easily transported.  I lent it out, but when i get it back, I'll slap a wooden twin screw face vise on it and I'd stack that $200 bench against any other.

   I understand and respect why people buy instead of make.  I'd just like to see better designs being made and sold instead of the same ole european design.  I just don't think that's a great design. 

   Adam

   P.S.  I'm currently working on a German/Northern european style bench and have been for about 6 years and I hate it.

1. 
   dougmeyer | Sep 04, 2007 11:09pm | #6

   Well Like I and others have said, the bench I got for my father has none of the issues peaple have brought up.

   As for the design, if that is not the style you are interested in then I would suggest that you look for a differnet bench, but to say that it is badly design is just not correct. It may not do what you want but then again it is a design that has been around for a LONG time.

   Kind of like a mini van vs a Corvette, Niether design is wrong, they just are ment for different things.

   Doug Meyer

2. 
   Patto | Sep 05, 2007 02:16am | #7

   So Adam,

   What would you do for edge work?

   People keep trying to embarass me about my bench - if is wasn't so cluttered with stuff at the moment I would take a photo. So I keep meaning to make a new one - it is 20 years old after all.

   Trouble is, aside from making a top that was one piece (no gaps between planks or counter bored holes for the coach bolts) there is nothing I am certain that I need different. I don't want to loose the six 6*4 redgum legs or the 1*2.4m top.

   Some dog holes might be nice, but I can still clamp a piece across the width or off the back to so the same job. Maybe a tail vice, but I have never used one so not sure how.

   Dave

1. 
   AdamCherubini | Sep 05, 2007 04:24am | #8

   Hi Dave,There are many ways to accommodate edge work. We could each discuss our favorites. The Diefenbach benches have no accommodations, so that's my complaint about them. Its a pretty bench, but in a hand tool shop, I think it has little to recommend itself beyond its impressive good looks.Regarding edge work, I think one must answer the problem of how one holds wide and narrow long stock, and wide and narrow short stock. When I evaluate a bench, this is the sort of criteria I use, not the arbitrary criteria used in the FWW article. If you want to go a step further, you would ask how EASY it is to do these things. Some things on my bench require the removal of a vise, the use of a batten etc. Even further, one could consider how jobs come in clusters- when dovetailing a carcass, I don't often find I must stop and do long edge work, so some amount of bench reconfiguration can be acceptable. The bench should keep time with the rhythm of the shop.It seems to me that the simplest benches are the best all around. I think the French style bench is best. Its only downside is the complexity of its construction due to the massive timbers required. The English (Nicholson) bench is quirky to use and its traditional vise is a joke, but its construction-lumber construction makes it sensible for anyone who lacks the time, timber, or cash to build a French bench. I'll likely never enjoy a bench with a tail vise as I find it gets in the way of bench hook use at that end. But I might learn to appreciate a german or Scandinavian style bench more if it were 12' long. Never again will I build a bench under 8' in length. Even my collapsible demo bench is 8' long.Adam

1. 
   dougmeyer | Sep 07, 2007 07:48pm | #11

   So I take this to mean that you have no use for any of this style of bench? Not just the Diefenback bench?

   Being as I do not see a lot of Differances between this and say the LN bench (they are of the same basic design).

   If that is the case I can respect that. But as the O.P. is looking for this style of bench I an not sure this is a good argument

   Doug Meyer

1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Sep 07, 2007 08:34pm | #12

   Hi Doug,

   I think benches tend to be a matter of personal choice, perhaps influenced by the kind of work that you do.

   Regards,

   Bob @ Kidderville Acres

    

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

   Edited 9/7/2007 1:35 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres

2. 
   JohnE | Sep 07, 2007 09:28pm | #13

   What a ruckus in response to a simple request for an opinion on a work bench. In response to various comments:

   1).If you want to do long edge work Diefenbach sells a board jack as an accessory for the bench. It is also a very simple modification to almost any bench.

   2). If you bother to look at a reference such as "The Work Bench Book" you will see that there are many different designs for work benches to suit the needs and quirks of the user. No one design suits everyone.

   3). I prefer not to build one. I would rather build other things.

   4). Thanks to those who responded to my request for opinions on the Diefenbach bench. I appreciate your opinions and I think I will buy one.

3. 
   AdamCherubini | Sep 08, 2007 06:33am | #15

   Hi Doug,I don't know. I don't think I wrote that but now that you mention it, I think I agree. Its not a great design. But most that I've seen could have been improved upon. My bench is this style and its better in a few key ways. So I guess within this style there are designs that are better and worse.As to Bob's remrks, I agree with that too. There are different benches for different sorts of work to be sure. If I were buying or building, I think I'd want a bench that offered the fewest limitations. I don't think any of us know where our woodworking will take us in a few years. To John, the OP, a board jack doesn't do what I talking about. Its not a substitute. If you understood why, you might come up with a clever retrofit. If that's not a functionality that's important to you, I apologize for wasting your time.Adam

4. 
   dougmeyer | Sep 09, 2007 10:43pm | #16

   Adam,

   Humm, I may have hit the wrong reply to (I still think it should defalt to No One)

   Anyway the point I was trying to make was that for me at least the bench is a good quality not the best but still good. And I have no issues with it.

   Now if someone wants to talk about its design that is fine, but I did not get the idea that the OP was looking at that side of it. I mean if this is the style of bench you want/need then that is great, and if someone does not want/need this design the obviously they should choose (or build a different bench. That was all I was really trying to say.

   It is kind of like the Joke I made at the begining, that we would get a group of peaple on here telling the OP to build one when the topic was not "Build Or Buy?" but "Is this bench any good".

   We as a group tend to go off on a tangent on this topic for some reason.

   And Yes thier are things I would NOT want to try and do on this bench. and Lucky for me I will have enough room to build an area to work with Powertools and such. So I can have my cake and eat it too. But as long as the bench fits what the user wants then talking about the desing is off topic. (not that I have not moved that way myself a time or too. :) )

   Doug Meyer

5. 
   johnjesseph | Sep 07, 2007 09:36pm | #14

   Hi everyone. I own a Diefenbach, and I would never buy another one or recommend anyone buy one.  Too many problems for me to list now, but I could put together some pics.   Didn't know better when I bought it, and discovered all kinds of problems as I used it.    Short list:   top not even close to flat. tool tray back wall way proud of top.  bench front not square to top.  putty in all the joints.  top joints opening up.  poorly operating hardware.  etc. etc.   I know lots of people who say their benches are fine, maybe I got a lemon.