The bench · English, in print from about 1812

The Nicholson bench

Thin, wide boards made into a stiff box, with heavy stock only in the legs.

The bench as the sheet first draws it for a maker of 1780 mm, in Scots pine (European redwood): 1829 mm long, 572 mm wide, 801 mm high. Front and end elevations at one scale.

History

The bench is named for Peter Nicholson, whose Mechanic's Companion describes and illustrates the London joiner's bench. Schwarz dates the text to 1812; the Lost Art Press transcription gives 1811; the scan read for this site is the 1832 edition. Nicholson was recording the practice of the trade, and Schwarz suspects the form is much older than its first appearance in print. Ninety years on, George Ellis describes essentially the same thing as the standard single bench of an English shop: 10 to 12 ft long, 27 in wide, with a common height of 28 in.

It is a panelled bench. Two wide boards on edge, the aprons, and a planked top form a stiff U-shaped box, and only the legs are heavy stock. Schwarz puts this down to economy: the box "requires much less wood than a timber-framed workbench, a big plus for an island nation that has to import a lot of its timber." Siemsen reads Nicholson as describing a site bench: a joiner fitting out a house built a 10 or 12 ft bench from common materials, used it up, unscrewed his vise and left it. The form crossed to the United States and became the carpenter's job-site bench.

The sources do not agree on the details, and where they differ the plan gives each one's figure. Nicholson's plate reads as plumb, which is a judgement on a small engraving, and he dovetails the end rails; Ellis rakes the legs and tenons them. Nicholson gives no apron size and does not say how anything is fixed; Ellis, ninety years later, supplies the only sections in an old trade text and fixes everything with screws. The default here is Schwarz's knockdown bench, drawn by D. R. Hill in 2014 and written up by Schwarz in 2015. Its measured drawing is the most complete of the modern versions read for this site. Each control says whose figure it is.

What Nicholson's plate and Ellis's figures show

Nicholson's bench is figure 12 of his plate 12, a small perspective engraving, with a page of text. He gives the length, the width, a medium height, the thickness of the top boards and the least section of the legs. He does not state the depth or thickness of the side boards, how the side boards or the top are fixed, the spacing of any holes, how far in the legs stand, or the form of the bracing he asks for.

Peter Nicholson, 1812, Joinery, sect. 2, "The Bench", pl. 12 fig. 12, pp. 87-89 (1832 edition read)

The top is a planked platform lying on the upper edges of the two side boards and on bearers set flush with those edges. The plank at the front is the thick one, with thinner planks behind, and he lets the front plank run 2 ft past the others at the hind end. The bearers divide the span between the leg frames into three or four equal parts.

Peter Nicholson, 1812, Joinery, sect. 2, "The Bench", pl. 12 fig. 12, pp. 87-89 (1832 edition read)

The front side board is "fixed to the legs ... and made flush with the legs". He writes of side boards in the plural when fixing the bearers, so a back one is implied, but the plate does not show it. Ellis, ninety years on, gives the only section in a trade text: two 9 by 1 in. boards, front and back alike, fixed to the legs with screws and let into them with bevelled notched shoulders.

There are no long stretchers. The side boards are the only members that run the length of the bench, and Nicholson says the legs "should be well braced, particularly the two legs on the working side". Each pair of legs is, in his words, "generally coupled together by two rails dovetailed into the legs". Ellis frames his 3 by 4 in. legs with mortise and tenon joints, glued and wedged.

The plate shows the legs set in from both ends and gives no figure. They read as plumb, though that is a judgement from a small engraving. Ellis sets his "on the rake, the better to withstand the thrust of the planing", and his figure 91 shows the feet kicked out toward the ends of the bench. He gives no angle.

One old English bench has been examined and written up. Its aprons are flush with the legs, which lets a leg vise work and gives the most clamping surface, and it has a drawer in the front apron running on plain cleats, where Ellis shows his.

Good at, bad at

Good at

cheap and quick: Schwarz builds one in two days from about half the material of a French bench
needs only a handsaw, brace, hammer, square and jointer plane
the deep front apron holds long boards on edge with pegs or holdfasts
a softwood top is grippy and dents before the work does

Bad at

the front apron is in the way of clamping work down to the top
a single 38 mm softwood top is springy
a thin top grips some holdfasts poorly
thin, wide parts warp if they are worked wet
a short, light bench moves under the plane
needs wide boards, since gluing up narrow stock throws the time saving away

The rules

Every measure the sheet lets you change, in the order the work is set out, with the rule behind it and who gave it. A circled number is the same note on the sheet. A blue band is the range a source gives, in the source’s own words; a measure with no source has no band. Figures are for a maker of 1780 mm.

To your body

Height

The sources disagree. Nicholson: benches are of various heights, to accommodate the height of the workman, but the medium is about 2 ft 8 in (813 mm). Ellis gives a common height of 28 in (711 mm). Schwarz finds most benches between 28 and 36 in and measures from the floor to where his little finger joins his hand. Sellers, who works mostly at the vise, builds 38 in (965 mm) for a man of 5 ft 10 in and says to make it an inch high and cut it down after trying it.

Floor to the top surface. The starting figure is 0.45 of your height, which is an estimate. Measure floor to the joint of your little finger and type that in.

The sheet starts at: 801 mm
It allows: 711 mm to 965 mm
The source gives: Schwarz, most benches about 28 to 36 in (711 mm to 914 mm) [4]

The top

Length · Width · Top thickness · Planks in the top · Second layer under the top · Bearer divisions

Length

Nicholson gives ten or twelve feet and Ellis 10 to 12 ft, for joiners working long stock. Schwarz's knockdown bench of 2014 is 6 ft (1829 mm), which he calls a little small; his 2006 bench is 8 ft.

Length of the top and of both aprons. The 1524 mm (5 ft) minimum is ours; no source gives one.

The sheet starts at: 1829 mm
It allows: 1524 mm to 3658 mm
The source gives: Ellis, 10 to 12 ft (3048 mm to 3658 mm) [3]

Width

Nicholson gives about 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) and Ellis 27 in (686 mm). The knockdown bench is two 2x12s, 22-1/2 in (572 mm), and Schwarz holds that an 18 to 20 in bench is stable enough for handwork. He calls the 27 in of his 2006 bench wider than usual.

Outside of the aprons, which is also the width of the top.

The sheet starts at: 572 mm
It allows: 457 mm to 762 mm
The source gives: Nicholson, about 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) [1]

Top thickness

Nicholson makes the front plank 1-1/2 to 2 in thick (38 to 51 mm) and the planks behind it 1 to 1-1/4 in. Ellis has a 1-1/2 in front board and two 1 in boards behind. The knockdown bench is 2x stock throughout, and Schwarz's 2006 top is drawn 1-1/4 in. The old benches Richard Arnold found have tops of about 5/8 in, thinner than this plan goes.

Thickness of the top planks. The model makes them all one thickness.

The sheet starts at: 38 mm
It allows: 25 mm to 51 mm
The source gives: Nicholson, front plank 1-1/2 to 2 in (38 mm to 51 mm) [1]

Planks in the top

The knockdown top is two 2x12s glued edge to edge. Ellis uses three 9 in boards, ploughed, tongued and glued. Maguire leaves his planks unglued with gaps between and nails them down. Nicholson does not say how the planks meet. The bench is meant for wide boards. A class that glued its panels from 6 in stock spent two of five days at it.

Equal planks across the width.

The sheet starts at: 2
It allows: 2 to 3
The source gives: Ellis, three 9 in boards (3) [3]

Second layer under the top

Schwarz found a single layer of yellow pine too springy and added a second under his 2006 bench. It is fitted last, cut to fill the opening exactly, after the top is flattened. Nicholson and Ellis stiffen the thin top with bearers instead. Sources disagree on what the doubled top comes to: the drawing makes it 3 in, Schwarz's book lists 2-1/4 in.

A 38 mm (1-1/2 in) panel glued and screwed under the top between the leg frames. Off, the top rests on bearers.

The sheet starts with this on.

Bearer divisions

Nicholson: the length between the leg frames is divided into three or four equal parts by bearers, their upper sides flush with the upper edges of the side boards. He gives no section; the 2 by 3 in bearer drawn here is Ellis's. Schwarz's 2006 drawing spaces them 17, 17, 14-5/8 and 17 in.

Equal parts between the leg frames; there is one bearer fewer than parts.

The sheet starts at: 3
It allows: 3 to 4
The source gives: Nicholson, three or four equal parts (3 to 4) [1]

The aprons

Apron depth · Apron thickness · Clipped corners

Apron depth

Ellis gives the only section in an old trade text: two 9 by 1 in boards, front and back alike. The knockdown bench uses a 2x12 (11-1/4 in), an old bench Haydon examined has 12 in and Schwarz's 2006 bench 12-1/4 in. Sellers built with 9 in and found it less sturdy, though it worked. Nicholson gives no figure.

Width of the side boards, measured down from the underside of the top.

The sheet starts at: 286 mm
It allows: 229 mm to 311 mm
The source gives: Ellis, 9 in (229 mm) [3]

Apron thickness

Ellis: 1 in. Schwarz's 2006 drawing: 1-1/4 in. The knockdown bench: 1-1/2 in, the thickness of a 2x. One build to Maguire's pattern used 1-3/4 in stock, a secondhand report.

The 51 mm maximum is a convenience limit of ours; no source gives one.

The sheet starts at: 38 mm
It allows: 25 mm to 51 mm
The source gives: Ellis, 1 in (25 mm) [3]

Clipped corners

Both of Schwarz's benches clip the lower corners 4 in by 4 in at 45 degrees. A bench to Siemsen's pattern leaves them square, by one builder's report. Nothing was found in Nicholson or Ellis on the corners.

The 45 degree cut on each lower corner of the aprons. Zero leaves them square.

The sheet starts at: 102 mm
It allows: 0 mm to 102 mm
The source gives: Schwarz 2014, 4 in at 45 degrees (102 mm) [6]

The base

Leg frames · Leg width · Leg thickness · Leg rake · Legs in from the end · Lower rail above the floor · End rail width · Shelf

Leg frames

Nicholson couples each pair of legs with two rails; Ellis frames 3 by 4 in deal legs together. In both the apron is let in so it finishes flush with the leg. Schwarz's knockdown bench gets the same notch by gluing a long and a short board, and adds a top plate, a top stretcher, apron spacers (an idea he credits to Siemsen) and glue blocks so the frames locate themselves.

How the two end frames are made.

Built-up (knockdown, 2014) the sheet starts here: Each leg is two boards glued face to face, the short one making the shoulder the apron sits on. Spacers and glue blocks inside the aprons capture the frames.
Solid legs, two rails: Solid legs notched for the aprons and coupled by two rails, as Nicholson and Ellis describe.

Leg width

Nicholson: legs not less than 3-1/2 in square. Ellis: 3 by 4 in deal. The knockdown leg is a 2x6 on the face, 5-1/2 in.

The face of the leg seen from the front of the bench.

The sheet starts at: 140 mm
It allows: 89 mm to 140 mm
The source gives: Nicholson, not less than 3-1/2 in (89 mm to 140 mm) [1]

Leg thickness

The knockdown leg is two 2x boards, 3 in. Ellis gives 3 by 4 in and does not say which way round. Nicholson asks for 3-1/2 in at least. One build to Maguire's pattern used 4x4 posts, a secondhand report.

Across the bench, below the apron. Above the apron's lower edge the leg is thinner by the apron thickness.

The sheet starts at: 76 mm
It allows: 76 mm to 102 mm
The source gives: Nicholson, not less than 3-1/2 in (89 mm to 102 mm) [1]

Leg rake

The sources disagree and both forms are traditional. Nicholson's plate reads as plumb, though it is a small perspective engraving and that is a judgement; the knockdown bench is plumb. Ellis sets the legs on the rake, the better to withstand the thrust of the planing, and gives no angle. Schwarz raked his 2006 legs 20 degrees after vintage benches he had seen, and later wrote that it did not make the bench more stable in use.

Feet kicked out toward the ends of the bench. Only plumb and 20 degrees have a source.

The sheet starts at: 0°
It allows: 0° to 20°
The source gives: Nicholson's plate, plumb as it reads (0°) [1]

Legs in from the end

Nicholson's plate sets the legs in from both ends and gives no figure. On the knockdown bench it is 8 in (203 mm): the 4 in clip, a 2-1/2 in glue block and the 1-1/2 in top stretcher. Schwarz's 2006 drawing gives 22 in, but along the top, from the vise end to the inner corner of the raked leg. At his 20 degrees, with his apron and the leg drawn here, that puts the outer edge 297 mm (about 11-3/4 in) from the end at the apron's lower edge. Less than 8 in would put the leg in the clipped corner.

Bench end to the outer edge of the leg, taken at the lower edge of the apron when the legs are raked. The 560 mm maximum is ours, and so is the rule that stops the legs where 300 mm is left to each bay between the frames.

The sheet starts at: 203 mm
It allows: 203 mm to 560 mm
The source gives: Schwarz 2014, 8 in, the sum of three parts on the drawing (203 mm) [6]

Lower rail above the floor

Ellis: the bottom cross-bearers should be about 9 in above the floor. He does not say to which edge; measuring to the lower edge is our reading. The knockdown drawing does not dimension it and scales at about 4 in.

Floor to the lower edge of the bottom rail. Both limits are ours.

The sheet starts at: 229 mm
It allows: 100 mm to 300 mm
The source gives: Ellis, about 9 in (229 mm) [3]

End rail width

The knockdown bench uses a 2x6, 5-1/2 by 1-1/2 in. Neither Nicholson nor Ellis gives a rail section.

Width of the rails that join each pair of legs. They are 38 mm (1-1/2 in) thick.

The sheet starts at: 140 mm
It allows: 89 mm to 140 mm
The source gives: Schwarz 2014, a 2x6, 5-1/2 in (140 mm) [6]

D. R. Hill, after Christopher Schwarz, 2014

Shelf

Nicholson: the rails at the ends are covered with boards. Ellis has a bottom board. Neither gives a thickness or says what, if anything, lies under the boards between the rails; running them the length of the bench in one span is our reading. On the knockdown bench the shelf is optional: two boards cut from 1x10, battened together and resting loose on a lip screwed to each rail.

Boards on or between the lower end rails.

The sheet starts with this off.

Joinery

End rails to legs · Fastenings

End rails to legs

The sources disagree. Nicholson dovetails two rails into the legs and does not say what kind of dovetail. Ellis uses mortise and tenon joints, glued and wedged. Schwarz drawbored his 2006 frames, notched and screwed the knockdown ones, and later wrote that he wished he had used a full mortise and tenon there too.

The proportions of the dovetail and tenon are general joinery rules; no source gives them for this bench.

Notched and screwed the sheet starts here: Knockdown bench: the rail let its full thickness into the edge of the leg, glued and screwed.
Lapped dovetail: Nicholson: rails dovetailed into the legs. The lapped form is the usual reading of his words.
Mortise and tenon, wedged: Ellis: mortise and tenon joints, glued and wedged.
Mortise and tenon, drawbored: Schwarz, 2006: drawbored mortise and tenon.

Fastenings

Nicholson says only that the parts are fixed. Screws are the best attested: Ellis fixes the sides with screws and the top in pelleted holes, and Haydon's old bench has heavy slotted screws with the heads showing. Nails are Storb's own judgement of period practice, and he cites no period source for it; Maguire nails his top because nails flex as the boards move. The knockdown bench bolts, and Schwarz notes it would wobble if the bolts were not kept snug.

How the aprons are fixed to the legs and the top to the base.

Bolts the sheet starts here: Knockdown bench: 3/8 in cap screws into mounting plates, so the bench comes apart.
Screws: Ellis: sides fixed to the legs with screws, top screwed down in pelleted holes.
Nails: Maguire nails his plank top; Storb takes nails to be the eighteenth-century fixing.

Holding the work

Vise · Holes in the front apron · Holdfast holes in the top · Hole diameter

Vise

Nicholson's bench screw drives a jaw parallel to the side board, with a guide to stop it turning. He puts the screw behind the fore legs and the guide before the bench hook, so the two straddle the fore leg. Ellis wants the screw not less than 2-1/4 in diameter and the guide about 12 in from it at the same level. Cherubini calls Nicholson's vise simple and ineffectual. Leg vises with parallel guides are on the old benches Arnold found; they work because apron and leg are flush. Siemsen and the knockdown bench do without a vise.

Sizes of the bench screw jaw and the leg vise chop are not given for this bench by any source; the cutting list says where each figure comes from.

Crochet the sheet starts here: Knockdown bench and Siemsen: a hook on the front apron, no vise.
Bench screw: Nicholson and Ellis: a wooden screw, a jaw parallel to the apron and a guide bar.
Leg vise: On Arnold's old English benches and Schwarz's 2006 bench.
None: Siemsen: planing stop, pegs and holdfasts only.

Holes in the front apron

Nicholson: the leg and the side board are pierced with holes, so as to admit of a pin for holding up the other end at various heights. His plate shows columns of three holes with a descending diagonal run between them; he gives no spacing. Schwarz marks two rectangles on a 6 ft apron and three on an 8 ft one, with six holes equally spaced on each diagonal. The rectangle sizes are ours. Holes must miss the second layer under the top.

For pegs or holdfasts that carry the far end of a board held on edge.

Diagonals the sheet starts here: Knockdown bench: rectangles marked on the apron, six holes on the diagonal of each.
Columns and diagonals: Schwarz, 2006: columns of three every 24 in with a diagonal run between, stepping 4 in.
None

Holdfast holes in the top

Schwarz bores one row about 3 in from the back edge, every 10 to 16 in to suit the reach of the holdfast, and a second row about 6 in in front of it. The drawing leaves placement to the builder and warns that the holdfast must clear the side panel. A Gramercy holdfast needs a top 1-3/4 in thick or more, which is why a thin top wants the second layer below it.

A modern addition. Nicholson shows no holes in the top, only the planing stop.

The sheet starts with this on.

Hole diameter

The knockdown bench is bored 3/4 in for Gramercy holdfasts. Schwarz now prefers 1 in holes. No source gives a peg size other than these two.

Buy or make the holdfasts before you bore; the choice cannot be undone.

19 mm the sheet starts here: Knockdown bench; the Gramercy holdfast.
25 mm: What Schwarz now prefers.

The joints

As the sheet first draws them. The proportions follow your measures once you change one.

Apron to leg: let in flush, bolted × 4

Nicholson: the side board is fixed to the legs and made flush with them. The leg is two boards glued face to face. The inner one rises inside the apron to the underside of the top; the outer one stops under the apron's lower edge and is the shoulder the apron sits on. Flush is what lets a leg vise work and gives the whole front of the bench as a clamping face. Here it is bolted: two 3/8 in cap screws through each leg into mounting plates on its inner face, with 7/16 in clearance holes and 1 in counterbores. Schwarz notes the bench would wobble if the bolts were not kept snug. The sources count the sets differently: 15 in the article, 16 in the materials list, 14 plates and a T-nut on the drawing.

Notch: 38 mm deep, 286 mm high
Shoulder above the floor: 477 mm
Leg left behind the apron: 38 mm x 140 mm
Fixings above the floor: 687 mm and 553 mm

End rail to leg: notched, glued and screwed × 4

The rail is let its full 38 mm thickness into the end-facing edge of each leg, glued and fixed with two screws at each leg. The sources disagree on this joint. Nicholson dovetails two rails into the legs; Ellis uses mortise and tenon, glued and wedged; Schwarz drawbored his 2006 frames and notched and screwed the knockdown ones, then wrote that he wished he had used a full mortise and tenon.

Housing: 38 mm deep x 140 mm
Leg left beside it: 102 mm
Lower rail above the floor: 229 mm

Head of the end frame: top plate and top stretcher × 2

A 2x6 lies flat between the two legs under the top; the top bolts pass through it. A 2x12 stands on edge across the outside of the frame between the aprons and is screwed, without glue because the grain crosses, to the end-facing edges of the legs. Five holes in it store the holdfasts. Together they do the work of Nicholson's bearer at the fore legs.

Top plate: 420 mm x 140 mm x 38 mm
Top stretcher: 496 mm x 286 mm x 38 mm

Leg: two boards glued face to face × 4

A long and a short board glued face to face make the notch for the apron without any sawing. The short board must be the thickness of the apron for the two to finish flush. Nicholson's legs are solid, not less than 3-1/2 in square; Ellis's are 3 by 4 in deal.

Inner board: 763 mm x 140 mm x 38 mm
Outer board: 477 mm x 140 mm x 38 mm

Frame captured between spacer and glue block × 4

A 1x board is glued and screwed inside each apron between the frames; the legs butt its ends, so it sets where they go and stiffens the apron. Schwarz credits the idea to Siemsen. A block glued inside each apron end closes the other side of the pocket and leaves a gap for the leg and the top stretcher. The drawing says to check on the bench that they fit. The drawing does not print the block's thickness; it was scaled off.

Spacer: 1143 mm long, 19 mm thick
Glue block: 286 mm x 64 mm x 19 mm
Gap for leg and stretcher: 178 mm

Second layer: glued and screwed under the top × 1

Schwarz found one layer of yellow pine too springy for handwork and glued a second under it. It goes in last: after the base is together and the top flattened, a panel is cut to fill the opening between the frames exactly, then glued and screwed up from below. It also gives a holdfast enough wood to grip. Sources disagree on the result: the drawing makes the doubled top 3 in, Schwarz's book lists 2-1/4 in.

Panel: 1143 mm x 458 mm x 38 mm
Top over it: 76 mm

Top to base: bolted × 2

Nicholson does not say how the top is fixed. The underside is planed until it sits on the aprons, frames and bearers without rocking. Here it is bolted: three cap screws at each frame pass through the top and the top plate into mounting plates, the rear one 4 in from the back edge. Where the other two go is ours: the front one mirrors the rear and the third is in the middle, moved back off the joint between the planks. How the planks meet each other is also disputed: ploughed, tongued and glued (Ellis), glued edge to edge (Schwarz), or left unglued with gaps (Maguire).

Planks: 2 of 286 mm x 38 mm
Fixings at each support: 3

Planing stop in its mortise × 1

Nicholson calls it the bench hook: a square pin in a mortise through the top, so tight as to be moved up or down only by a blow of a hammer or mallet. On the knockdown bench the mortise falls in the pocket between glue block and top stretcher, which guide the stop below the thin top. The drawing puts it 2-1/4 in from the front edge; the article says 3 in or so. Schwarz gives the historic size as 3 in square; his own is 2-1/2 in.

Stop: 64 mm square x 305 mm
Mortise from the fore end: 101 mm to 165 mm
Mortise from the front edge: 57 mm to 121 mm

Crochet to the front apron × 1

The knockdown bench and Siemsen's use a crochet in place of any vise: a hook at the fore end that a board is pushed into for edge planing, and pegs or holdfasts in the apron carry the rest. It is held with two lag screws and one cap screw. The two fixings nearest the planing stop must be lag screws, since a through bolt would block the stop. The cap screw runs through the crochet and the apron to a mounting plate recessed in the inside face of the apron, as the drawing shows; Schwarz used a T-nut there. Only the overall size of the crochet is on the drawing, and where the three fixings go along it is ours.

Crochet: 314 mm x 102 mm x 57 mm

Variants

On the sheet, under “Start from”

Knockdown, 2014: Schwarz's knockdown bench as drawn by D. R. Hill: 6 ft by 22-1/2 in and 34 in high, all from 2x12s, bolted, with a crochet and no vise. The 9 in rail height is Ellis's; the drawing does not dimension it.
Nicholson, 1812: The Mechanic's Companion: 10 ft by 2 ft 6 in and 2 ft 8 in high, a 2 in plank, 3-1/2 in square legs coupled by dovetailed rails, bearers at four divisions, boards over the end rails and a bench screw. Nicholson leaves much unsaid, and the gaps are filled from others. From Ellis: the 9 by 1 in aprons, the screws, the 2 by 3 in bearers, the rails 9 in off the floor and the size of the bench screw. From the knockdown bench: the 8 in setback, the 5-1/2 by 1-1/2 in rails, the 3/4 in shelf boards and the 3/4 in holes. The spacing of the apron holes is from Schwarz's 2006 drawing. Square apron corners are our assumption; he does not mention them. Not modelled: the bracing he asks for and does not describe, the holes in the fore leg, his thinner back planks, the front plank that may run 2 ft past the others at the hind end, and the locker.
Ellis, 1902: The single shop bench of Modern Practical Joinery: 10 ft by 27 in and 28 in high, three 9 in boards in the top, 9 by 1 in sides, 3 by 4 in legs framed with wedged tenons and set on the rake, 2 by 3 in bearers, a bottom board 9 in up, everything screwed, and the wood screw and chock. Ellis gives no rake angle, leg position, rail section or number of bearers. The 20 degrees is Schwarz's; the 8 in setback, the 5-1/2 by 1-1/2 in rails and the 3/4 in bottom boards are the knockdown bench's; the four divisions are Nicholson's; and turning the 4 in face of the leg to the front is our reading. Square apron corners and an apron without holes are our assumptions. Not modelled: his two 1 in back boards, the 1/4 in overhang of the top, his folding-wedge stop (Nicholson's bench hook is drawn) and his drawer.
Schwarz, 2006: His yellow-pine English bench from the free drawing: 96 by 27 in, 35 in high as drawn (his book says 34), 12-1/4 by 1-1/4 in aprons clipped 4 in, legs raked 20 degrees, drawbored frames, a leg vise and the second layer he added later. The drawing gives 22 in along the top from the vise end to the inner corner of the leg; at this rake that sets the outer edge 297 mm in at the apron's lower edge, which is derived. The leg and rail sections could not be read from the drawing and stay at the knockdown sizes, so the feet span about 2241 mm where the drawing prints 89-9/16 in (2275 mm). The second layer is drawn 1-1/2 in thick, which makes the top 2-3/4 in where Schwarz gives about 2-3/8 in. The model draws the second layer or bearers, never both, so the drawing's bearers are left out. The fixings are not recorded, so screws are assumed. His slatted shelf, wagon vise and dog row are left out.

On record

Documented forms of the bench. The sheet does not draw all of them.

Nicholson's bench: Ten to twelve feet long, about 2 ft 6 in wide and 2 ft 8 in high, the top stepped in thickness, a wooden bench screw, and pegs in the front side board to carry long work. [1]
Ellis's shop bench: Ten to twelve feet long, 27 in wide and 28 in high, with raked legs, 9 by 1 in sides, screwed construction, a drawer and a bottom board. He also describes a double bench, 12 to 14 ft long and 36 in wide. [3]
Knockdown: Schwarz's bench of 2014, held together with 3/8 in bolts and mounting plates. He adds that it can as well be screwed together. [4][6][7]
Raked legs: Ellis, with no angle given, and Schwarz's 2006 bench at 20 degrees. [3][5]
No vise: Siemsen's bench holds work with a crochet, planing stops and holdfasts only. [11]
Split top with a planing stick: Siemsen's bench of 2008 has a top in two halves with a planing stick in the gap; he says it grew out of what Ellis wrote on the planing board. Its dimensions are in a paid plan that was not seen. [11]
Plank top, nailed and not glued: Maguire's English bench. His cut list is behind a paywall, so only what he gives away is used here. [14]
Locker: Nicholson boards in the space under the side boards before the hind legs, and reaches it by sliding part of the top board. [1]
Drawer: "All benches should be provided with a good sized lock-up drawer for the workman's tools." Ellis shows it in the front apron. No source gives its size. [3][19]
Wagon vise and a row of dogs: On Schwarz's 2006 bench. [5]

Sources cited

The bracketed numbers on this page. Each is set out in full, with what was taken from it, on the Sources page.

[1]Peter Nicholson, 1812, Joinery, sect. 2, "The Bench", pl. 12 fig. 12, pp. 87-89 (1832 edition read). The Mechanic's Companion
[2]Lost Art Press (ed.), 2014. Sect. 2. The Bench. Pl. 12. Fig. 12 (transcription of Nicholson with the plate)
[3]George Ellis, 1902, ch. III, "Workshop Appliances", pp. 27-29, figs. 91, 92, 94. Modern Practical Joinery
[4]Christopher Schwarz, 2020. The Anarchist's Workbench
[5]Christopher Schwarz, 2006, drawing Nicholson-Sheet-3-A. Download Free Plans for the English-style Workbench (with measured drawing)
[6]D. R. Hill, after Christopher Schwarz, 2014. Nicholson Knock-down Work Bench (three-sheet measured drawing)
[7]Christopher Schwarz, 2015. Knockdown English Workbench
[8]Christopher Schwarz, 2014. Materials & Tools for the Knockdown Nicholson Workbench
[9]Christopher Schwarz, 2014. Knockdown Nicholson Workbench, Day 1/2
[10]Christopher Schwarz, 2015. When the Nicholson Bench is Not a Time Saver
[11]Mike Siemsen, 2014. The Nicholson Bench for Starters...
[12]Christopher Schwarz, 2014. A Workbench Time Capsule
[13]Christopher Schwarz, 2020. Workbench Tour No. 3: The English Joiner's Workbench
[14]Core77. Yea or Nay? The Plank-Topped English-Style Workbench
[15]Richard Maguire. The English Workbench (chapter summaries)
[16]"nabs", 2017. English Workbench Build (UK Workshop thread and The Small Workshop blog)
[17]Paul Sellers. Workbench FAQs
[18]Wesley Works With Wood, 2016. My Naked Woodworker Bench
[19]G. S. Haydon & Son. English Workbench
[20]Christopher Storb. A New Bench for Germantown
[21]Tools for Working Wood. Gramercy Tools holdfast (product page)
[22]Adam Cherubini, 2008. Nicholson Bench (Arts & Mysteries)
[23]William Fairham, c. 1920. Woodwork Joints
[24]Christopher Schwarz, 2005. Drawboring Resurrected
[25]Christopher Schwarz. Tenons Rule, So Here Are the Rules on Tenons
[26]A.-J. Roubo, 1769, text to pl. 11. L'Art du menuisier