The Best Bench Height By The Data

[@joelcopeland3018]

Being a very short left-handed person, I can tell you that you are correct about shorter people just learning to use what is available. You adapt, persevere, overcome...

[@cjoe5977]

a good thing to maybe add to the question thing is do you saw more or plane more on your bench

[@sanjaraejour9632]

Thank you so much for collecting and compiling the data! It's quite interesting how so many ways of figuring out is half a person's height, just with an extra step (at least now that we have good ways of measuring a person's height and what half of that is).

[@maciej9280]

yeah just double their bench height and you have the persons height ;)

[@levilam522]

You can build a small short bench that dowels into dog hole with an end vice for cutting dovetails and joinery

[@drebelbisengineering4539]

I downloaded the spreadsheet and used the data to calculate Person Height/Bench Height then averaged the results. For the data that can be calculated, the average height of person to bench is 1.96, or,if you prefer, Average Bench Height/Person Height = 0.51.

[@psguardian]

Built my first bench this year 31.5". After using it a while I honestly feel like it needs another ~5".... I'm 6ft tall. I think height x .5-.55 really is a great starting point. It's easy to cut the legs down on many designs.

[@alangknowles]

Mine is 0.56. Suits me just fine. Don't need an additional saw bench for resawing either.

[@mm9773]

I‘m 6 ft tall and anything lower than 38 inches gives me back pain. I also find planing on a tall bench a lot more comfortable than on a low bench - and no less efficient.

[@justplanebob105]

What an amazing coincidence on the 50% rule! I've used a work mate since I started and have modified it with clamp-in table tops, a bench bull and, most recently, a moxin vice, but for the last two years, I haven't folded it up once as it doesn't hinder parking the car in the garage. So I've pondered the idea of a 4ft or so laminated bench that's more sturdy. Today's video and Sarah's workbench vids have helped alot. Thanks so much. 🙂

[@ianstewart7605]

I used an old workmate for many years, the Z frame sort. A 4' laminated bench on sturdy legs is SO much better! Make sure you have suitable overhangs at the ends and front for clamping on to.

[@MG-vo7is]

Very cool! Thanks for starting the survey and sharing the results.

[@Ice_Berg]

This is fantastic information to have. I've been planning to build a bench this summer and I had finally settled on the design (Rex Krueger's Quick-Stack) but I couldn't find a very satisfying answer to my question of height. Thank you for all of the work you put into collecting and sharing actual data.

[@cindyharrison4191]

At the workshop where I volunteer, I love the bench height which just happens to be 1/2 my height. My bench at home is a little higher and I want to rebuild it lower. Your data is spot on

[@Ferndalien]

Can you trim off the ends of the legs by a bit?

[@MCsCreations]

Yeah, that's around right for me. Pretty interesting indeed, James! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@egbluesuede1220]

Very interesting findings, something that I gave hours of thought to before building my bench. I went with Noden Adjustable legs, and recommend these to people all the time. I adjust it lower for planing, higher for jointery, lower for my daughter, up to 36" as tablesaw outfeed, all the way down for sanding or staining finished projects assembled on the bench.....I can't imagine having only one height!

[@krissk77]

A good bench is that which you can use comfortably. Made last week... adjusted 2 times now.

[@santiagoberea6532]

Thanks! If you are just starting I recommend making it on the taller side. you can always cut a bit off the legs to adjust it.

[@HandToolWoodGuy]

I like my bench at waist height or slightly above. I'm 58 years old and my back does not like bending over. Same reason I don't use a saw bench, and rip off my bench. Bench height is extremely personal.

[@triune_blades]

I hope to someday build my own bench. I wish I could build it alongside one of you guys. It'd be an honor to do so. So many KZbinrs like you have made life in the shop so much easier for us noobs. There's too many to even list right now. My memory sucks too much to remember all of them.

[@MichaelOlsen-Engineer]

I built my bench comfortable for planing and then incorporate a good shop stool and/or "bench risers" to bring me and the work to the correct height for times when I need my eyes closer to work level. Another advantage of sitting is that by remaining more still, more of you focus goes into guiding the tool rather than 'muscling' it through the work. I encourage all my students to bring work "down to a relaxed working height". Which may mean raising either themselves or the work to where both a very stable and the student's eyes are able to clearly and easily (if not effortlessly) view both the piece they are working and the tool they are guiding. My own bench in 36" tall and I am 5'8" (68") so many would consider it a bit tall, but for me, it is much less stressful on my bad back. I deliberately built the base rail for my "sliding dead man" to double as a foot rest when I am seated at the bench cutting joinery, using chisels, etc. This allows me the comfort needed to continue enjoy joinery and keeps me and my work piece grounded as one. My overall body is relaxed and still while my eyes calmly observe my hands guiding the tool. I rarely feel tired even after a full day of joinery, including sharpening and cleanup. My tools are kept sharp and in good repair, and my bench does the supporting and holding at the heights comfortable for me. So my work now becomes peaceful and even therapeutic. I have had several students either raise or lower their bench to make their standing work more comfortable for them, and all now view a stool and stand-offs are integral to a bench as dog holes and vices. "Sometimes we must lower ourselves or we must raise others to best meet our goals. Neither changes our stature, but both, used well, can ease our own efforts greatly." Loyde Eugene Olsen, 1973 - Grandson's First Lesson in Joinery and Life.

[@AhmetCnarOzuneUyans]

Yes, this was really fun video 😍 I am 182cm and the bench that I am comfortable with is 85cm. So, lower then the half height. I think the reason is that my arms are a bit longer and when I put them straight down with palms parallel to the floor (as you show in the video), 85 cm is the right height for me 👍 But of course not when I am doing chisel work or cutting a small piece on the vise, then I always have to bend. But with planeing, it is perfect.

[@tomalealso]

when I was young 50% of my height was fine but I have noticed that as I get older,I prefer a taller bench height. having several of different height is too. adding a bench I can sit at and work is something I have been considering.

[@michaelthys4000]

Chicken or egg? Causation or correlation? First off I love the spreadsheets and you doing them and not me! Second great work as always! Back to my question \ observation. If the standard advice of “palm on bench” or 4 hands tall or etc are this simple 1/2 your height. Then can this data do anything other then point out that everyone who is arguing about this kinda all agree. And dose it not then stand to reason that we don’t know what is best. Just that we are doing what tradition tells us? But let’s not also just discount the wisdom of the old timemers..

[@rawhideslide]

Sorry to nerd out,.... but the distribution of the ratio (bench height as a percentage) is interesting. The peak of the distribution is 48%-49%. Very few people are less than 45% (8 or 2%) A lot are are more than 53% (123 or 33%) Very few people go much less than the median, but a sizeable number go higher.

[@thomashverring9484]

Interesting. The bench I have planned (for ever) is less than half my height. I've used a lot of time researching it and it's also the height of my shitty mobile bench. However, half my height would be more comfortable overall I think. Damn, you made me think! But thanks for helping me procrastinate and never build my bench :^D

[@arkansasboy45]

Very interesting data. I like these spreadsheet videos.

[@shannoncooley1575]

I have another rationale for my bench height. It's just lower than my table saw so it can be used on the outfeed side to support (catch) large boards, such as a ripped sheet of plywood.

[@markelder6681]

James, I think you might be on to something with the “50% Rule.” Thanks for doing this! There is a bench in my future & this helps

[@sfshilo]

I want to squat down and be eye level with my bench. There is a lot of advice to lower it for planning, but as my work gets more complicated that "perfect" planning height won't exist. (Angles, lengths, space available, etc) Where as my sawing need good holding, good positioning, and having it a bit taller then 50% means I'm not bent over all the time.

[@theninjalion2811]

My grandfather (who I never met) built my bench, which is 31 inches tall, which my father, who is 5'7'', used, meaning either my grandfather was 5'2", or he made a short bench.

[@andreasmou]

It would be interesting data point on what type of woodworker each person is. 100% hand tools, 50-50, or is the bench only used for sanding/assembly?

[@triune_blades]

Good point. 👍

[@brucematthews6417]

Yes, very good point. My hand tools bench is somewhat lower than my other benches. This was done primarily in consideration of doing vertical cuts with bench and mortising chisels. I feel that a 50% high option would have ended up with me reaching up too high to comfortably do work with vertically held chisels. The downside is that it IS a bit low for a lot of small detail work. I'm likely going to make a clamp on mini bench for small detail stuff that gives me a 4 or 5 inch rise up for those times.

[@nickd5943]

This makes sense. I also wonder if hip pivot point is the true answer? That is about 50% of a persons height. Give or take 2 or 3 inches. Lots of food for thought. Hey thanks for sharing.

[@ianlogan3055]

Thanks for doing this, it was very helpful and timely for me.

[@lewisallan2825]

I didn't think id find this interesting but as I often do woth your wee rants. I did. Cheers buddy 👍

[@michaelthompson5875]

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion. I built my bench with Chris Schwarz's recommendation on height in mind (hang your arms at your side and where your pinky meets your hand is about right), about 32-33 inches. After working on it like that, I found it fine for hand planing, but it was AWFUL on my back for cutting joinery. So, I had some leftover boards from building it that I glued up and milled into 4 inch square blocks about 4 inches high. I used dowels to then attach them to the bottom of my bench legs as "riser blocks." It is now 37-38 inches. I honestly haven't noticed a difference when hand planing and joinery is MUCH easier. My suggestion? Start low and add height if you need it. Personally I think its easier than trying to cut 4 legs to identical length on an assembled bench.

[@mm9773]

I’ve found everything I’ve seen or heard from Chris Schwarz interesting and useful - except for his frankly insane recommendation for bench heights. I couldn’t get anything done hunched over a bench this low without my back killing me, including planing - especially planing.

[@frankagee3157]

Ordinarily when you go to the data sheets, I go, "Oh, hum." But, this one is great. I enjoyed it, and find it interesting. By the way, my bench is 1 inch less than half my height, but I have always been the odd one anyway. Thanks. Keep up the good work.

[@ianpearse4480]

Fascinating. My short bench is the perfect height for an olde timey woodworker according to Stumpy Nubbs. LOL. My main bench is the perfect height for me according to the stats, interestingly I now have 2 benches at different heights that are perfect for me! Am I confused or just lucky to have 2 benches? Yes!

[@CindyBallreich]

Oh, this is so silly. I know my bench is taller than that. I'll just go measure and... it's... exactly... half my height. I'll shut up now.

[@myrawright282]

That is why Jim's bench is so stinkin' high for me!! 😂🤣

[@WolfPawArmoury]

I'm 5ft 8 (and a half) with a three foot tall general purpose bench, but it just so happens to be a whole inch shorter on the end I do work at. I'm 5' 9" with shoes on, and that's honestly the perfect standing height for a bench for me. For a bench I sit at, I would prefer one closer to 30 inches tall, about the average commercially available desk height.

[@ianstewart7605]

Well . . . now I'm a little conflicted. The old bench I've been using for thirty years is 35-3/4" high, and at one time I had it stood up on 3" blocks because I was getting uncomfortable stooping over it to do joint preparation etc.. I'm in the midst of making a new bench, and my first design was going to be 36" legs plus the 2-3/4" thick top which totals 38-3/4". During the design adjustments, I have noted that 34-1/2" seems a more sensible height for the wood prep I'm currently doing, i.e. about 1-1/4" less than the old bench I'm using. I'm 5' 8" tall, or thereabouts. As I'm now in my 70's I may be a little shorter. So maybe I should just go for 34" and be done with it? BTW, although I'm in the UK, and use metric sizes a lot of the time, I work this sort of thing in inches. 🙂

[@brucematthews6417]

The glow in your eyes when you mentioned "SPREADSHEET" was a little.... commited? ...... :) 73inches tall here. My hand tool bench is 34 inches high. So 46.6% of my height. By happenstance it is also at palm height when I turn my wrist up as you showed. But it is low compared to my machine shop bench which is 36.25 inches... due to a protective 1/4 inch UHMW topper. I deliberately went low for the wood work bench to allow for the very common range of work thickness of 1 to 1.5" thickness and the height of my preferred wood body planes. Also to avoid the handle ends on chisels being too high to strike easily without reaching too high or lean over comfortably and keep a nice plumb downward chest pressure. It can be a touch low for some work like thin material and smaller tools. But overall I've been very happy with it since I do hit some combinations of material and tools which are also a hair taller than is comfortable as well. More the too low by a touch than the too high. But where it is worked out perfect for vertical chisel work. So I live with the rest. Regular cabinet chisel into 1.5" stock has the butt at 45" off the floor. Burly 1/2" mortise chisel butt is at 48. The 45 is nigh on perfect for me with the typical big mallet for a very natural swing with great consistency and control. The mortise setup at 3 inches higher is a touch high but still OK. Not as natural feeling as with the 45" high cabinet chisel though. Perhaps a new column for your spreadsheet? If so is this considered as feeding the madness? :) To raise up some work I have a clamp on Moxin vise for detail sawing like dovetails which is 6.5 inches tall. So that lifts the work up to more like 43 inches and more off the floor. The advantage is that it does raise the side view of the work up. In fact if I were doing it over I'd make the Moxin 8 inches tall since I still fine myself leaning over just a little while doing detail sawing of this sort.

[@What_Other_Hobbies]

My bench is slightly below my table saw height so I can use it as an outfeed table. That was my plan when I built it, and I use it that way once. It is a comfortable height to plane with typical western style bench planes, but it is too tall to chisel the Asian way, aks sitting on work pieces. I had to step on something to sit on work pieces on my bench. I am planning to make a low bench at seating height for chisling.

[@franciskisner920]

If you are in touch with any woodworkers in metric countries, if you can have them replicate the survey, the dips for the odd number of inches may be replaced by odd numbers of centimeters. That would be interesting to see. Thanks for the video and the survey.

[@mm9773]

You mean every country except the USA? I think those numbers are already in there, James has a bunch of international viewers.

[@JeanMinutile]

Now to the next level to this, is it a coincidence that the most common bench height 91cm happens to be the standard height for kitchen countertop (at least where I leave - France) ? As far as I'm concerned its definitely not, I love the height of my kitchen countertop and what you do on it is kinda similar, put something on top of it and do work that involve being able to see it and manipulate it comfortably and this is precisely why I built my bench the same height as my kitchen countertop.

[@kenreynolds1092]

I'm 5'9" and I'm getting ready to build a bench 38"x38" and 8' long figure I can always cut it shorter if needed

[@mm9773]

I say go for it. I very much prefer a tall bench, and as you say, you can always cut it down.

[@kencarlile1212]

Very interesting... I gotta measure the bench I just built, but I suspect I'm pretty well over 50% of my height. I based it on on the built in bench in my shed (which is in the spreadsheet), so yeah, totally what one learns on!

[@joespilman7333]

My bench is 36" high and im 70" tall guess i dont add anything new to your no's. Alwsys enjoy you videos. Thank you

[@jonhaynie1987]

Make a new bench 50% plus two inches. If it's too tall, cut a bit of the bottom of the legs. It's a lot easier to cut an inch or two off than it is to put an inch or two on!

[@mm9773]

Yes. And I’m willing to bet that most people will find the extra two inches quite comfortable, anyway.

[@pettere8429]

I should figure out a way to raise my bench a bit.

[@wannabefunnyman]

It depends on what I’m doing. For some things I use my table saw which is 30 inches. For hand work I use my workbench which is 38 inches high. I’m 70 inches tall. Edit to add: my guiding principle is that I want to stand up straight when I work.

[@triune_blades]

Is there any bench out there that has a unique way to change the height? If not, why? There has to be something out there though. It'd be cool to develop some ideas on how that could happen. ☺️👍

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

There are a few designs for adjustable height benches. But if they're going to be strong enough to do the work, they are incredibly expensive. If you search for Jack bench, that's probably one of the best DIY versions. But even then I wouldn't want to be chopping mortises on it.

[@briholt100]

400 sample size for things like height? Very good sample size.

[@TheTechRep1]

I scored exactly 50% of my height and this works well for me.

[@J.A.Smith2397]

Mines probably a couple inches more than half, good for leaning lol but do wish it was lower for all my planing

[@stevemiller9608]

You really must have been a frustrated analyst in a former life. Having said that I just measured my take down rex bench and it's 35 inches, half my height, and it works great. Interesting.

[@MrMNRichardWright]

I added my #’s 6’4”, my bench is 42” high ( 42 was not an option, I selected 41), does this make me above average?

[@angelcastro3129]

Too funny, I was just having this discussion with my friend who is 6 foot tall and I am 5 foot tall, I cant comfortably use his work bench finding tension in my shoulders and a lot of tip toeing LOL and he cannot use mine causing lower back pain and tension in the thighs from half squatting LOL Its like a Giant in a Hobbits workshop LOL My shop is set up for me, each tool has its own height to suit my stature, Thanks for the video and the validation LOL

[@J.A.Smith2397]

I got a feeling your full name is James DATA wright! 😂

[@lincolndickerson1293]

I love the 50% guideline. Remember people are also all different. Leg to torso ratios are quite different in people. Don’t believe me ask the guy at the bike shop that sets up bikes for long distance riders

[@Flanelman1]

No joke, im the single 78" on those graphs, and my inseam is 30". Im a giant with little legs.

[@Hansenomics]

Good data. 1/2 your height seems to be the thing.

[@professor62]

Very interesting, indeed! I know you said you would have expected the average bench height to be about .45 of a person’s height, but why do you find .50 so fascinating? You never really elaborated on that in particular. But nonetheless, great video!

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

It's just interesting that it's quite so simple half of the height. If it were something odd like 0.45 then you would have an odd metric to it. But half is just simple.

[@sj_harris]

Intriguing Also, easy to remember :)

[@briholt100]

Did you ask how tall people were with or without shoes? I searched the transcript for shoe and boot, and didn't see any mention...that would change the bench height a bit if people were under or over reporting their height.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I did not, but most people did not measure themselves they just know "I am X tall"

[@briholt100]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo I hear that, but when we start saying "most" we fall back to the original problem where "most people say a bench should be x inches tall"

[@arley2815]

But is it really half your height given that many people measure their height based on bare feet but wear shoes while working at a bench? 🤔

[@doriWyo]

What if you have to sit?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Now that would be an interesting one to study.

[@imortaldeadead]

50% 🎉

[@johnoerter2883]

Very cool! I like Kiss …

[@triune_blades]

They taught us that in the military. ☺️👍😂

[@mm9773]

6:28 The most valuable thing I learned from Paul Sellers is the fact that a lower bench is not better for planing at all. I’m so glad that he put his considerable weight behind disspelling this old “rule” - my back owes him a lot. People are free to build benches as low as they like, but they shouldn’t do it because “it’s better for planing”.

[@PedroPereira-ut6pp]

oh my! i made my half a inch to short.... better tear it down and start all over xDD

[@triune_blades]

Just screw some OSB on top. You'll be okay. 🤣

[@jakes9708]

DATA!!!

[@michaels.8663]

You graph lover you..

[@thewalnutwoodworker6136]

Day one of commenting SQUIRREL till I have a squirrel tail plane on my doorstep.

[@PlainsmansCabin]

I wonder if a better indicator wouldn’t be INSEAM! Leg length, hip height might influence the bench height comfort level more than overall height. As an example, my son is within an inch of my height, but has a 2” shorter inseam and we cant get in each others vehicles and drive comfortably without adjusting the seat deastically…

[@BlainesEscapeCorner]

You should measure height to their lowest finger, its more important than just their height

[@WolfPawArmoury]

Frist

[@triune_blades]

Frist? 😂👍

[@WolfPawArmoury]

@@triune_blades Intentional misspelling of first

[@DanGrisham-i2s]

That spreadsheet is cancer. wtf is happening here?