Relaxed carving with workbenches and clamping aids

It's annoying when the workpiece keeps slipping away or the carving iron no longer offers any resistance after the first blows . It then becomes difficult to achieve the desired sculptural form and carving is no fun.

Woodworking bench or sculptor's table for woodcarving?

Both the woodworking bench and the sculptor's table for woodcarving have front clamps that help when clamping workpieces. This, along with pre-milled holes in the work surface, allows you to work with bench dogs, bench hold down clamps or figure screws.

The working surface of a sculptor's table for woodcarving is much smaller than that of a woodworking bench. This makes it much easier to walk around it and work on a wooden sculpture from all sides without having to constantly turn it in order to position the carving tool correctly. The sculptor's table for woodcarving is also comparatively easy to set up in different places, although you should also make sure that your sculptor's table is as heavy as possible so that it does not shift while you are working. A woodworking bench offers you the opportunity to carry out many different types of work on it, for which a larger storage area is required, for example, or to work on several workpieces at the same time. But of course, you need a lot more space in your workshop or studio for this – and once the woodworking bench is in place, you won't want to move it so quickly.

What you decide on therefore depends entirely on what you primarily want to use the work surface for and how much space you have available. Depending on the area of application, a clamping block such as the SuperJaws can also be very helpful.

To decide on the right height for a workbench, we have the following rule of thumb: Let your arms hang loosely and then measure the distance from the floor to your wrist.

Clamping aids for wood sculpting

Bank hooks are very useful for fixing flat workpieces such as reliefs. You can use a bench hold down clamp to give smaller workpieces a firm hold. For smaller sculptures, a carver's screw is practical, which you screw into your sculpture on the base and then fasten with the front pliers of your sculptor's table for woodcarving, for example. For larger workpieces, it makes sense to install wooden strips or beams with bar clamps as stoppers, for example. For round pieces of wood, you can place a sandbag underneath. If you use a vice, make sure that the fastening does not damage the wood.

There are many ways to clamp a workpiece securely and stably. If you need any more tips, just ask us!