OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

274180 Paul Gardner <yoyopg@g...> 2021‑07‑27 Re: Ramia workbenches
Hey Dan,

The biggest issue I see with this bench is mass and the spindly
undercarriage.  This doesn't mean you can't "fix" the issues with
amendments to the bench but you will be investing time and material to do
so.  Then again, you may be able to get around some of these deficiencies
if you decide to attach the back end of the bench to the wall of your
shop.  This wouldn't work well for me but your mileage may vary.

I did a shallow dive into the interwebs looking for pictures and video of
this bench and didn't find exactly what I was hoping to see.  However, you
can see indications of the issues that will drive many people crazy in this
video.

https://youtu.be/4xRDdv8UI7A?t=322

Even when taking shallow passes with a sharp iron on a forgiving species
you can see movement in this bench. And the knockdown construction of this
ensures this movement will only amplify over the course of successive
planning sessions.  It came as no surprise to me that they decided against
showing a piece being scrubbed to dimension in the video.

Also, if you clamp to your bench top, the underside of this bench is also
constructed to make that frustrating.  I had a Lervad for years before the
bench I have now.  I ended up filling the voids on the underside of the
bench with Doug Fir to add mass and allow me to clamp at any point on the
bench using common "f" style clamps.  I also completely rebuilt the
undercarriage.

I'm not sure what kind of time pressure you are under but even in Old Tool
heck out west we see equal or better benches come up on Craigslist
regularly at 1/3rd that price or less.  In many of those cases the vise is
worth the price and you are getting the bench for free.

Good luck with whatever path you choose.

Paul, in SF

Recent Bios FAQ