Hello all,
I am going to get a new bench. My wife is buying it as my gift for
our first annaversiry. I see the new one in Rio but I do not want to
limit my options. You do not get a new bench very often. So I am
looking for all the differnt benches out there. I seem to think I saw
one that had a solid surface top on it. Thanks in advance for your
help.
Rodney
RC Gems
Hi Rodney, My vote is the John Frei custom workbench from Frei and
Borel. The archives should have info also from last years bench
discussions.
Marta
Rodney, I was recently at the MJSA show at the Javits Center in NYC
and saw some exceptional benches from Progress Machine & Tool Corp.
Look at their web site: www.progresstool.com
Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com
Rodney, You should check out the John Frei bench sold by Otto Frei,
formerly Frei & Borel. The benches are quite lovely and have 2 inch
thick butcher block tops. You can opt for a single bank of drawers
or double banks (drawers on each side). The bench pan is fully metal
lined and there is a handy tool pullout above the bench pan. You can
customize your bench, too!
I just bought a customized double banked bench. I had the drawer
configurations changed to my specs, got two layout boards (pullouts
mounted above the drawer banks just under the bench top) that are
really handy and had a GRS mounting system flush set into the bench
top. There were other minor changes I made. I really enjoy the
bench and since it had to be crated anyway, I was able to have a
bench shear delivered at no extra charge. John Frei said he would
send whatever could be safely enclosed in the crate. For a brief
moment, I considered a double decker Durston rolling mill.
Since I’m in Hawaii, I did some added finishing to toughen up the
bench. I did some resanding and gave it three thin coats of
Varathane. I also bought a wooden desk hutch that matched the maple
and mounted it on my bench top. Tool junkie delight!
Donna Shimazu
Rodney - my personal favorite is a double bank bench from Frei and
Borel. It’s big and heavy, so it doesn’t wiggle, and absolutely a
joy to work on. It has a 4 inch square steel anvil embedded in the
top right behind the bench pin. I have a GRS system holder for the
bench pin and all the other GRS stuff I use. It has enough room for
a Graver mate, a couple of flex shafts on a pole, two lazy susan
flex shaft tool holders, a small vise, and way too much other stuff.
I really like the steel lined catch box. It has no sharp corners to
catch stuff. And then there are the little locking cupboards with
even smaller drawers and enough other drawers that you have a place
for all your bench sized stuff.
Their website is www.ottofrei.com and the model number of the bench
I like is 013.015. If you search on bench, it brings up seven pages
of benches.
Usual disclaimer, just a happy customer.
Judy Hoch GG
Progress Machine and Tool http://www.progresstool.com outfitted the
jewelry room at LMU with 16 benches. They are 2 1/2 years old and are
holding up wonderfully. I have 50 beginning students a semester
(including summer) many who have often never had an art class use
these benches 12 hours min. a week. They have endured lots of
punishment because the students have 24 hour access so I am not
present all the time.
Sue Ann Dorman
P.O. Box 110201
Marina Del Rey, CA 90295
@Sue_Dorman
www.suedorman.com
Stuller is now making it’s own benches at Stuller 4 new types made
of solid wood. Check them out
Andy “The Tool Guy” Kroungold
Sales/ Tools and Technical
Stuller Inc.
337-262-7700 ext. 4194
337-262-7791 fax
andy_kroungold@stuller.com
Marta,
I got to see the bench you are talking about at SNAG this past
month. I was helping set up and I was talking to the salesman and he
told me I could have the bench for $900 cash and carry. My wife told
me I was out of my tree if I thought about buying it.
Some day I will get it.
Thanks
Rodney
Hi I had three stores.now closing last one.so i have lots of stuff.i
have 6 Benches. Make you good deal. I halso have a lighted sighn out
side on the builbing. Thanks linda
rodney, if your still looking for an awesome bench check out
Progress too ls. You will be blown away by the cool benches they
have. good luck, mitch
The benches from Progressive that I saw at the MJSA show in NYC were
pretty to look at, but the construction could not even compare to
the solid bench from Frei and Borel. They used laminates and the
joint construction seemed a little winky to me. Having spent more
than a few years in the construction trades as a finish carpenter, I
notice these things.
Jim Malone
Diamond Point Metalsmiths
jm@adirondackjewelers.com
Hi Folks,
Though I don’t recall who’d asked about benches, but I thought I’d
share some thoughts… While the benches John Frei turns out are
absolutely magnificent, (and I hope to have the thousand or more
dollars to invest into one, someday), there’s a bench made by
Moderna’s USA Bench line that’s still awfully nice at a bit less than
half that amount! I just got mine from Tevel at Allcraft, in NYC,
and it’s a beautiful, heavy (97 lb.), solid-wood piece with a
butcher-block top I’ll probably end up sanding and refinishing, ten
years from now (after I’ve burned and spilled onto it a few hundred
times), but which looks stunning, now. Although I did have to wait a
month or two for its arrival, it was well worth the wait, as Tevel
had assured me. Just as with the cheaper (particleboard) Moderna
models, it has three tool drawers on the right side, an
aluminum-lined sweeps tray and plier shelf on the left, and elbow
rest slats, a benchpin and dual mandrel holes above that, and stands
about 39x18 (give or take a little). All for well under $500,
including shipping. No disrespect intended towards John Frei, his
well thought-out designs or his craftsmanship but, at this stage of
my metals career, I can probably think of one or two things I’d
rather put that extra $500 towards… like materials.
Just my “$0.02”,
Doug
Douglas Turet, G.J.
Lapidary Artist & Designer
Turet Design
P.O. Box 242
Avon, MA 02322-0242
Tel. (508) 586-5690
@doug
Stuller now makes 4 new style benches. If you like to see I would be
happy to e-mail photo’s to anyone
Andy “The Tool Guy” Kroungold
Sales/ Tools and Technical
Stuller Inc.
337-262-7700 ext. 4194
337-262-7791 fax
Andy_Kroungold@Stuller.Com