work bench height should be??

[seafox]

I am working on cleaning up concrete blocks and have found a old desk I was about to toss to be perfictly suitable I was wondering what the opinion here on proper work bench height is
an old memory of I think the wood write shop of norm abrams showthey said that most work benches were the wrong height to work on and the athey actually should be...???
thankyou for your thoughts
jeffery

[Dave Fleming]

For general workbench useage "belly button" height.

For wood working as in bench planing experiment to find what works for you. Generally 6 or so inches below 'belly button' height is a good starting point.

For metal working, as in vise work.
Metal working vise, top of jaws at bent elbow height.

NOTE: These are generalizations. Adjustments for each individuals physical size and strength are a given.

[Steven R]

Another generalization is wrist-height (with arms at your side). It really depends on what you use the workbench for most, and what you are comfortable with.

Steven Roberts
www.get-outside.com (http://www.get-outside.com)

[Ian McColgin]

High enough that your 6 year old can't get in much trouble. Low enough that you can.

[Ken Hutchins]

High enough so that if you drop something heavy on it you won't crush your testacles. :eek:

[alteran]

A wonderful book "The Workbench Book" by Scot Landis addresses this at length along with everything else a person would want to know, need to know, care to know and some that you don't need to know about designing, building and using of workbenches. Lots of history and a lot of pictures as well. It IS a fantasic book, highly recommended.

$16.00 at Amazon, used ones there too.

[Paulyboy]

As was said earlier- the objects being worked on require different height workbenches. Unless you're doing heavy duty work on heavy objects, you may want to consider adjusatble height heavy duty sawhorses. These are made to withstand weight as well as movement, and adjust in increments of 2 inches over a range of about 18 inches.

[htom]

It's obvious that the ideal workbench height is always at least an inch or two different than what the current workbench height is!

Knuckle of wrist is what I was told; this is low for somethings and high for others. Adjustable is probably the best, but hard to do.

[Lucky Luke]

..."belly button" height... :confused:

Well, if that helps, the European standard for industrial woodwork benches is 85 cm.

...but may be Americans are taller than the average European..?

[whb]

I use my workbench (when I can actually see it) as an occasional runout table for my saw. Therefore, it is the same height as my saw.

Howard

[Dave Fleming]

Well, if that helps, the European standard for industrial woodwork benches is 85 cm And, that works equally as well for the 6 foot 6 inch worker and the 5 foot 2 inch worker??????

[alteran]

Maybe the EU has a standard height for woodworkers also. smile.gif

[Nicholas Carey]

The old, traditional standard for determining the appropriate height for your workbench is stand with your arms at your sides,elbows straight. The workbench top should be high enough that you should be able to easily place the palm of your hand flat on the top of the bench without stretching or bending your elbow.

This gives a height optimized for power work like handplaning (what a trad. bench is designed for).

[mmd]

My, my, such adverse response to the word "standard"! It's amazing that you guys can accept the cookie-cutter cars from Detroit. ;) :D

(ahem) Accepted egonomic standards for the human male form for 95% of the North American population indicates that the suggested work counter height is 36 inches, or 91 centimetres.

I've read that the efforts by the American workplace safety organization OSHA to effect a standard of workplace ergonomics so as to have some basis for evaluation for acceptable working conditions was quashed by the Republican congress after eleven hours of debate. It took them ten years of research to produce the proposed standard.

[Dave Fleming]

Mike, a one size fits all standard might be fine for the factory making the stuff but, for each individual person, I can't see it working.
Without some form of height adjustment built in to each bench.

Cabinet Benches vs. Planking Benches vs. Metal Working Benches vs. Sit Down Electronics Assembly Benches etc..

Fer Nick.


The old, traditional standard for determining the appropriate height for your workbench is stand with your arms at your sides,elbows straight. The workbench top should be high enough that you should be able to easily place the palm of your hand flat on the top of the bench without stretching or bending your elbow.
This gives a height optimized for power work like handplaning (what a trad. bench is designed for). Funny, when I just tried that it was *that* close to my 'belly button' height rule.

Edited to add: see my post below. redface.gif

[ 01-31-2005, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: Dave Fleming ]

[htom]

Flat palm is five inches below my navel, or a bit more.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

I just measured my benches. One was 84.5 centimetres the other 87.5, yup, I found a metric tape. smile.gif

Steven

[Dave Fleming]

Flat palm is five inches below my navel, or a bit moreWHUPS!!!!

My goof, I bent my elbow when trying that measurement out. You are right HTOM, if you keep your hand at your side and just place hand palm down perpendicular to body it does indeed come out to 5 or 6 inches 'below belly button'

Note to self: read carefully David! Sigh... redface.gif

[Alan D. Hyde]

Official USMC bar height is (IIRC) 43."

That makes a good workbench height for me.

But I'm 6'6", so YMMV.

Alan

[Donn]

My flat palm is 8" below my navel.

My ideal workbench would adjust at each corner, from knee-on-the-board sawing height to eye-level, with a self leveling system and joy-stick control.

[Paulyboy]

Originally posted by mmd:
My, my, such adverse response to the word "standard"! It's amazing that you guys can accept the cookie-cutter cars from Detroit. ;) :D

(ahem) Accepted egonomic standards for the human male form for 95% of the North American population indicates that the suggested work counter height is 36 inches, or 91 centimetres.

.The word standard is like the word common. Get a group of 20 random humans together and I'll bet you get less than an 80% agreement on the finer points of "common sense" We all use the same words, internalizing what they mean to us.
To add even more confusion, some of us have really long torsos, some have short arms, some of us are just really big and round!

[ 02-01-2005, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: Paulyboy ]

[Lucky Luke]

Heights:

Desk for keyboard: 70 cm
Writing desk: 75 cm.
Cooker: 80 cm
Workbench: 85cm
Worktable: 90cm.
Bar counter: 105cm

Of course, this is suppose to be a convenient average for MOST people. Furniture is made by millions (in china....) for world wide export, and it's all the same height.

I admit, Dave, that each one is different size, arms, legs, torso, aso,aso.... but if the height of the workbench is to be adjusted to each individual, I am afraid that they will have to be adjusted with every single bit of wood as well.... :rolleyes:

[Dave Hadfield]

As I see it you need 2 heights. For assembly and other detail work it's nice to have a high bench. This way you never have to bend or hunch over to handle the parts.

For chisel work you want a lower bench so you can get over the piece and exert downward force on it. For me at 6"1" the height of my table saw is just right for this, so my "low" workbench is also good as an infeed/stock support table.

A piece of 1" plywood with wood vise supported by 2 folding sawhorses is infinitely adjustable.

[Paulyboy]

Dave, I made a couple of low benches awhile back that measured 16" x 30" and stood about 8 " high. These were to work on cabinet size stuff and still keep it off the floor. Occasionally, I'll stand on one of these when chiseling, or planing something on the benchtop thats too big to be comfy, but too small to sit on these benches.

[Paul Scheuer]

Just to get my vote in.

My main benches are 29 inches high. I didn't plan them that way, they were part of a going out of business activity where I used to work. They were originally a 6 by 8 foot layout table for wiring wall panels. I cut it in half and added legs of the original length.

They work just fine for what I do, with large carvings, household stuff and small painting projects ending up just below the elbow.

If I'm doing any fine work, I just pull up a chair. My knees just fit under the 2x6 top frame.

My bench-top drill press is a little low, but not enough to make me put it on a pedistal.

[ssor]

At 5'5" I tower over my work bench if I stand on a coca cola crate. I can suggest that you make the bench as provides the best cutting of the lumber you have. If it is too tall saw the legs off a little if it is too short put blocks under the legs and get on with the job.
Ross in Bel Air

[John of Phoenix]

Height I made mine is 1/4" shorter than the table on my table saw. Makes a perfect outfeed table and it's as comfortable as working on the table saw.

Used a damaged 1 3/4" x 6'8" x 3'6" solid core door that HD let me have at 1/3 of retail. Put the bad side down and covered the top with a sacrifical 1/4" sheet of masonite and it's solid as can be.

[ 02-04-2005, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: John Teetsel ]