At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?

Duck, wrote the following at or about 6/13/2007 4:40 PM:
At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?

Funny you should ask. I saw it just last Saturday at the local HF.

Two things jumped out at me:

1) if that's oak, I'm made out of Ipe. Very tight grain and/or filled
like crazy and then lacquered until hell wouldn't have it.

2) I doubt there was a singe piece of wood in it that was longer than
10". Every visible piece had that zig-zag finger jointing to make it
into a board.

However, now that I read the ad copy, it does say oak TOP. I couldn't
see the top since it was sitting on top of one of those 4½'tall tables
in the back of the store with the generators, welders, etc.

Other than that...

Somehow I had the feeling that it wouldn't last very long in a shop. In
a family room, maybe! I recall some years ago seeing somebody who'd
taken a for real workbench and cleaned it up and made some minor mods to
turn it into a bar for their home. This might be up to that task.

On Jun 13, 5:40 pm, Duck wrote:
At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?

It's light duty , more drawers than the Ace hardware one. Don't count
on the wood being any kind of "oak" you have seen before (Asian)
It would make a good bar.

Duck wrote:

At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?

One of the woodworking magazines did a review of the various
purchaseable
work benches out there and I believe this one or its two vises
cousin was
included. Comments as I recall was
a) to light weight
b) base not stabile so it tends to lean when planing because there
is
no apron / upper stretcher because of the drawers
c) can't clamp to the underside of the top because of the drawers
d) vise hardware wasn't very strong and would "lean back" under
pressure
e) top of vise jaw not level with the top of the bench

For this specific model - lacking a front vise is a real shortcoming
since that's the one used most often. The weight of 111 pounds is
also a hint that this isn't a very solid bench - remember - weight
is
inertia and inertia is your friend when it comes to work benches.
The other tip is the $179.99 price tag, marked down from $199.99
If they couldn't sell it at $200, do you think it's a good deal with
$20
off?

charlie b

beecrofter wrote in news:1181772352.049709.24330
@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

On Jun 13, 5:40 pm, Duck wrote:
At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?

It's light duty , more drawers than the Ace hardware one. Don't count
on the wood being any kind of "oak" you have seen before (Asian)
It would make a good bar.


One of the "lies" advertisers use is to tell you something's "oak" or
"maple" or whatever, when infact the "oak desk" is really "oak colored
desk" or "oak stained pine finger jointed desk." (Or how about "1/64
inch veneer that will come up if you look at it wrong oak?"

You have to look carefully when any discount or big box store says
something is a better quality wood. Somewhere on the box, it should tell
you what part is the better wood.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

Duck wrote:
At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?

In fact I have one very much like it, purchased from Home Depot in a fit
of...needing a bench :-). Mine has a front vice, and only one level of
drawers. Now, in the get-what-you-pay-for category:

3/4" top with apron - it's not solid. Makes it hard to clamp to.
Crappy bushings on the vises so they rack pretty badly.
Vise tops not level with bench surface.
Rounded edge on bench top and vise tops, makes clamping small pieces
difficult.
Not terribly stable/heavy overall.
The shelf is a piece of very-nearly-cardboard.

I have an unfortunate tendency to polish turds, so I've fixed each of
these issues. I added a plywood plate under the bench top so I can clamp
to it. I hemmed in the guide rods on the vises with maple. I made a
hard-edge inset for the bench top and a hard-edge cap for the vise,
planed level. I added cross bracing to the frame and piled stuff on a
replacement shelf made of plywood.

The bench has actually served me quite well and I can plane on it with
no problems. But you'll really need a face vise if you get one.

Duck wrote:
At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?



The legs look too flimsy for woodworking, but it might be a great bench
for model making or the like.

FWW has a workbench to build that looks to be strong and inexpensive to
build. It also doesn't look like a year long magnus opus.

They call it their "New-Fangled Workbench" and it relies on pipe clamps,
wedges and move-able center plates for some pretty versatile clamping.
Dimensions are not given ... build to suit. I've pretty much decided
that it will be my next project.

You'll find it in their November / December 1999 issue, starting on page
98. You may need to subscribe to the Taunton Press website to get the
..pdf file, I'm not certain, but I've had no regrets over the money I
laid out for that subscription.

Bill


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On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:51:35 -0400, BillinDetroit wrote:

Duck wrote:
At the risk of all the abuse I am about to receive... :-)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93454

Has anyone seen one of these up close and in person? Of those that
have, any opinions?



The legs look too flimsy for woodworking, but it might be a great bench
for model making or the like.



Bill


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I purchased one of these and have been happen with it. It has been strudy.
One thing I have not liked about it is the depth of the drawers. Don't
expect to put anything very tall into the drawers. I like the bench dog
layout and the fact the vise has holes for bench dogs.

Paul T.


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