Never Enough Money wrote:
BTW, Garrett Hack says
"When woodworking was done by entirely by hand, workbenches were lower
than most today. Planing on a low bench puts more power into the
stroke, through the natural gravity of more of the body driving the
plane..... a bench a few centuries ago would have been less than 30
inches high."
Two (probably irrelavant) points: I'm old but not a few centuries old.
Second, my knees are 20 inches from the floor.

It's worthwile remembering that 2 centuries ago, people were
averaging about 5' tall. They hit 5'8" average with our parents'
generation. If you're like many of us, you're well over 6', so
the difference is about 1' in height between us and the guys 2
centuries ago. That means the bench has to be a fair amount
higher. The bottom of my knees are 20" off the floor, barefoot,
so I suspect that we're close to the same height.

Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
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American Association of Woodturners
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