advice on my workbench needed

**sepp** · 17th December 2009, 03:16 AM

hello, i am new to this forum and relatively new to woodworking aswell. i started 10 months ago almost by coincidence when i bought a small combined Kity woodworking station on ebay. and i catched the virus since then.
im in fact a farmer with my dad, but there is not always as much work, especially in the winter. so i would like to make some profit with my hobby whenever i have spare time.

the thing i came up with is workbenches, there seems to be a demand for affordable benches that have decent quality. if you want a basic decent workbench, you won't find anything below €400. and that is for really small benches. way too expensive for the occasional woodworker.

i have been thinking about it a long time and i think i now have a decent design that is cheap, easy to build and relatively solid.
but i would want some more professional advice from other woodworkers to see if i can improve my design in solidity and production time.

anyway here is my bench:

its about 150cm x50cm and 85cm high. it's made of norwegian pine wich is the cheapest wood here.
it has a leg vise and a top vise, of both the hardware is entirely made by myself. so the 2 vises cost less than €5 /bench in materials.

it has a row of dogholes on top, and one on the side to hold pieces flat while they are clamped in the legvise.
as you see all the joints are verry simple to make them fast to build and assemble.

and verry important, i don't fully assemble them so people can transport them in their cars. wich is a question a got alot before when i made 2 bigger benches that werent dismountable.

and finally here is a detail about the parts of the top, the middle board is pre assembled out of 3 parts that are glued together.
i try as much as possible to keep the nicer parts for the top, with less defaults and nots.
i finish the bench with a coat of 50/50 turpentine and lineseed oil

are there things you would do differently?
im not yet sure about the top, i think i could find a better way to assemble it, especially the 2 end parts are held with glue and dowels. i think it could be more solid.

anyway i have already sold 2 of this type fairly rapidly, and im in the process of finishing 4 others as it's much faster to build several at the time.
the marerial cost in 1 bench is about €25 for wood, and €6-7 for all the rest. if i count my time, then i would need to charge about €150 in total to get a decent pay.

but honestly i would never use such a bench, it's small and not verry practical i think. but people will only buy something that looks like a bench. my first 2 benches were hybrids between the holzapfel and 21st century benches, but i only ended up selling 1 after basically only charging for the materials. im actually using the other one myself and i love it. but the unusual looks of them scares people away, even if there so much more practical.

anyway let your suggestions and comments roll!

**artme** · 17th December 2009, 07:36 AM

G'day Sepp and welcome to the addiction!!

Be warned there is NO cure for this virus.

That is a great bench and there is really nothing I can think of that needs to changed, or even added. If things were tinkered with you may well not find the profit you are wanting. You have cleverly done an IKEA and that means less expense for you as well as the customer. As you say the customer can take the thing home in a car.

I think, from what I have seen of European benches, you were also smart in sicking to a traditional design and making it a practical size.

In Australia we tend to have more space to work in so our benches can afford to be larger and have - perhaps - extra features.

My friend, you have done well!! I wish you luck with it.

**Paulphot** · 17th December 2009, 10:12 AM

Sepp, that is a very nice and easy bench. It would certainly get me into woodwork with much enthusiasm as making the bench would be a great first project. I can't see anything I would change, it looks very well thought out.

**GraemeCook** · 17th December 2009, 04:37 PM

Hi Sepp

Welcome to the forum.

Love your bench; wish I had something similar when I started to get addicted.

My first reaction is that your price is too low - people will be suspicious - and if you raise it to, say, euro 250, then you will have more funds for promotion and still be much cheaper than the opposition.

Next, why rely on customers putting it in their car? In a globalised world, can it be packaged so that it can be shipped economically anywhere.

Thirdly, I think that you need a sexy name for your bench. The "Sepp Bench" as a name does not seem optimal to me; perhaps the "euro bench"???? Or other members may have a more inspired name.

Finally, a web forum similar to and linked to this forum so that members can discuss how they assembled, finished, finessed, improved and used their prefabricated benches.

May your future be progresssive

Cheers

Graeme

**seanz** · 17th December 2009, 07:09 PM

You might be pricing a bit low (OK, you weren't asking for advice on price) as the recent inspiration for my own workbench was seeing a 'bench' at local big hardware store for @ NZ$300, roughly the same price as your bench. It was more of a table than a bench and made from glued up Radiata Pine, very basic, no hardware......and I could make it wobble.
So, I thought, I can make something better than that for less cost, and I did.
But if it had of been your bench at the hardware store at that price.....I would have bought it.

**sepp** · 17th December 2009, 08:30 PM

thank you all for the nice replies!
i know that compared to what real manufacturers offer, that my benches could be 2x more expensive and still cost less than theirs.
but part of my satisfaction comes from allowing anyone to have a real bench that is affordable.
and i always ask myself first if i would buy it at wich price, and im a rather cheap person

maybe i will increase the price if the demand becomes bigger than the offer i can produce.

what surprised me is that all the buyers i had up to now came from pretty much the other side of the country (even if it's not that big) while i thought i would mainly attract a local base within 50 km.

and another thing i noticed is that only 1 of the buyers was a real hobby woodworker who needed such a bench, the 2 others bought the bench because they were working on their house and my benches were maybe not ideal for them, but much more solid than anything you can find at that price range.
so i think i am going to make a basic all-round workbench for such people with a metal base and a basic flat top and maybe a face-vise. it will be less work, and mostly because i don't like the idea of working hard on a fancy bench and then sell it to people who really need something more simple.

**kman-oz** · 18th December 2009, 10:57 AM

I agree with rest of the comments on cost, but to be fair, the best way to build a name for your product is to get it out there and selling it off cheap is a good way to do that.

I reckon you keep the 'economy' bench as is and eventually move a little up-market with a larger, heavier and better equiped bench down the track. Graeme's idea about some sort of on-line presence is also extremely valid. Perhaps consider a sponsorship deal with this forum?

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