Black and Decker Workmate - still with dangerously sharp edges?

[The Medway Handyman]

One of these?

[Matty F]

can be removed so the platform can be used like a saw horse with nothing sticking up.e.g.to put a door on.

[jgharston]

Have they never heard of the principle of levers? I'd be scared putting any force on the edge of one of those with it essentially balanced on a pivot.

JGH

[The Medway Handyman]

????

The thing is built like a brick sh*thouse. Its rated at 200kg!

[MM]

A cast alloy Workmate? Never heard of one. Are you sure it's a Black & D ecker?

[Adrian]

In message [e-mail], MM <kylix [e-mail]> writes

The original Workmate had cast alloy frames. B&D bought them out.

Adrian

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Still got my original with cast ally frame. Although earlier ones had even more cast ally.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's a mixture of plain ally and blue painted steel. First ones were all ally coloured.

[charles]

and they had decent ply tops. I've still got mine - I hope.

[Tricky Dicky]

The B&D workmate is certainly not an item that has improved over time. Compared to my original one the present one is a lot flimsier and full of sharp edges, I only use it these days in desperation.

Richard

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The original was pretty expensive. Current ones pretty cheap.

[Tim+]

It took you nine years to spot that reply to your post in 2011?

Tim

[michael adams]

[michael adams]

[charles]

That's my version. I've even got some extension arms to hold bigger things like doors. But I didn't reaise it was B&D then. I'm not sure their name was on it.

[michael adams]

[michael adams]

Having just checked on mine. When its upright, "Workmate" is on the front of the front frame and is what you see immediately. Looking through to the back frame that has "Black and Decker" on it. And that's the same from both directions. So both frames have "Workmate" on the outside, and "Black and Decker" on the inside. On mine anyway. I'm not sure of the position when it's folded.

michael adams

...

[charles]

Just looked. Mine is the same, but I've never noticed the B&D name before, just seen "Workmate".

[mechanic]

So have I, but one of the feet got lost during a move and I've been unable to find a replacement - usual eBay sources no use. Resting on a handy offcut of approx the right thickness is so diy!

[alan_m]

The originals were cast iron - I have one. It was only later that the legs became angle iron.