First I want to say thank you for your help in my past questions. I am looking to build a workbench and wanted to get any feedback on what I should include. Minimum size, optimum height, etc. I have already found a good source for granite. The owner of a local counter top place said he has two dumpsters of scrap leave his shop each week. I am free to take what I want. I also have a local metal shop that said he could get me a 3/8” (9.5mm) or 1/2” (12.7mm) thick piece of sheet metal for the bench top. That would be thick enough not to flex and allow me to glue, stain, hammer and skive. Then have a cutting board for work that I need to protect my tool edge. I look forward to hearing everyones feedback.
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Hello,
I would personally advise a standing bench. When I work while sitting, I find that I am way less energetic and work slower. When I switched to a standing desk, I am outputting way more and am full of energy.
Think about it this way: You need to grab a tool. While sitting, you need to push the chair out from behind you, stand up, walk, grab the tool and then do the process in reverse. When you are standing, a quick step or two takes you to the tool and back to the bench. It helps a lot in keeping your focus.
Also, the advantage of a standing desk is that you can use the space underneath it to store your hides (or anything else).
A standing desk (if put in the middle of a room) also allows you to walk around it and work on a piece from different sides (very usefull for big projects).
For the height of the desk, stand up, bend your elbows 90 degrees so that your forearm is paralell to the ground and measure the distance from the ground to your elbow: that is how hight the bench top should be. It will allow you to work without bending your back.
Regarding the top, I have an 20mm (ish, maybe 22 ) thich MDF board on top. I still use a huge cutting mat on top of it, but the MDF board means that if my knife slips or my irons fall on my table by mistake, the MDF is soft enough that it will not nick them. Try and drop your skiving knife on a steel top and you will definetly chip it.
What i am investing in next tho is a smaller desk with a granit top. It will become my gluing/skiving station, but that will be in the future.