Congrats on the weight loss, you can really see it! But besides that, I'd trust you to build anything for me and I wouldn't be worrying about it's strength. You've proven over and over again you know what you're doing. Keep up the good work!
Long time followers or people with experience knew from the build video it will be fine. Still the explanation was very well done. And last but not least I loved the balancing thing with the water and board at 23:25 . Well done.🙌
Thanks for educating everyone on your plans and thoughts about this great bench. So greatful for all your methodology explanations and inside your mind. Please make more custom jigs and tools for us to envy.
20 years of being an engineer and I'd never heard of stiction. Learning every day! I have a very similar bench, installed prior to my living in my home, that I doubted, but now I understand why it works and a little more on how it works. Thanks!!!
We design a ton of overhanging things in commercial buildings. It's amazing how often people will jump, bang and pull on things so to say "I told you so." I hide a lot of steel inside most of our stuff, so it's funny to see folks fail miserably at their attempts to be the "smart guy." Your bench is VERY well put together.
Thanks for the thoughtful explanation of how all the parts work together. I was skeptical about the cantilevered design, but I can see how the depth of the seat reduces the potential force of leverage. The greatest load will normally be applied closer to the back of the seat (especially once a table is in place), which also helps.
I’ve watched your videos long enough to know that your designs are very thoughtfully made and your construction is meticulous. It never crossed my mind that your seat would fail.
Wood is way stronger than people think. A good display is a video of sawhorses that were loaded with over 20,000 pounds of stuff and didn’t started to budge yet. I show that to people who think wood is weak. Of course, you need to know how to use wood, exactly like you pointed out. Thanks for your content.
I suppose some people think that wood is weak, but that's not the issue here. The thing about a sawhorse is that the wood is in compression, so the simple strength of the wood fibers oriented along the direction of the load is quite strong. The thing being questioned here is not about the strength of the wood itself. No one is questioning whether the 3/4" plywood is going to crack, it's a question of whether the glue and screw connections at the right angle will fail when the load is applied at the end of the lever arm (e.g. someone sits on the edge of the bench). I suppose the other question is whether the glue and screw attachment to the studs will hold up if enough load is placed on the bench. If it were to fail in this way, the thing that would fail is the wood around a woodscrew which is totally different than what is being tested with saw horses under load. For something more similar, how much load would it take to pull the legs of a sawhorse apart before it fail at the joints that hold it together? Thats for sure way less than 20,000 pounds. For my part, I also am suspicious of the longevity of this sort of construction. The fact that you can see the bench move when his artwork fell on it (in the other video) tells me that there is flex in the joint and I would assume that over time that flex will result in sagging. Even if the bench doesn't catastrophically fail and rip down the dry wall, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd want to build in a rental house or when there are kids around... but that's just me, I have no data to doubt the design... but 315 lbs sitting still seated properly on the bench doesn't = "it's strong enough" in my book. At a minimum, what if two 314lb friends sat next to each other (or 3 regular sized adults sat side-by-side? What if one of them sat down hastily and hard near the edge of the bench? Maybe this thing is indestructible, but I'm still skeptical and wouldn't put it in my house.... but then again, that's not the point. John put it in his house and I think it's a cool idea and a nice project.
When I first saw the build video, I was surprised this wasn't a French Cleat design, but I understand the idea of building it in place and attaching the supports directly to the studs. The cantilevered nature of the build is definitely very strong. The only worry I would have is that the lever arm created by the seat could eventually weaken the screw and glue join and the pressure on the dry wall at the very bottom of the bench where it hits the wall could eventually degrade and start to punch in. I think the only real risk would be a slow sagging of the bench where it sags first 1/2" when you sit down and eventually it's 1-2" or something.
In class we always called it static friction but what ever you call it’s your very correct the compression provided by the screws provides a lot if static friction. I would have figured the week spot is where the screws are attaching the ribs to the backbone you screwed to the wall. getting a dial indicator on the bench as you load it up would be so interesting to see the defection amount.
I have always said your a Mechanical Engineer that just happens to be into woodworking. Your design process and building is a BIG FAT Step Above!!!!!!!!!! Comment coming from an actual Mechanical Engineer that designs and builds all his designs. You really are fantastic and a GREAT INSPIRATION to all of us. THANK YOU AND KEEP IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John, I never had a doubt this this setup would be just fine. I have built some floating shelves so I know how it works. Besides, you built it! You know your craft so I never doubted it.
I build my 6' x 4' cnc table as a torsion box following your own build John and it's so remarkably strong, yet light too. All 1/2" ply so it's not going anywhere. There should be John Heisz lessons in every woodshop.
Analysis of strength, how we estimate strength and the difference between actual experience and watching videos. A much-much needed message. And idea for a video no one has done: The topic of TREADS WITH NO FACE NAILS. No one I know could address it better than you, John. The payoff is no face nails and holes to fill in gorgeous, expensive hardwood treads. Even the mfg.’s of the adhesives stipulate the use fasteners, but some say “we don’t tell pros how to use our products”. They then say, they do know of pros who skip the nails, but stop short of advising me to do so.
Excellent detailed explanation of your design and engineering structure. There is no doubt, you designed, plenty of thought and brain storming in the project before executing the build. 👍’s up to you sir......
I never doubt your building expertise, but I always doubt how strong wood is, and my confidence to take advantage of the strength of the wood. This was an awesome build. And it really does show how strong wood is, and how some know out can take advantage of that. Great video, and great follow-up video.
The experience part is so important. This year I built a loft bed for my children. It is my biggest project so far. I have built some other smaller things before, I know how to operate the tools and stuff, but this project really required me to think about the dimensioning of the whole thing. I went back and forth, designed everything in sketch up, went to the home center, came back whithout having bought anything, redesigned and so on. After all building it took just a couple of days and it is probably still overdimensioned, but who knows what happens up there in a couple of years ;) Thanks for your content. It really helps us beginners. Greetings from Berlin, Germany!
Cars, planes, boats, houses, buildings and bridges, just to mention a few, were built of wood and many other heavy structures as well. Well said mate !!
I think the fact that this is in a corner is easy to forget but it adds a tremendous amount of bracing/resistance to twisting, even support to reduce the leverage on the walls
I checked your website and I couldn't find a plan. I'm a complete beginner and would like to have a cut list. Is there any possibility you'll put more details up somewhere or in a video ?
Very informative design walkthrough. Question: does the inside corner add strength? Maybe u covered that. This design seems to apply to floating desks too? Based on the length of your bench, how far do u span the struts? How is that calculated?
Well done. I hope anyone who made comments about not having any faith in the strength of the bench watched this video too. You explained it all very well so that (I would hope) anyone could understand it. BTW, that final shot of you with all of that water piled up on you is well in excess of 300 lbs. by my calculations. Something like 312 if you're right at 190.
Looks fine to me. I have my massive workbench holding hundreds of pounds of stuff and it's cantilevered off the wall with no issues. And I can stand up on it and walk around on it at the same time. If people knew how little structure there was in airplanes they would never fly... And yes the floor in the plane does flex and bend as you are walking down the aisle it's not squishy carpet... I got a number of those it isn't strong enough comments about my rotisserie but most people don't have enough experience for what structure is enough as few people have enough experience building stuff to know what works and what doesn't.
The construction itself es strong enough, no doubt about it! I don´t have any experience working with plywood, only with ´normal´ wood, so I had probably used some steel. Would not have looked much different construction-wise, though.
Oh do I dare open the can of metric vs freedom units? 😂 love to see freedom unit people struggle figuring out the weight of water. 24 bottles of 500 ml, imagine a system where 1 liter is 1 kilogram. 😇 Great video as always John, nice way of showing how strong something is if it is well designed.
Too many people nay-saying the way something is built because they haven't taken any time to think about the direction of forces - or sheer/pull/compression strength. I think they would still complain even if you added force diagrams during the video 😆 But I really appreciate this video because I learned something. I never thought about shock force or gap filling advantages of construction adhesive.
John, I think I know why, but I'll ask anyway, … followed Ur channel for years , and I've learnt much from your experiences. Especially your videos on what you did to improve your house, like the plywood door, dry walling etc, amongst them were the deck you built at the back of your house. I tried to find that video again because I wanted to reference some of the techniques used there, but realise that alot of these videos have been removed. Just wanted to know your thoughts on why..
My brow furrowed when I saw 'bench COLLAPSED', and I hadn't seen the build video at that point! Now, I can easily imagine you placing a ping-pong ball on that seat and the whole thing ripping out, pulling out the studs and the wall falling BUT that's imagination! That proves that the mind is not a scientific tool. As you say, experience tempers imagination. The Victorians conquered the 'belt AND braces' technique but even with CAD, buildings still fall down. But John's bench collapsing...I don't think so!
And.... That I recall... 2 inch screws were stated to have been used... So 3\4 inch plywood and 3\4 inch drywall only leaves only about 1\2 inch into the studs.
I the the "L" shape really helps what I would think would be the fail point, screws pulling out. Prettybsure that bench will be there for the life of the house. 50 years from now, someone will be doing a remodel and decide they dont want the bench. Start tearing it down, fock! This guy used construction adhesive!!
OK, but who is that other person in the thumbnail? I knew this video had a trick to it because I watched the original construction and I knew it wasn't going to fail in normal use.
Well... IF your house was built like we do here in Brazil, which is 100% masonry, I wouldn't trust the way you built. But a wood frame house? That thing could probably resist the weight of a freaking elephant! 😬 Anyway, relax, John! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
To all the negative viewers, go look up "wall squats". Not the exact analogy he's saying, but the "'stickage" part is dead on. With your shirt on, you slip down the wall, with your shirt off, you stick to the wall like glue.
No way this video is real. I watched your leg bump that invisible foot holding the corner up. You can’t believe anything online these days. My lack of experience says you’re wrong.
I think that learning things from a child and observing how they work together, Are foundational to real life. I thinkall kids should learn to work with their hands at something. Experiment !!!
More importantly we need to address the excessive amount of plastic water bottles you're buying and the environmental impact caused by single use plastics. Maybe a water filter and a reusable water bottle would be better for the environment and your wallet.
so it didn't collapse? That makes the title clickbait
Admit it though....you kinda sorta wanted to see John in a cloud of drywall dust and poly adhesive shrapnel
John clickbait. Never!😂
What did the police say?
The horror the horror!
😂
Congrats on the weight loss, you can really see it! But besides that, I'd trust you to build anything for me and I wouldn't be worrying about it's strength. You've proven over and over again you know what you're doing. Keep up the good work!
For as much as I like your build videos, I really like these informational chats. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge with us.
I just love great company. Thanks for giving of yourselves. Lots to gift.
Thank you for the explanation John. It is a good learning opportunity for many.
Long time followers or people with experience knew from the build video it will be fine. Still the explanation was very well done. And last but not least I loved the balancing thing with the water and board at 23:25 . Well done.🙌
I never had a doubt, you usually know the strength of products. Another great build
Thanks for educating everyone on your plans and thoughts about this great bench. So greatful for all your methodology explanations and inside your mind. Please make more custom jigs and tools for us to envy.
20 years of being an engineer and I'd never heard of stiction. Learning every day! I have a very similar bench, installed prior to my living in my home, that I doubted, but now I understand why it works and a little more on how it works. Thanks!!!
I did think for a brief second, "Is that going to be strong enough?" and then I realized, John built it, it's probably fine
We design a ton of overhanging things in commercial buildings. It's amazing how often people will jump, bang and pull on things so to say "I told you so." I hide a lot of steel inside most of our stuff, so it's funny to see folks fail miserably at their attempts to be the "smart guy." Your bench is VERY well put together.
Thanks for the thoughtful explanation of how all the parts work together. I was skeptical about the cantilevered design, but I can see how the depth of the seat reduces the potential force of leverage. The greatest load will normally be applied closer to the back of the seat (especially once a table is in place), which also helps.
I’ve watched your videos long enough to know that your designs are very thoughtfully made and your construction is meticulous. It never crossed my mind that your seat would fail.
Wood is way stronger than people think. A good display is a video of sawhorses that were loaded with over 20,000 pounds of stuff and didn’t started to budge yet. I show that to people who think wood is weak. Of course, you need to know how to use wood, exactly like you pointed out. Thanks for your content.
I suppose some people think that wood is weak, but that's not the issue here. The thing about a sawhorse is that the wood is in compression, so the simple strength of the wood fibers oriented along the direction of the load is quite strong. The thing being questioned here is not about the strength of the wood itself. No one is questioning whether the 3/4" plywood is going to crack, it's a question of whether the glue and screw connections at the right angle will fail when the load is applied at the end of the lever arm (e.g. someone sits on the edge of the bench). I suppose the other question is whether the glue and screw attachment to the studs will hold up if enough load is placed on the bench. If it were to fail in this way, the thing that would fail is the wood around a woodscrew which is totally different than what is being tested with saw horses under load.
For something more similar, how much load would it take to pull the legs of a sawhorse apart before it fail at the joints that hold it together? Thats for sure way less than 20,000 pounds.
For my part, I also am suspicious of the longevity of this sort of construction. The fact that you can see the bench move when his artwork fell on it (in the other video) tells me that there is flex in the joint and I would assume that over time that flex will result in sagging. Even if the bench doesn't catastrophically fail and rip down the dry wall, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd want to build in a rental house or when there are kids around... but that's just me, I have no data to doubt the design... but 315 lbs sitting still seated properly on the bench doesn't = "it's strong enough" in my book. At a minimum, what if two 314lb friends sat next to each other (or 3 regular sized adults sat side-by-side? What if one of them sat down hastily and hard near the edge of the bench?
Maybe this thing is indestructible, but I'm still skeptical and wouldn't put it in my house.... but then again, that's not the point. John put it in his house and I think it's a cool idea and a nice project.
You slammed the Wandel jump test but introduced the Heinz water test. When will it stop!?
Congrats on the weight loss, John! I love your videos. Good to see a "healthier" you. Selfishly, I want you around to make videos for a long time!
When I first saw the build video, I was surprised this wasn't a French Cleat design, but I understand the idea of building it in place and attaching the supports directly to the studs. The cantilevered nature of the build is definitely very strong. The only worry I would have is that the lever arm created by the seat could eventually weaken the screw and glue join and the pressure on the dry wall at the very bottom of the bench where it hits the wall could eventually degrade and start to punch in. I think the only real risk would be a slow sagging of the bench where it sags first 1/2" when you sit down and eventually it's 1-2" or something.
In class we always called it static friction but what ever you call it’s your very correct the compression provided by the screws provides a lot if static friction. I would have figured the week spot is where the screws are attaching the ribs to the backbone you screwed to the wall. getting a dial indicator on the bench as you load it up would be so interesting to see the defection amount.
I have always said your a Mechanical Engineer that just happens to be into woodworking. Your design process and building is a BIG FAT Step Above!!!!!!!!!! Comment coming from an actual Mechanical Engineer that designs and builds all his designs. You really are fantastic and a GREAT INSPIRATION to all of us. THANK YOU AND KEEP IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John, I never had a doubt this this setup would be just fine. I have built some floating shelves so I know how it works. Besides, you built it! You know your craft so I never doubted it.
The build video was very helpful and the explanation on here was great context. Also good job on the weight loss too, you look well for it.
Thanks for the explanation!
I build my 6' x 4' cnc table as a torsion box following your own build John and it's so remarkably strong, yet light too. All 1/2" ply so it's not going anywhere. There should be John Heisz lessons in every woodshop.
Analysis of strength, how we estimate strength and the difference between actual experience and watching videos. A much-much needed message. And idea for a video no one has done: The topic of TREADS WITH NO FACE NAILS. No one I know could address it better than you, John. The payoff is no face nails and holes to fill in gorgeous, expensive hardwood treads.
Even the mfg.’s of the adhesives stipulate the use fasteners, but some say “we don’t tell pros how to use our products”. They then say, they do know of pros who skip the nails, but stop short of advising me to do so.
Excellent detailed explanation of your design and engineering structure. There is no doubt, you designed, plenty of thought and brain storming in the project before executing the build. 👍’s up to you sir......
I never doubt your building expertise, but I always doubt how strong wood is, and my confidence to take advantage of the strength of the wood. This was an awesome build. And it really does show how strong wood is, and how some know out can take advantage of that.
Great video, and great follow-up video.
I watched the video putting it together. I have no doubt of the strength. I don't think you could fit 5 people on it, but that is another story. 🤣
The experience part is so important. This year I built a loft bed for my children. It is my biggest project so far. I have built some other smaller things before, I know how to operate the tools and stuff, but this project really required me to think about the dimensioning of the whole thing. I went back and forth, designed everything in sketch up, went to the home center, came back whithout having bought anything, redesigned and so on. After all building it took just a couple of days and it is probably still overdimensioned, but who knows what happens up there in a couple of years ;)
Thanks for your content. It really helps us beginners. Greetings from Berlin, Germany!
real good video---keep them coming---very informative---thanx rick
It’s almost like you know what you are talking about John!
Cars, planes, boats, houses, buildings and bridges, just to mention a few, were built of wood and many other heavy structures as well. Well said mate !!
I think the fact that this is in a corner is easy to forget but it adds a tremendous amount of bracing/resistance to twisting, even support to reduce the leverage on the walls
Excellent lesson!
I checked your website and I couldn't find a plan. I'm a complete beginner and would like to have a cut list. Is there any possibility you'll put more details up somewhere or in a video ?
One of my pet peeves is completely overbuilt chunky woodworking stuff. You don't need 2x4s for everything!
Nice bench! Good craftsmanship
Very informative design walkthrough. Question: does the inside corner add strength? Maybe u covered that. This design seems to apply to floating desks too? Based on the length of your bench, how far do u span the struts? How is that calculated?
The "Wandel"... I think that could be the next big thing in professional wrestling.
Now I want to see one of Matt's force tests on a similar cantilevered design.
Thats the same flavoured water i drink... ohh ya, strong bench...
Sometimes it's lack of experience, but sometimes it's plain old stupidity.
Well done. I hope anyone who made comments about not having any faith in the strength of the bench watched this video too. You explained it all very well so that (I would hope) anyone could understand it. BTW, that final shot of you with all of that water piled up on you is well in excess of 300 lbs. by my calculations. Something like 312 if you're right at 190.
Interesting discussion. I'm a hobby woodworker and I'm always curious.
Nice add for Splash 🎉
You the man John.. nice build
THAT WAS GREAT, THANKS.
I'm a follower and love your work .. and I love watching your videos..
keep it up .. keep them < vidoes> coming
Never doubted your ability and build skill level.
Looks fine to me. I have my massive workbench holding hundreds of pounds of stuff and it's cantilevered off the wall with no issues. And I can stand up on it and walk around on it at the same time.
If people knew how little structure there was in airplanes they would never fly... And yes the floor in the plane does flex and bend as you are walking down the aisle it's not squishy carpet... I got a number of those it isn't strong enough comments about my rotisserie but most people don't have enough experience for what structure is enough as few people have enough experience building stuff to know what works and what doesn't.
Was about to say you're looking good mate! 👍 You get a scare from the doctor too? 😅 I'm on my way down too...
The construction itself es strong enough, no doubt about it!
I don´t have any experience working with plywood, only with ´normal´ wood, so I had probably used some steel.
Would not have looked much different construction-wise, though.
Congratulations on your weight loss!
Oh do I dare open the can of metric vs freedom units? 😂 love to see freedom unit people struggle figuring out the weight of water. 24 bottles of 500 ml, imagine a system where 1 liter is 1 kilogram. 😇 Great video as always John, nice way of showing how strong something is if it is well designed.
Too many people nay-saying the way something is built because they haven't taken any time to think about the direction of forces - or sheer/pull/compression strength. I think they would still complain even if you added force diagrams during the video 😆
But I really appreciate this video because I learned something. I never thought about shock force or gap filling advantages of construction adhesive.
How many of the people making those comments are actual engineers? NONE
John, I think I know why, but I'll ask anyway, … followed Ur channel for years , and I've learnt much from your experiences. Especially your videos on what you did to improve your house, like the plywood door, dry walling etc, amongst them were the deck you built at the back of your house. I tried to find that video again because I wanted to reference some of the techniques used there, but realise that alot of these videos have been removed. Just wanted to know your thoughts on why..
My brow furrowed when I saw 'bench COLLAPSED', and I hadn't seen the build video at that point! Now, I can easily imagine you placing a ping-pong ball on that seat and the whole thing ripping out, pulling out the studs and the wall falling BUT that's imagination! That proves that the mind is not a scientific tool. As you say, experience tempers imagination. The Victorians conquered the 'belt AND braces' technique but even with CAD, buildings still fall down. But John's bench collapsing...I don't think so!
Great lesson in mechanics.
"Wandel Jump Test" made me laugh.
Your building skills are good but what really impressed me was that you still can cross your legs. That's a skill that I'm starting to lose.
Geez, I thought screws were weak against shear contrary to nails. So that "stitching" would be what machinists call adhesion?
This video is brought to you by Splash Blast, the bottled water that won't break your bank (as in bench)!
When John loaded up with all that water, I thought here we go! But it didn't...
Just imagine, he stacked all the water on him without bubble wrap protection.
What about compression of the drywall over time? (I'm one of those people with little actual experience, haha. But I often wonder if this is a thing.)
And.... That I recall... 2 inch screws were stated to have been used... So 3\4 inch plywood and 3\4 inch drywall only leaves only about 1\2 inch into the studs.
Hahaha. You’re the best!!
I the the "L" shape really helps what I would think would be the fail point, screws pulling out. Prettybsure that bench will be there for the life of the house.
50 years from now, someone will be doing a remodel and decide they dont want the bench. Start tearing it down, fock! This guy used construction adhesive!!
In METRIC, water is exactly 1KG for 1 LITER 🙂
Wish I could sit like that, if I tried I’d be in the hospital. 😂
Haha... i got "like" 401. Single handedly put it over 400😁
😂😂😂 it's an amazing build. Always funny to prove the fact that ppl are very closed minded.
Great build! I was wondering about the strength until I got to the end of your build video. So, no questions from me...
OK, but who is that other person in the thumbnail?
I knew this video had a trick to it because I watched the original construction and I knew it wasn't going to fail in normal use.
I think that is his brother
So you drink water ? :-D
It looks really nice though !
We should’ve known 😂😂
Well... IF your house was built like we do here in Brazil, which is 100% masonry, I wouldn't trust the way you built. But a wood frame house? That thing could probably resist the weight of a freaking elephant! 😬
Anyway, relax, John! 😊
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
I tried to explain it to a few people yesterday, then I gave up because stupid is unfixable.
I’m worried everything i make is going to break. Lol
To all the negative viewers, go look up "wall squats". Not the exact analogy he's saying, but the "'stickage" part is dead on. With your shirt on, you slip down the wall, with your shirt off, you stick to the wall like glue.
Congrats on your weight loss.
I love it vids ❤❤❤
👌
They probably were not engineers making the comments. lol
FYO. One litre of water weighs one kilo.
No way this video is real. I watched your leg bump that invisible foot holding the corner up. You can’t believe anything online these days. My lack of experience says you’re wrong.
They got real world trolling hahahahahah... Screw em ur da best
Try „jump test” it will reveal the truth 😉
I think that learning things from a child and observing how they work together,
Are foundational to real life.
I thinkall kids should learn to work with their hands at something. Experiment !!!
Legs, Schmegs
The horrible difficult metric 1ltr water is 1kg
Duped again by a title.
It's kinda commonplace here though.
Lovin the click bait, 🤣 👍
Well well, a majority of us citizen are overweighted and four of you moving on the bench over passed the material resistance.....
John I think you oversold your point (24 minutes). I would have preferred a project or pro-tips video.
sometimes you get tired of letting it go. He has every right to tell people how stupid they are once in a while.
More importantly we need to address the excessive amount of plastic water bottles you're buying and the environmental impact caused by single use plastics. Maybe a water filter and a reusable water bottle would be better for the environment and your wallet.
Have had fun with your videos. But now this was too much of click bait so bye forever.