Rare Opportunity: Shaker-Style Bench For Sale

When we started Benchcrafted we never intended to build workbenches. But funny things happen when people half-way across the continent become your friends and ask you to build for them. I have a soft spot for this, and it's hard for me to say no. It's safe to say I've made Burger-King wages on almost every bench I've built. It's the intangible payment I get from these relationships that I really value.

But this bench is different. I didn't build it for anyone. I built it for me, for my personal shop. When I first helped Ron Brese create his Shaker-style bench early last year I knew immediately I wanted one for myself. Evidently, lots of other people wanted one too. So much so that they asked Ron (and us) for plans within a few days of the bench's completion. No exaggeration.

After we decided to satisfy woodworkers clamoring for a Shaker bench with Benchcrafted workholding, I set to work on building my version of the bench, a version that I thought would appeal to a wide range of woodworkers and shop sizes.

The offspring of that idea came to fruition about 10 months ago. And I couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome. I immediately fell in love with the piece and started daydreaming about how I could shoehorn it into my 600 sq. foot shop alongside an already enormous 100" long, 500 pound Roubo bench.

Winter dragged on and we had to deal with some product changes at Benchcrafted and the inevitable delays they cause, and progress on the Shaker Bench plans slowed. Finding room for the bench in my personal shop became a fading dream and was relegated, for fear of damage, to a safe corner in a storage area, hibernating until earlier this week when we moved the bench into my shop for a photo shoot.

And that's when I realized I had to sell this bench. The only option after the shoot was to put the bench back in storage. And that's something that I just couldn't do long term. This bench needs to get used and enjoyed by someone. And it doesn't look like that person is me.

I hope someday to build another Shaker style bench and use it alongside my Roubo. Workholding capabilities aside, there is something about a Shaker bench that just oozes inspiration, and that's something we all could use more of in our shops.

So this bench will make the long trip this summer to the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks 30th Anniversary Open House, July 15-16 in Warren, ME, where it will be for sale and available for pickup Saturday July 16th. If you are interested in acquiring this bench please contact me directly at jameel@benchcrafted.com for details or questions.

Update: The bench has sold.