TOOL 01 — WORKBENCH

Workbench Height Planner

Find a starting bench height for the way you work.

WORKED EXAMPLE

1045 mm41 1/8 in

Bench height
Value	Measurement	Note
Elbow height (estimated)	1121 mm	44 1/8 in
Band low	1020 mm	40 1/8 in
Starting point	1045 mm	41 1/8 in
Band high	1070 mm	42 1/8 in

Joinery & assembly puts the top 100 mm to 50 mm below your elbow height. The band is a workshop rule of thumb, not a measured standard.
Mock the starting point up with a scrap board on the bench before you cut any legs.
Estimated from your overall height using a population-average ratio of 0.630 — individual proportions vary, so measure your elbow height if you can.

This is the tool's worked example, not your figures: a 1780 mm overall height, estimated elbow height, joinery and assembly work. Load it into the form with the example button, or enter your own and press the calculate button to replace it.

This planner needs JavaScript to calculate in your browser — nothing is ever sent anywhere. Without it, the method works on paper: take your elbow height (or estimate it as overall height × 0.630), add the band for your work style from the table in “How this works”, and round to the nearest 5 mm. The panel above shows the full worked example: a 1780 mm overall height, joinery and assembly work, giving a band of 1020–1070 mm with a starting point of 1045 mm.

How this works

Inputs

Either your overall height (1200–2200 mm, whole millimetres) or a measured elbow height (700–1500 mm), plus the work style the bench mostly serves. Measured mode wins when you can manage it: stand naturally in the footwear you wear at the bench, forearm horizontal, and measure from the floor to the underside of your elbow.

Method

In estimate mode the elbow height comes from the proportional body-segment model prepared by Drillis & Contini (1966)², which puts the standing elbow at a fraction of overall stature. That figure is a population average, which is why the tool labels every estimated reading as an estimate and offers the measured mode.

elbow = stature × 0.630population-average model — measured mode skips this entirely

The band then offsets that elbow height by work style. The offsets are a workshop rule of thumb, not a measured standard:

Band offsets from elbow height
Work style	Band low	Band high
Hand planing	-150 mm	-100 mm
Joinery & assembly	-100 mm	-50 mm
Power tools & light work	-50 mm	0 mm
Detail & marking	0 mm	+50 mm

low = elbow + band low · high = elbow + band high · start = (low + high) / 2

Rounding

Band low, band high and the starting point round to the nearest 5 mm (halves round away from zero). The displayed elbow height rounds to the nearest whole millimetre. The imperial secondary readings round to the nearest 1/8 inch at 25.4 mm to the inch exactly, with the fraction reduced and written with a solidus (41 1/8 in).

Limitations

The 0.630 ratio is a population-average model and individual proportions vary — measure your own elbow height if you can.
Measure in the footwear you actually work in; soles move the number.
Heavy stock-removal planing may favour the low end of its band.
Mock the height up with a scrap board on the bench before you cut any legs.
This is a planning aid, not an engineering or safety certification.

Worked example

WB-1: estimate mode, 1780 mm overall height, joinery & assembly. Elbow = 1780 × 0.630 = 1121.4 mm (displayed 1121 mm, labelled as estimated). Joinery band −100 to −50 mm gives low 1021.4 → 1020 mm (40 1/8 in), start 1046.4 → 1045 mm (41 1/8 in), high 1071.4 →1070 mm (42 1/8 in). This is the reading shown in the result panel until you calculate your own.

Sources

The elbow-height ratio is the one sourced fact on this page²; the band offsets are labelled a workshop rule of thumb and carry no source. The full reference is in the ledger below and on the sources page.

References

Sources

Ref	Reference	Used by
2	Body segment lengths expressed as a fraction of body height (Figure 4.1), after Drillis & Contini (1966) — Winter, Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement — excerpt hosted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (ME 481). https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/me481/sp2021/Anthro-Winter.pdf Accessed 2026-08-05. The excerpt states that the proportions were prepared by Drillis and Contini (1966) and "serve as a good approximation in the absence of better data, preferably measured directly from the individual" — which is why this planner offers a measured mode and labels the estimate as an average.	Workbench Height Planner (elbow-height ratio 0.630)

Ref

Reference

Used by

Body segment lengths expressed as a fraction of body height (Figure 4.1), after Drillis & Contini (1966) — Winter, Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement — excerpt hosted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (ME 481). https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/me481/sp2021/Anthro-Winter.pdf Accessed 2026-08-05.

The excerpt states that the proportions were prepared by Drillis and Contini (1966) and "serve as a good approximation in the absence of better data, preferably measured directly from the individual" — which is why this planner offers a measured mode and labels the estimate as an average.

Workbench Height Planner (elbow-height ratio 0.630)