One of the best reasons to build a workbench at a school is to take advantage of the industrial-scale machinery and the strong backs of your fellow students. Oh, and your workbench is done in just a week.
In 2015, I am teaching two workbench classes: A knockdown Nicholson workbench July 20-24 at the New English Workshop at Warwickshire College. And a French workbench class Aug. 10-14 at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking.
There are still spaces available in both classes.
The knockdown Nicholson bench is a fantastic bench I built during the summer using some principles swiped from Mike Siemsen, Caleb James and Peter Nicholson. The bench assembles in minutes and once together, you would be hard-pressed to say it could ever come apart. The thing is solid.
And the whole thing knocks down flat for transport or for when guests come over. It’s the ideal bench for an apartment, a temporary workspace or if you ever plan to move.
The massive and classic French bench we’re building in Connecticut will be made with the super-primo ash from Horizon Wood Products that we used to build benches at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in 2014.
Bench classes are physically taxing, but they are like an Amish barn-raising. Everyone has to pull together to get all the workbenches complete. It’s a team sport, which is something rare and wonderful in the world of furniture-making.
— Christopher Schwarz