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Woodworking Math

Workbench height calculator

Measure yourself, not a standard: give the height of your hand with your arms at your sides, and your elbow if you do detailed work, then pick the work you do most. You get the bench height that the woodworking publishers' rules give for your body and your work.

Stand straight with your arms hanging at your sides; measure floor to the crease of your wrist.
Floor to the underside of your elbow, arms still at your sides.
The work you do most

Bench top height

35 in

Stand in your shop shoes with your arms hanging at your sides: the top goes at your hand. Woodcraft measures to the crease of the wrist; The English Woodworker to the underside of the palm, flexed flat.

Traditional rule, stated by Woodcraft and The English Woodworker

Why: With your arms at your sides your hand is at 35 in, so an all-round bench top goes at 35 in.

Why these numbers?

  1. The situation

    Your hand measures 35 in from the floor.

    From your input: your own measurements

  2. What that means

    Stand in your shop shoes with your arms hanging at your sides: the top goes at your hand. Woodcraft measures to the crease of the wrist; The English Woodworker to the underside of the palm, flexed flat.

    Traditional rule: Woodcraft and The English Woodworker , sources [1, 2]

How we source these numbers

How the height is worked out

There is no standard workbench height, because there is no standard woodworker. The usual rule is to stand in the shoes you work in, let your arms hang and put the top at your hand: Woodcraft measures to the crease of the wrist, The English Woodworker to the underside of the palm held flat. That height suits most work.

Heavy hand planing goes better lower, where your weight is over the plane, so for a planing bench the calculator gives your hand height as the most, not the least. Detailed work such as cutting dovetails or routing small parts goes better higher, closer to your eyes, so it gives a range from your hand up to just below your elbow. If you stand on a mat or in thick-soled boots you did not measure in, add their height: you stand that much taller, so the bench should too.

The rules, the vises a woodworking bench uses and what we could not source are in the workbench guide. For tables, desks and cabinets, see furniture dimensions.