New 900- Line for Workbench Design Questions &#8211

Don’t get me wrong, I like talking about workbench design. But I easily get five e-mails or phone messages a day about the topic, and sometimes I think I should open a 900-line for woodworkers with questions about bench design.

Here’s the TV commercial: Imagine me wearing only a shop apron (i.e. picture a monkey at the zoo with glasses and a shop apron). There’s some candlelight – tallow candles, natch. And a little Vaseline on the lens of the camera for that “soft” effect that hides the crows’ feet around my eyes.

Cue the wife-swapping music.

Then cue my husky, nasal voice, slightly slurred from the date-rape drug my boss slipped into my coffee to convince me to do this.

“How big is it? Press 1 to talk about how large it should be, and if you need a third leg.”

“Should you put wood in those holes? Press 2 to chat about wood dogs or brass ones. I have a pair of brass ones.”

“Who doesn’t want a twin-screw? Press 3 to talk about wood screws and 4 to see if you should upgrade to metal.”

“Do you have a curly crotch? Press 5 to talk about your wood options. Just 99 cents a minute. 1-900-Got Wood.”

OK, that’s is quite enough of that. Good thing our human resources people are out this week.

— Christopher Schwarz

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