Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

...placing a torch next to a path through the forest requires a workbench for some reason,

Other people have addressed your primary concerns, but I thought I'd mention on this one, in case you didn't already know.

You need the workbench to construct that torch, but once you've placed it, you can destroy the workbench if you want. You just need it there to do the initial construction (and to perform 'repairs' if you want to later).

It definitely is an odd choice by the developers to have it work that way though, if that's all you were saying.