Hello-
Todd wrote:
> I can sort understand how some people would enjoy building their own bench
>but I think it would be cheaper and easier in the long run to buy an old
>one.I see work benches a good bit and most sell for around $100- $200 if
>they are nice at auction, at antique shows you can expect to pay twice
>that.
	Ya know, in almost 30 years of auctions, estate sales, and various jobs as
a woodworker and blacksmith I have NEVER seen a cabinetmakers bench in the
wild.  Obviously I'm in the wrong part of the country.  So lets consider
the benches you do see around here (Nebraska, Colorado, SoDak, NoDak,
Kansas, and Iowa--don't get down to Missouri much).
	There is the ubiquitous sheet o' plywood, as seen in most home shops.
Laminate-covered particle board in most cabinetshops.  There's benches made
of pipe, various structural iron, and even railroad track (including one
with several Emmerts _welded_ to it).  Hammacher and Schlemer are just
names (and then only to a few), not reality out here.  Regardless of how
its made, stuff gets built on these wierd contraptions just the same.
	On the other hand, we do have our own neat stuff.  I guess I can live with
having to make my own benches, knowing that I have 30" wide walnut and oak
planks to work on them.  I have a tree I'll be sawing in about February
that will become a few benches--benches with nice solid one-piece tops.  
	I don't see so much neat stuff at auctions, not like you do, Todd.  I did
get a Parker CHE once, but its a short-chambered 16 gauge. . . and there is
the Boutet I take quail hunting every fall.  Picked up a 400+ pound anvil
at an auction once, for the price of carrying it away.  Out walking
around--literally--I've found dinosaur bones and Folsom points and even a
human tibia made into a hide-fleshing tool (a few hundred years ago folks
were REAL SERIOUS about acquiring tools I guess).  
	Sounds like you live in Old Tool Heaven, but I don't guess I'd want to
trade places.  Wouldn't mind trading for a few bench screws though. . . 
Jim Colburn