Workbench Height?

[draken]

I stand just a tad shy of six feet and my workbench is 32 inches high.
 In one of  booklets Kit Ravenshear recommends: "the top the workbench should be as high from the floor as the level of your wrist when your arm is hanging comfortably.  

By that standard my bench should only be 27 inches high, which seems rather low.    I get killer bacaches from stooping over my bench now, and am a little leery making it any lower.

[smart dog]

Hi Dick,
Bench top height is very subjective and depends a lot on what you are doing and also the height of your bench vises.  I am probably close to your dimensions and my bench top is 34.5".  I have 2 leg vises that are flush with the top of the bench.  When I am planing stock blanks or furniture wood, or whacking in a barrel channel, the bench height is perfect because I can get my weight over the plane so the effort is not all in my arms.  During a barrel inlet, my arm is almost straight at the end of the gouge stroke, which helps me prevent the tendinitis I used to suffer.  However, the bench is too low for carving and close up detail work.  For those purposes, I have a pattern maker's vice and arm rest that holds the work about 7-8" above the bench, which is a perfect height.  I suspect 32" is probably too low for you and 27" would be terribly low.

dave 

[bob in the woods]

My bench is 40 in high.  I'm 6 ft 4 in [ or was ....probably 6Ft 3 now after 63 years ]
That's my standing bench. I also have 2 smaller sitting benches at 28 inches .  These work well for me . 

[StevenV]

Stand up straight, bend your elbows with hands straight out in front of you, measure to floor from elbows this is the height of your bench. works every time to eliminate back and neck pain. Steve

[Kermit]

Oh, man. You will find few woodworkers who agree. I'm 6'4" and my sharpening bench is 33", my detail bench is 39" (with a Moxon vise accessory for cutting dovetails and such that goes to 43"), and my planing bench is 37". Some interesting discussion has happened online. Don't let anyone tell you a planing bench needs to be low so you can bear down. If you are doing that, your irons are dull and plane poorly fettled. A plane should only need to be pushed forward, not down.

[BartSr]

Stand up straight, bend your elbows with hands straight out in front of you, measure to floor from elbows this is the height of your bench. works every time to eliminate back and neck pain. Steve

That's how mine was, sold during moving.  Looking to get another.

[Boompa]

I'm 6'3" and I built my bench at 40" and I wish I'd built it higher. I like the work right in front of me when I'm standing.

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

Here is an original gunsmith workbench that was used in the mid - to - late 19th century.  The height is 34 inches, but I do not know the height of the gunsmiths who used this bench, the Fry brothers of Ligonier, Pa.  Probably they were less than 6 feet tall.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=28456.msg271701#msg271701

Jim

[snapper]

I also have benches with 2 different heights, just depends on what I am doing.   I do use the higher bench 90% of the time.

Fleener

[WKevinD]

I also have two benches one that is attached to a wall and one that is a "walk around"
The wall bench is 32" but my working height (stock in the vices) is 38". The walk around has a pattern makers
vice and support arms that bring the working height to 36", the bench itself is 30".

[Tim Crosby]

Stand up straight, bend your elbows with hands straight out in front of you, measure to floor from elbows this is the height of your bench. works every time to eliminate back and neck pain. Steve

  That is how I built mine, 42" high. I added a 3/4" Rubber mat to stand on and ware thick soled Rubber Bean boots when working in the shop. My Lathe is jacked up to 48" at the center of the headstock. Both really help with my back problems.

   Tim C.   

[Bob Roller]

I'm 6'3" and I built my bench at 40" and I wish I'd built it higher. I like the work right in front of me when I'm standing.

I'm 5'9" and the 42" bench is just right for me and the height and size of the 2 vises I use.

Bob Roller

[Mark Elliott]

I am 5' 9".  My work benches are all 36" high.   The vises on my stocking bench put the work another 6"+ higher.  My jointers bench is, I believe, 34.5" high; but that is for planing.  I have a work table for fine filing and engraving that is 30" high.  The engraving vise is about 8" high and  puts the work almost at eye level.   
 

[dogcatcher]

There is no perfect height based on your height.  Everything needs to be taken into consideration.  Your height and your arms length are two of the things that affects your bending over.  But the actual work you want to do also affects how high the bench should be. 

I have to use a walker to get around since I cannot stand without assistance, so I have stools that I rest my butt on in a semi standing position.  In my shop I have 3 stools, one for each of the heights I need to be so I am not bending over.  The option was 3 separate work benches, but the bar stools were cheaper and the system has worked for me for 16 years.   

[smart dog]

Hi,
As I wrote previously, a lot depends on what you are doing.  For detail work and using power tools, a higher bench is likely better.  For planing, joining wood, and gluing up furniture, I like a lower bench.  Because I inlet barrels with mostly hand tools, I prefer a lower bench to save my elbows.  Then again, I have the pattern makers vises that raise the work considerably for detail shaping and carving.  The flush mounted leg vises and the sliding deadman enable me to firmly hold a stock at an angle so the butt is at shoulder height, very useful for inletting buttplates.  The holes in the bench top anchor planing stops and hold fasts, as well as my task lamps that can be moved from hole to hole.  The bottom line is I designed my bench and vise arrangements to create a versatile work space and a holding and clamping system.  It gets the job done efficiently and saves wear and tear on my body.

dave       

[JLBSparks]

Around "belt buckle high" seems to work best for me.

   -Joe

[flehto]

It's not really the bench height but the vise height. Clamp a piece of metal or wood in the vise and file the surface flat and parallel w/ the bottom surface. If that's easily successful, the vise height is correct.

Learned that during my 5 yr tool and diemaker  apprenticeship when hand filing was an important asset. No longer true in this modern age of CNC, EDM, etc.....Fred