Anyone built their own wooden workbench?

After seeing the shed post on here, thought it might be worth a stab asking on here.

I need a proper wooden workbench for my wood lathe, grinder and bench vice, so something that is easy to sweep dowm of wood shavings would be a bonus.

Been using a old wooden chest of drawers up to now! But its falling apart and is not ideal.

I have a spare day this weekend free, I would like to get my teeth into making one if I can.

looking for a bit of inspiration, advice or even pictures of your creations.

Go on, show me your wooden workbenches 😉

Kitchen countertop is brilliant stuff – you can often pick up offcuts for next to nothing…

A cheap bit of worktop and some timber for legs/bracing can be good and cheap if you can find the size you need. Mine is made from 18mm chipboard flooring but only because it was laying around doing nothing.

Have grabbed an offcut of kitch work surface. Mounted it in the corner of the shed and put a wooden leg to support the only corner not screwed to the shed walls.
Have my vice mounted on it and its plenty strong enough for my needs.
Tacked a lino offcut to the surface so its easier to clean off afterwards.

Mine is a kitchen counter, too. Was £10 from Ikea (with a chip in it, now it has a few more 🙂 ) Screwed and battoned to the wall at the back and sides and a couple of metal table legs at the front.

I used 2 sheets of laminated chipboard from what was probably an old cupboard. They are only about 1″ thick, so I doubled them up and screwed together. Mounted to corner of garage, so only 1 leg required.

I used 2 sheets of laminated chipboard from what was probably an old cupboard. They are only about 1″ thick, so I doubled them up and screwed together. Mounted to corner of garage, so only 1 leg required.

You can get more strength out of two sheets if you space then apart with a timber frame rather than join them directly together. i make 10ft long benches that way that just have a 9mm board top and bottom. it’s much more rigid for little more weight or material. I put a leg on each corner, no other struts and its strong enough to jump about on the middle.

Mount the grinder somewhere else – produces lots of nasty mess that you do not want on your lathe or wood.
Pay attention to height , – vice jaws at elbow height.

Timber – will cost a fortune unless you find the right place reclaimed or
off cut wood. Consider fence posts and damaged/reduced worktop as budget option.

Put a leg under the vice .

Fix it to the wall so it does not wobble .

Look on evilbay/freecycle and consider driving somewhere on that free day to pickup a decent bench for peanuts if lucky.

Thanks finishthat, all good points

Kitchen countertop is brilliant stuff – you can often pick up offcuts for next to nothing…

Get on your local Freecycle network – you’ll have a piece within a week and for nuffink.

Compact and bijou.

The vice is clamped to a shelf at the side but can be moved to the workbench if more space is needed. Whole assembly is mounted on a frame of 2’x2′ and is hinged so it can be stowed. Worktop itself is just a sheet of 15mm ply.

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DSC04203[/url] by stuartie_c[/url], on Flickr

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DSC04204[/url] by stuartie_c[/url], on Flickr

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DSC04205[/url] by stuartie_c[/url], on Flickr

Go to wickes, buy a firedoor, mount it on fence posts.

If you can cope with annoying Americans, this gives a decent solid structure to follow. I love pocket hole joints, but you could substitute some angle brackets or just some bits of wood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FOx3bTo3G4&list=PL02E86DF3CC0DC549&index=1&feature=plpp_video
(part one of three)

Got a solid one with foldaway legs for ease of transport between properties etc

stuartie_c – Member
Compact and bijou.

The vice is clamped to a shelf at the side but can be moved to the workbench if more space is needed. Whole assembly is mounted on a frame of 2’x2′ and is hinged so it can be stowed. Worktop itself is just a sheet of 15mm ply.

Yeah, but there’s a gap down the back I’d be forever losing screws and whatever down. Which is what happens at the moment with the bench I’ve got. Now feeling inspired to sort it out, good thread this!

Taff, what races are all the Dirt plates for?

This looks resonable

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/sip-01441-oak-wooden-work-bench-01441-p112865?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=ncpc&utm_campaign=comparison

‘Scuse the shonky mobile-phone-in-a-cellar photos. Have since moved house. Unscrewed it, put it in van, reassembled in garage. Dims are 7’x3’x2’. it’s massively overbuilt, but useful for being so heavy.

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I have one of those generic SIP benches in the link above, it cost me about
£60 a few years ago, the vices are crude but functional, it is wobbly so has to be tied to a wall, it works well enough for the money and I am happy with it. For metal work I managed to find a stainless commercial kitchen bench that was surplus from a local cafe – that is really nice with integral splash back and shelf – very solid with adjustable feet.

If you can’t find a cheap/free kitchen worktop then as said above, fire door is £30 from Wickes.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/lisburn-ply-veneer-fire-door-1981x762mm/invt/200294/

Pop to b&q and ask if they have any damaged worktops i bought a 38mm full size worktop for 10 quid and they evwn cut it to size

In the lucky position of milling our own timber at work, so 8×6″for the front edge where stuff is bolted and 8×4″ for the rest. Suitably gutsy legs as we use it for smashing apart bits of tractor and forestry kit.

I built similar to that one posted by ourmaninthe north, used 4×2″ as the main runners and legs, drilled through for the vice. Secured on top using 15/18mm marine ply. Put a lathe on 3 sides to stop anything rolling off them (so just the front), I then gave it all a coupla coats of waterproof PVA glue as a protection against damp (it’s in a dampish shed) and make it easier to remove spills.

solid enough for a bit of heft.

You want the bench top as thick as possible in one slab. If you make it hollow it will not me much good for hammering on.

I made this back at the flat mainly from the scrap pile in the local Ikea carpark:

top surface is about 6 plies of 6mm thick chipboard screwed and bonded and coated with a water based polyurethane I had spare. The back, side and about 6″ of the front edge are some aluminium extrusion that was there and has a 6mm high roll over so the top sheet was cut smaller to it all went flush. The front edge was a piece of right angle aluminium I bought from B&Q as I wanted a sturdier front edge. The frame is just some scrap wood from something I ripped out of the flat and the bottoms of the legs are painted in damp seal to stop them getting wet as the area is an old coal store.

This is what I did to the adjacent coal store:

there is also a Belfast sink (full of tools/junk in the picture) on the far side of the bench – supported on a strong frame so it is level with the bench and I use a bucket underneath.

This has stood for around 20 years now.
The top is 3/4″ marine ply with 4″x4″ legs, it’s a bit belt and braces I guess but sturdy as a sturdy thing with added sturdiness.
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Untitled[/url] by ricpic1964[/url], on Flickr
Probably cost £100 or so when I built it, money well spent.

I built This for my Shed 4×2 topped with 4×1 planks & 10mm plywood
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Pickers – thats looks great, just the thing I had in mind tbh

Ski – cheers.
The build is much the same as the one by OMITN above, except the edges are 10″x1″ with another front to back in the centre. There’s another 10″x1″ flat across the front so it’s effectively double thickness for the vice. 1/4″ thick flat around the edge stops stuff rolling off.

Thought I would show you the fininshed results after knocknig one up at the weekend.

The old workbench was no more than a cheap chest of draws thrown out by a neighbour and put back to good use by me.

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photo(2)[/url] by scotiedog[/url], on Flickr

Not ideal but it was free, a mate offered me some old studwork timber for nothing, so with some coach bolts hacked this together, legs still to be cut down to correct height.

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photo(3)[/url] by scotiedog[/url], on Flickr

Finished!

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photo(1)[/url] by scotiedog[/url], on Flickr

Thanks for all the posts btw, helped me no end working out how to build.

Nice one..!

Ron Paulk’s ultimate work bench is excellent.

bench envy… i really really want a garage/shed/spare room but siomply cannot afford it in that-there-Munich. 🙁

on the other hand there are several workshops – kitted out to a standard i can only dream of at home – i can use for free, but it’s not the same as having your own man space.