just got settled into my new place, and im going to start building my new work benches for bow building, etc. was wondering what height you guys have your benches at? my stepdad has a bench in his shop i used to use for staining, etc, and it was 48" tall, seemed to work out well for me because i didnt have to bend over to work on it. would this be a good height or too tall if i need to work sitting down? any input will be appreciated.

Hi Richard, congrats on the new shop. Are you going to do any work besides bowbuilding? I've built a couple of workbenches for all around woodworking. Both were built so that I could rest my palms on them flat with my arms hanging naturally from my sides.  It is a good rule of thumb for me.

Hi Richard, congrats on the new shop. Are you going to do any work besides bowbuilding? I've built a couple of workbenches for all around woodworking. Both were built so that I could rest my palms on them flat with my arms hanging naturally from my sides.  It is a good rule of thumb for me.

"standard" height is 36" but you can build them anyway you like

did some comparisons around the house and im liking our kitchen counter height, its 36" tall. 48" is too tall if i want to work at it sitting down unless i have a really tall chair.

i do everything from bow building to stringmaking, arrow building, and leatherwork, so i want at least one bench to be able to be used for the cleaner processes and one for roughing out bows, which would generally be used while i am standing up anyway. the 36" counter i rest my palms on it and my elbows are slightly bent, and i did a comparison and its a pretty good height for me sitting down too.

Mine's 44", and that works out well for me. I like to work standing up, and that's a great height.

I have an office desk(29" H) with a hutch on top that I do alot of work on it but I usually slide my computer chair over to it. I also have an old drafting table that sits 36". That's much more comfortable for standing work

yea im going to build a taller one for when im doing stand up stuff like finishing. 36" seems high enough with enough room for me to apply force when doing stuff like sawing and pushing a surform rasp or scraping, plus low enough i can leave my chair there for when im not needing to stand.

I used the same rule of thumb that Stan mentioned...I stand upright with my arms at my side and where my wrist is ends up being the top of my bench, which is 34.5".  That also matches my tablesaw and a few other tools as well and seems to work for me.  My friend made a tall one once and althought it felt like the right height at the end of the day it was hard to work on anything as you couldnt apply any force.

yea i wouldnt use it for anything that needed force, only to apply stains and finishes, i like having the bow elevated a little so i can see how consistent my coats are going on.

If you are 6' then make it 3' and if you are 10' then make it 5' and if you are 12 ' make it 6' ...Can you see where I'm going with this? No this just looks like something an expert might dream up but I'm no expert but it sounds good...It's your bench and you can legally do whatever feels right to you...  

Stan and Walkabout are right, if your working with the hands and wrist straight, you will experience less fatigue. Too high or too low and you are always working with the wrist bent.

If you use a stool to sit on, work with that level or build a height adjustment into the legs.