Beech Wood Workbenches

This bench has received many bad raps about assembly. First of all, the directions are worthless, but there are only 12 main parts that are easy to decide where they belong. I believe it had 24 dowels for connectors. If previous reviewers didn't have an understanding of gluing dowels, I can understand their problems. Never fill the hole with glue or you can't drive the dowel into the hole. Just put a thin lawyer of glue on the dowel and it is easily driven home. The pre-drilled hole pattern for the vices were perfect, however, the vices could easily be installed upside down which will cause a hole pattern problem. It took a total of 53 minutes to complete total assembly. And no, I don't work for Rockler, I almost didn't buy based on reviews so I wanted to set record straight.

I am very happy with the price and the quality of the bench. I found the following:1. Directions are pretty bad. Lay everything out on the floor and study the pictures on line. Then it makes sense. I lucked out with the dog holes on the legs. I never even thought about it. You will need 10mm and a 3/4" wrenches, a screw driver and 320 grit sandpaper. Assembly time for me was about 2 1/2 hours.2. The finish is okay. Lightly sand all of the parts prior to assembly. You will love yourself for it.3. The glue was the consistency of peanut butter so I didn't use it although I thought it was nice of Rockler to include it.4. The vises, dogs and plywood shelf fit perfectly for me. No missing parts.5. I did have a problem with spinning bolts but I solved it with the screw driver mentioned above.6. One of the nice features of this bench is that you can install the plywood as a shelf or a tray. You could also install it at the bottom to leave room for cabinets or drawers. That said,I recommend not gluing the joints with the bolts until you decide how to configure the shelf/tray. This is a well thought out, high quality bench at a very good price. I recommend it.

First - be sure to seal all the wood with varnish or oil finish. If there is any finish on the wood at all, mine was inadequate for high humidity environments such as a garage or workshop without heat/AC. I had significant wood swelling.

The instructions would be inadequate for an inexperienced woodworker.

Expect some shipping damage; the whole package is heavy and edges and corners may have some damage. (It is a workbench!) I replaced most of the hardware with higher quality/English measure hardware and replaced the vice face wood screws with small lags.

Be careful to assemble the legs so that you end up with both front legs to the front. Pipe clamps were helpful here to pull the legs tight to the base and top rail support - double check for square.

I plugged and re-drilled the vise faces so that they would be flush with the bench top. When screwing the vise mounts to the underside of the bench, use the vise, and vise faces loosely installed, to pull the mounts tight to the apron then screw the mounts to the underside of the top.

There was some difficulty aligning per-drilled holes on the bench top aprons with the holes in the top rail supports. Otherwise everything lines up pretty well. Some reviewers have complained, correctly, that a wrench can not access the nut in the middle stretchers. Install a lock washer ahead of the nut on the stretcher bolt and you won't have to use a wrench, as the lock washer will bind against the wood and the nut and prevent it from turning.

I wanted a bench for my small shop (20'X25') and I got the 60 inch model. For the price, it's more than I expected.Following Mr. Abraham's comments of Jan 13th::1. The instructions one page, no text are OK if you first study the picture of the assembled bench on the carton. Not obvious is to assemble the H shaped leg supports first, everything follows after that. Be sure to assemble the legs such that the dog holes are on the side which you'll use most.2. Finish OK3. The white glue I think is supposed to make the kit complete. I used Titebond.4. I had no problem with the vises.5. I had no problem with the plywood shelf sheet.6. Thanks to Mr. Abraham, I was forewarned about access to the nuts for the stretcher bolts. There is no room for a wrench, but I managed by jamming a screwdriver between the nut and the side of the access hole. It still spun a little, but it's not coming apart anytime soon.7. The dogs fit in the holes in my bench perfectly.Everything fit perfectly, pre-drilled holes lined up just right and there were no parts lacking or left over. The assembly took me about 2 hours. I'm very pleased with it.

For its price this is an good buy. I particularly like the hole layout on the top.

Just got the large bench and wanted to help anyone thinking of getting one. It really is a good bench for the price. All the previous reviews helped me along with what to expect. But the end result is very impressive especially when you save using a 20% off coupon. Here goes1. After getting it home take the bolts and screws to the hardware store. Replace the bolts with same length 1/2 bolts and use the square nut so they don't spin in the recess. Also replace the lag screws with a higher quality same size. Maybe I got a bad batch, but 4 broke off and I will have to drill them out. 2. The finish was not bad really, but I will be sanding the vise blocks and benchtop down with 400grit. Not a big deal, just preference. 3. might want to take an 1/8 in or less off of the dowel pins, just to be safe. Not sure how precise they are drilling at the factory. 4. Use good glue. 5. FYI the short bench dogs work fine on the vises and the long ones go in the body of bench. 6. Optional but here is what I am going to do with the vise lag screw problem. Leave ones that mount to the bench. The ones that mount the block to the vise are going to be replaced with lag bolts. I'm going to drill through the block and make a mortise for the square nuts. May seem overkill, but oh well. 7. Enjoy the bench, this is really a good quality bench and unless your expectations are really high, you should be quite pleased. In time, I will build my own "dream bench" but this is far better than the old one and will work for quite a few years I am sure.

I appreciated being able to read reviews of other customer's experiences and decided to return the favor. Bought this yesterday and assembled it last night. I didn't have the sorts of problems that other people described. The construction and assembly are pretty obvious. You'll need four or eight bar clamps long enough to pull the trestle leg assemblies together. It's true that the pilot holes for the vise hardware don't line up exactly. It was simple enough to put bolts in the two closest to the frame of the top and quickly bore the other two a little bit closer to center. Was careful not to overtighten so I didn't snap any bolt heads off. The one thing I would change is to include washers and slightly longer bolts for the attachement of the top to the base. The head tended to sink into a counter-bored hole and would not pull the two elements together because it lost purchase with the socket. Corrected that with washers. Everything pulled together very square - no need to adjust the frames. The bench dogs appear to be slightly larger than the holes - they are not. I miked both and just used some paste wax inside the holes. The fit is absolutely perfect. I decided to buy this when I came up with nothing decent on Craigslist. It also weighs more than the Swedish bench offered by competitor so I figured that between the reviews and the price this was a better way to go.

I just completed assembly of the large workbench and had hopes that the problems identified by previous purchasers would have been addressed by the time I received mine but they were not. The bench arrived with slightly damaged corners, and the hardware bag was split with the contents distributed throughout the contents. Several parts were missing and I immediately called Rockler Customer Service for replacement and now hoping for a prompt mailing. One of the holes in the vise plate that attaches to the bottom of the work surface didn't match up with the drilled holes. As stated by several other purchasers, the workbench top surface was rough and required sanding. The assembly instructions could be improved upon. Lack of quality control appears to be a common problem from my own experience and reading other reviews.

Out of the box there was a minor abrasion on the edge of one end of the top. Some very slight sanding, and it blended in well. After laying out all the parts, I had no trouble in putting the bench together. There were a few problems with attaching the vise and vise blocks. The holes did not line up correctly on mounting the vise to the underside of the table. I did as suggested, and that was to glue some dowels into the holes, let it dry, and then cut off the ends of the dowels, and sand them flush with the underside. Then I could drill new holes. I didn’t know the quality of the Lag Screws that came with the kit, so I went to Tractor Supply to buy some new ones. The Lag Screws that came with the kit were 1 ¼ ” long, and the closest that I could find was 1 ½”.... a 1" Lag Screw would have been too short. To remedy the extra length, I added 3 washers to each Lag Screw. The thread size was ¼”. The pilot hole for a ¼” Lag in hardwood is 7/32”, so I carefully drilled the holes after marking them. I put a piece of tape around the drill bit at 7/8” of the bit, so that I wouldn’t go through the top. Lag screws cannot push through un-drilled hardwood, so I wanted to make sure that the pilot hole was long enough. The process worked well, I was careful not to over tighten the screws, which would have resulted in them stripping out. Some reviewers stated that they stripped out some of the Lag Screws, or sheared the head off accidentally. As far as mounting the wood blocks to the vises, I wanted the top of the block to be flat with the top of the workbench top, but the pre-drilled holes in the wood vise block did not line up to do that, so I positioned the block so that the pre-drilled holes were on the inside, then I could drill new holes in the block that would be flat with the top. That worked well. The pre-drilled holes on the inside of the vise aren’t obvious, so I was OK with that. I finished the top with 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal Oil & Urethane Topcoat that was recommended by an associate at the Rockler store, and it came out very well. I am very pleased with the bench, and it will give me many years of good use.

I purchased the 72" version of this bench from my local Rockler store with a 20% coupon. I compared it to a similar Sjobergs model and found the fit, finish and overall quality of the bench material to be much better. I also preferred the vice hardware on the Rockler, it is a bit more substantial than the Sjobergs. There's not much I can add to the other reviews, they sum up the pro's and con's quite well. I can confirm the comments regarding the finish, it required just a light sanding which took about 30 minutes but yielded a nice, smooth feel. And as mentioned by others, the support rails have a weird attachment method which requires jamming a screwdriver into the fastener socket for tightening.My table was packed correctly and all the parts were cut to the proper length. Like the other reviewers, I used my own glue for the dowel fittings. The one modification I made was to increase the overall height of the table. I am 6' and the 33" factory height was too low for me. I added a horizontal 4 x 4 to the base of the "H" leg system along with leveling feet which is just right for me.Two of the supplied bench dogs were slightly over-sized and a few of the drilled bench dog holes were slightly under-sized. I had to expand a few of the holes with light bore sanding.Overall, I'm very happy with this bench, the fit and finish are excellent, the weight is good and it works perfect in small basement shop.

After a very long time of researching tables I finally ordered my table up and it arrived a lot faster than I expected which was a nice surprise my heart sunk as the ups guy was unloading it and their was a big hole in the cardboard box right on top of the box! I did have a nice dent in the top of my bench from it being dropped this would be better avoided if they added a extra piece of cardboard to protect it from this I know it's a work bench but I did buy it new and expect such when I receive whatever I buy! It's sad that good cust service is dying however every time I have contacted Rockler's customer service they have made it right so not all customer service is dead. I just wish they would fix the small problems with this like the bolts for the rails that need replaced with a bed rail bolt then you could fit a box wrench on it! But the screwdriver trick worked. I got lucky that my vise holes lined up. Overall this is the perfect table for me because of affordability and it's size is perfect for me in my wheelchair. I would buy it again. Oh and do be careful tightening down the vice face I broke my bolt and ended up getting a grade 5 lag bolt. This is my first real bench and I smile every time I use it!!

The only problem with this bench is to short. I am 6' tall. After about 20 min of work my back was done. To fix this problem I took 3 2x4 s on there side and made feet. Now have a GREAT BENCH

Just picked up the large bench at Seattle store yesterday. Very easy to put together, instructions stink. If you can't put it together from just looking at the parts you will be in trouble. That said the entire process took about 1 hour with the instruction tossed.The finish isn't worth a damn, but almost no mass produced bench has a good working finish. Sanded the entire bench down and put on a coat of tung oil. After 2 more coats this bench should last another 20 years, longer than I have got.

I can certainly echo the comments of many previous purchasers on the quality of the assembly instructions (barely acceptable) and shipping damage issues (dented corners).

It is easy to understand how shipping damage can occur due to the shipping weight of the product. (The 60 inch bench shipping weight is 123 lbs.) Still this is an known issue and the corners of the box should have more protection.

The workbench goes together easy enough. I didn't have any issues with missing parts although the knobs for the bench vice broke in to 2 pieces when i installed them. I ended up having to use wood glue and clamps to put them back together.

The assembled workbench itself is very sturdy and meets all of my expectations.

shortcomings aside I would definitely recommend this product.

I had never had a "real" woodworking bench before, and am impressed by how much easier this bench makes my work. Consistent with previous reviews, I found the assembly instructions ripped, crumpled up, and tucked into a corner of the box; despite this, assembly was straightforward. There was some minor damage to the corners of the bench top. It would be nice if the bench were a bit wider.

The bench arrive damaged from shipment. It had a few dings in the corners and sides, but I figured "What the heck, I am just going to beat it up anyway - after all it is a woodworking bench". A few hardware pieces were missing, I guess they fell out of the damaged box. I just replaced them with some from my shop.The bench went together easily, but the vise mounting holes were out of alignment. I will have to shim them when I have time. The finish did need some sanding with 400 grit paper as others have noted - no big deal.Overall I am pleased with the bench. It is fairly solid and stable. It is a good value for the money.

I'm a beginning woodworker and needed a bench to get started without blowing my tool budget. I took advantage of a Rockler coupon and bought the 60 inch version because that is the largest I could get in my CUV. As others have noted one of the holes for the end vice was off by about ? in. Disappointing but not a deal killer. The bench design does have other flaws, though.

The countersink holes for the frame nuts are round even though the nuts are regular hex nuts with flat washers. This not only means the washers have very little contact with the wood, there is not enough clearance to get a socket on the nuts. Luckily I have a pair of needle nose vise grips which worked with some effort. The first time I had to retighten the nuts I decided to get some bed bolts and do it right. The shortest I could find were a half inch too long so I used to washers to shim the bolts. Ugly, but it works.

Getting proper tension on the frame helped stabilize the bench laterally, but it still wobbled when working front to back. I fixed this by cutting small support blocks for the frame feet, screwing them to the floor, and adding two cross braces made from 1x6 boards. This required drilling ½ inch holes through the legs and using ½ inch by 3 inch bolts to take tighten them. My bench is now rock solid and easy to retighten as needed.

This is now a good starter bench. I would have rated it higher if it included the hardware necessary to make it that way.

I just got my work bench. It was easy to put together. Although the instructions were wadded up in a corner, there was little need for them. I agree with the other writer who suggested that anyone who has a problem with the vice faces is trying to install them upside down.
One warning--do not let the box sit in the sun or the glue package will explode!

This bench is rock solid. I bought the medium bench, which is perfect for my small shop. Very simple assembly. The finish was a little rough so I sanded everything lightly with a 220 grit paper, and rubbed on 3 Coates of Tung Oil. Now it looks great and is well protected. Couldn't be happier! Thanks Rockler! For making a quality bench so affordable!

I was getting ready to build a classic workbench, but was tight on money and had several projects in the works. The table was easy to put together and did not take long at all. As for the durability it feels very solid, but I will put it to the test until I build my dream workbench. The one complaint that I had was the Bench dog holes had the finish that was sprayed onto the surface in the holes especially on the vises and you have to do some touch up to get the bench dogs to go in the pre-drilled holes. In addition you're going to want to want to go over the bench real quick with 500 grit or greater sandpaper to smooth the finish. Over all I think this is a good product and would definitely recommend this to a friend.

I gave this bench only 2 stars because I found that it was much too short for someone of my high to work on for a long period of time. I am 6' 3" tall and my back was hurting like you would not believe after my first project.
It is also rather narrow to be doing any sort of big projects on.
As well as it not being as stable as claimed, it wobbles a good deal every time I am sawing into anything or doing anything with friction.

Overall I am very unhappy with this bench and now I am stuck with it and the hole in my pocket from buying it. I am resorting to placing 4x4 under the legs and making an extension for it to make it wider as well as to brace it to keep it from moving so darn much.

Only reason this review is not a 1 star is because I do enjoy the vice, even if I only use one of them. Even then, the vice does not hold too well if you only use one edge of it and it is not deep at all to hold taller projects.

Rock solid work bench. Arrived in one box with a few nicks and dings. Planed the surface, sanded with 220. Sealed all the pieces with Danish oil. Then coated the surface with minwax wax natural. Vices are cheap but it's well worth the price for the bench. People complained about directions, and I agree they were poorly written. However, the pictures and labels on the hardware is all you need to assemble.

I would recommend this bench to anyone thinking about building one. Before you dump money into a bench you may or may not like, try this one out for a year and you will learn quickly what you want in a bench. The price is hard to beat.

Easy set up and works great. Sorry I waited so long to get one

The fit and finish of this workbench, as noted in title of my review, remind me of fine wooden furniture. The first few scratches and dings are really going to hurt my feelings but in the end it is, after all, a workbench. Others have mentioned problems assembling it. I had no problems with anything not fitting properly but maybe that's because mine is a newer model. One thing I would change is to have holes predrilled for BOTH vises on the long side (for holding long work pieces) and on BOTH of the ends. That way, you could choose where to place the vises. Yes, I can drill the holes myself but having them predrilled would be really handy.

works well and good value

I picked the medium beach workbench over another workbench because it appeared more solid and the size was slightly larger. After easy assembly I found that I was right. The bench is solid and just the right size for my small shop. Thanks again for a great product Rockler.

I had no problems with this bench and put it together today in an hour. The instructions are pretty spartan, but it's a fairly simple project, instructions link located on left side of this page under Tech Documents. he guide pins are 6" apart, the vises are 14" wide, and max jaw opening is just over 5" before you run out of guide pin. Also, though neither pictures nor instructions show it, there are additional holes on the trestle so that you could mount the shelf close to the floor if you wanted. There are a couple cons. You do need to sand it as the surface coating is rough. The only problem here really was that I wanted to do this on the vise jaw areas befor I mounted them. Also, though my vise mounting holes lined up fine, it's easy to over-tighten the mounting bolts and strip them out which I did to one, I think... In all, five stars for a bench of this price-point. It may not be 1-3/4" thick, but it's sturdy, and it doesn't cost $1500, either.

After years of working on an inferior bench, this bench is a dream come true. I purchased the large bench and I am very happy with the product. After reading the many reviews, I was ready for any issues during assembly. First recommendaton is to take the time and give the whole bench a once over with a 220 grit sand. The finish was a little rough, but after the sand it was smooooooth as silk. All the predrilled holes lined up perfectly, took me about 2 hours to assemble. You will need long enough clamps( I used 36" for the uprights and 6'bar clamps for the center stretcher) to squeeze assemblies together during assembly. The nuts that hold the center stretchers are difficult to get a wrench around, I just wedged a screwdriver to hold the nuts while tightening. When attaching the vise assembly under the bench top, make sure not to overtighten as they will strip out if tightened to much. Overall I am very pleased with the bench, it is rock solid after assembly. I am looking forward to many years of working on this bench.

I just finished assembling my Rockler work bench. I was a little leery of it, after reading some of the reviews, but I was very happy with the finished product. All the holes lined up perfectly, no nightmarish doweling and drilling needed. The screwdriver trick worked, so thanks for that one, other reviewers. The top was a little rough but going over it with some 220 sandpaper smoothed it right out. I didn't keep track of how long it took me to put together because I was having so much fun. I bought the five foot table because I don't have much room, and I think it's going to be terrific in my space. The only thing I noticed was how noisy it is when you pound on it. Turns out it's the bottom shelf rattling around down there. I'll have to think about how to fix that.

As with all of these benches, it's a bit too low. I'll do something to lift it up a few inches, so that I'm not leaning forward all the time, though. Besides that, it's a nice product at a good price.

AS I LIVE IN THE UK AND PURCHASED THESE ITEMS FOR MY SONS 30th BIRTHDAY WHO LIVES IN THE USA. THE STAFF SCORED 10 OUT OF 10. I WOULD RECOMMEND YOUR COMPANY.

great product and great service. Quick shipping easy to put together. Recommend this bench.

This my first experience with this type of working bench. Great, anxious to get started.

I'm very pleased with my purchase. The bench is sturdy, fits very nicely ion the space I have available and the vises are excellent. Assembly was simple and logical. I was pleased to find the for bench dogs in the package.

I love this bench. I started using it's features the day I got and have found that it is so handy. I can't believe How I got along with out it. It was a hefty investment but well worth it.

I can second most points Mr. Abraham makes above. Here is where I differ:1. I give it slightly higher marks (four stars). This product is a perfect fit for my needs, as a weekend project platform. There are fancier and more massive benches, and they cost 2x and up. 2. No issues at all with vise components, I am very pleased with them so far. A reference edge is ideally used during assembly to ensure vise ends are flush with the top. I guess anyone wanting this type of bench would already know that. 3. No problems with fit.4. The insets for the stretcher nuts are definitely a problem. It's the critical joint in the assembly; it needs to be tight, and periodically re-tightened. My recommendation is to replace the bolts with suitable hex bolts and install them in reverse - a hex wrench should have no problems in these insets. Yeah I know its ugly with the nuts in plain view. But if you get bolts long enough you have extra pegs to hang stuff on.5. I don't mind some wiggle room in the dog holes. Here in Florida the wood will swell up for 9 months out of the year, and the extra room is welcome. 6. the packaging was good, but the bench is HEAVY and one corner was a bit dinged in shipment. I just took a rasp to it and smoothed it over - not an issue for me. 7. The trestle design of the legs is a big plus. The footers provide adequate space to install casters. I hope this can help set your expectations - keep in mind that overall I think this bench is a good value and I recommend it.

Might as well thrown in my two cents. I decided to break down and buy the large bench. Here's my experience... The base went together with no problem. I sanded it smooth as others did and will give it a nice oil coat as well this spring. I had no problems with the lag bolts for the stretchers. I did thread the nuts through the bolt prior to installing and I think that helped. When I started to install the vice hardware I noticed that the pre drilled holes did not line up with the mounting holes in the vice. So off  to get a dowel to fill the pre drilled holes. I glued them in, had lunch, then cut and sanded them flush with the bottom of the table. Next I drilled new holes, used clamps to hold the hardware in place and used the lag bolts supplied to secure the hardware in place. The screws used to attach the base to the table did not not work well. I shaved off some slivers of wood, stuck them in the pre drilled hole, and then tightened the supplied screws down. The slivers gave the screws more bite. Now the strange part. The supplied bench dogs have a shaft with a diameter .785 inches. The holes drilled in the table are .755 inches. See the problem? Now the holes in the wood vice are .790 which is perfect. Now how did they do that?  Other than that I'm very pleased with it though I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet. It is very stable and solid bench and compared to the alternatives out there I think the best value in its class. The wood is a little on the soft side for my taste but not unexpected given the material and price.

The bench arrived with a few minor abrasions to the packing box. Once unpacked I found a few minor dents here and there, but hey it's a workbench!! Not a big deal. The finish on all the parts was a bit rough. I took the time to sand it all down using 180 then 320 grit. I then gave everything a few coats of clear semi-gloss polyurethane with a light sanding with 320 grit between coats. The result was a very smooth finish that looks great. Assembly took a couple of hours. I had the same happenings and complaints as others {i.e. large bolts that are a bear to tighten, lag screws holding the legs to the top that are recessed, a little trouble getting the vices to line up correctly}. None of it was insurmountable. The workbench is sturdy though a bit low. I'll probably add another foot to raise it up about 3". Also going to add retractable casters so I can move it around easily. Bottomline - good product for the price.

After reading all of the reviews, I decided to buy the medium sized table. The workbench was packaged extremely well. There was absolutely no damage to any of the workbench. Several people complained about it not going together very well. I had no trouble at all. Everything lined up perfectly. The only thing that I had to do was sand the top down with 220 grit sandpaper. I then applied several layers of Danish oil. The next day the table is beautiful. Good job Rockler for listening to peoples complaints and fixing them. I just wish the instructions were a little bit more clear and that Rockler offered a cabinet that would fit on the lower shelf .

I browsed several models from different manufacturers from el cheapo to expensive and decided finally to settle for a full size Rockler workbench. I read all the reviews, including the comments about the very basic instructions and the need for using a screwdriver to block the nut, all true....but not important. If you buy a woodworking bench, I would assume that you have some woodworking experience. Granted, the manual is not too helpful, but it took me about 10 minutes to lay out all the parts and figure out what goes where, pretty simple, and the screwdriver trick works like a charm. It took me about 1.5 hours to assemble the bench and I am very happy with the final result. Great product for the price, well built and finished. A few little nicks from the transport, but nothing worth getting a headache. I called the customer support before I ordered to clarify a few things and they were very helpful. Real people, no automated service line with 10 menu options. The only thing I'm missing on the bench, is a tool rest in the back of the bench, which you get when you spend more $$$, but since I have a great bench now, I probably add it myself. Very satisfied, great product for the price and they shipped really fast.

Good bench for the money but poor instructions and some minor flaws as previously stated. Am I the only one here who used the long wood screws instead of the lag screws to mount the bench top to the base? The pre-drilled holes were too small for the lag screws, but the wood screws fit perfectly. Also the countersunk area fit the head of the wood screws better than the lag screws. Finally, the wood screws seemed the appropriate length whereas the lag screws were too short. The wood screws just seemed to work better to mount the base to the top. I used the lag screws to mount the vice face to the vice, and that seemed to fit well, too. As with others, the pre-drilled holes to mount the vice to the underside of the bench top were not aligned requiring me to plug them with a dowel and re-drill the holes. Those issues aside, it seems a sturdy bench and a good value. I only hope my bench top does not fall off from using the wood screws to mount it.

Been waiting a long time to set up a shop for retirement. Did a lot of web surfing and decided that the long bench would be just the ticket. All the pieces were there, although I found the instructions to be pretty useless. I had a lot of problems getting all the dowels to fit on the ends and legs. I used carpenter's glue, and after I hammered the dowels into one piece, a couple were too long and had to be cut off. Then, I hammered the bejesus out of the second piece to assemble it, but it just wouldn't go completely together. Either the holes are just a few thousandths too small, or the dowels are a few thousandths too large, for MOST pieces, but not all, suggesting that maybe the holes are just a hair too small. It is real humid here, and also possible that the dowels {which had fallen out of the plastic bag during shipment} swelled up in the high humidity. I had to pull the pieces apart and use a file on the sides of the dowels before I could hammer the pieces together. I didn't have furniture clamps long enough to try. The screwdriver trick had to be used These are only minor problems compared to a lot of other kits I have made, but it is a lot nicer when something goes together the first time without any Rube Goldberg tricks to make it work.

Nice workbench with good quality vices, easy to assemble. The only problem I encountered is the legs are set back from the bench top. The bench dog holes in the front legs are set back about 3/4 of an inch - so supporting a workpiece in the front vice requires extra long dogs or a spacer to make this surface flush with the top. Haven't yet but I will make a spacer for this problem.

I am overall happy with the bench. It's quality is in line with other reviewers. Mine had some damage to back of bench but not a problem. Top was not as perfectly flat as I would have liked but being wood that is probably unavoidable. I expect it will provide many years of use. The instructions are poor. They consist of one page printed on both sides. It would be better if printed on two sheets for easier reference. The various wood parts should either labeled or the dimensions provided so you can identify which part is which. Assembly was fine after I properly identified parts and understood proper sequence to put together.

I want to start off by saying I am a loyal Rockler Customer. Every one of the comments made by others I would have to sustain. First: The box it came in from UPS was torn up. I don’t know how it happened, but the parts bag was torn open and parts were everywhere inside the box. Second: The instructions are very basic. I read them several times and still had assembly problems. I hate to admit it, but some things I initially installed upside down. Third: I had expected a finer finish on the bench mainly because it is laminated well. I put 4 coats of polyurethane on the table top mainly to cover up some of the dents that I suspect happened during shipping. Others have commented on how rough the finish is out of the box and recommend sanding it with 400 grit sandpaper. I recommend 220 and work up until the top is glass smooth. Use a clear satin finish or every imperfection will show. Last: I really do not like the dowel construction. I think there could be a beefier construction. I believe I will anchor mine to the floor. Looks good and I hope I am satisfied with it.

Easy to assemble after 2 coats of tung oil. I used my own screws per other cust notes. I also added rockler casters. If bench had quick release vises, it would rate 5 stars.

The work bench is top notch, but the bench arrived with a dent in the middle of it, and an obvious large ding in the corner. The cardboard packaging could have been a better grade, but the bench was obviously dropped in shipping and I doubt that any packaging would have prevented the damage.

I'd love this bench except that there is a good sized crack in the top. I'm trying to decide what to do because returning it is such a pain in the neck.

My shop is in the garage so space is at a premium. this work bench fit the bill perfectly. Right length, right depth and especially good on wheels. BUT...you have to adapt the legs a bit for the wheels since the whey are designed to fit straight onto the legs and this bench's legs are off set from the end. No problem , just beware.