Costco Woodworking Bench

[mark5767]

Impulse buy at $149.

Small size is good for lack of space and as a supplemental work surface in addition to main bench.

Not sure what hardwood Hevea Brasiliensis is, but seems ok...

No drawers, just a shelf (I'm ok with that)...

Comes with 6 metal / 6 wood pegs...

I thought fit & finish was better than the HF bench I saw in their store. Has anyone else looked at the HF woodworking bench or have thoughts on this one? Thanks!

 

[ez-duzit]

Better check those assembly instructions for the proper location of those 2 posts sticking up from the tail vise jaw.

 

[PugetDude]

Rubber Wood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevea_brasiliensis

 

[Voi]

Have you put a straight edge on the top? If you have or do, please post back your thoughts.

That's rubber wood. I don't know much about it or its properties. There is an import tariff on the lumber itself but not on the products made from it. So you may have bought that for less than you could have built it for, assuming you could even find rubber wood lumber.

 

[drivesitfar]

i'm usually fairly happy with Costco products and you'd have a tough time building that for that price especially with two wood vises on it. hopefully it is sturdy enough and if you need something nicer later you'll know what to buy or build and probably still sell this for $80 on Craigslist. so inexpensive trial of your first wood bench.

I saw a Cool Tools show the other day and there is a person building and selling these kind of benches in the US for about $4000. $150 has my vote and remember Costco I think now has a 90 day return policy max on most stuff in case it mal functions. Rubber wood might not be old growth cedar or pine or ?, but time will tell if it can hold up to our hammers and tools.

are two sticks on top of vise in the end just sitting in holes or did you already make a design change to their bench??

 

[mark5767]

you'd have a tough time building that for that price especially with two wood vises on it

Exactly. I was thinking of adding some wood vises to my main bench so when I saw this it was kind of a no brainer.

The wooden sticks are just some of the bench dogs that come with it, you can put them in any of the many 3/4" round dog holes on the bench. I placed them in the vise just to display them for the pic.

I did put a straight edge on the top, it looks very straight length/width/diagonal.

Rubber wood I guess is made from the plantation trees when they are done producing latex so instead of discarding they can also make stuff with the wood.

Compared to higher end benches this was super inexpensive, and I was pretty impressed by the relative quality of the construction.

 

[ctb]

Pretty decent looking bench for the price. See you're left handed.

 

[mark5767]

Pretty decent looking bench for the price. See you're left handed.

I prefer the term "correct-handed."

 

[holland_patrick]

I just got the HORROR FRIGHT bench.. it *****...

it will fill the bull as i wanted a bench with some drawers in it but i will be looking for better or building my own...

 

[cheechi]

This is similar to the HF bench but if Costco is willing to eat whatever returns they get, then I'm confident it's at least good enough for a homeowner to bang on it. Maybe it won't be in too many pro carpenter shops but within its weight limit I can see it being pretty thoroughly tested before it hit the floor at Costco.

 

[mark5767]

I just got the HORROR FRIGHT bench.. it *****...

it will fill the bull as i wanted a bench with some drawers in it but i will be looking for better or building my own...

That's good to know, does it go together sloppy (poor tolerances) or are the materials bad? Or all of the above?

This little Bonaire bench fits together great. The hardware seems to be good quality as is the wood. It's a small bench, better suited for supplemental workspace in terms of clamping and assembly. For those purposes I see it working great.

I was having a hard time finding reasonably priced wood vises and this bench has two, so just in terms of vises the bench is worth the price.

The HF bench looked bad set up in the store. The Costco bench looks really nice... a cool addition to the shop.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[cleveman]

Can't go wrong at that price. Might make a good TV table or bar as well.