I’m looking at building myself a simple workbench in my new garage; something along these lines. It’ll be used to mount my vice, pillar drill, and bench grinder.

I don’t know anything about timber at all – I’ve built wooden stuff in the past, but always from pallets which i’ve broken up. What kind of timber do i need to be looking for, and where might i buy it from? Homebase have 8ft lengths of 3×2 for 2 quid each here. That’s plenty cheap enough, but will it be suitable?

Pallets would work or look for a timber reclamation yard.

4×2 is normal. Easy to get hold of and plenty strong enough if built right. You’ll probably get away with 2×3 but I’d at least use 2×4 for the long spans.

If you’re buying new, I wouldn’t use soft whitewood (as per Homebase link). Try somewhere like Jewson for redwood PSE, which will look a bit nicer but also tend to be more stable. For the design you’ve linked to, I’d probably opt for 18mm ply over OSB for the top because it’s a smoother finish – easier to finish, keep clean and smoother to touch.

I built my workbench from 2x4s topped with a sheet of 9mm cheap ply.

It’s been in my garage for the last 5 years but now it’s going to be altered to fit in with the new layout. The rest of the storage will be cabinets made from 18mm ply (again nothing special as, although I’d rather use birch ply, the cost in the UK is too high to justify for my hamfisted carpentry.

Seeing as you mentioned home base I’d recommend wickes for consumer friendly, go see it on a shelf and grab what you want timber at fair prices – A lot cheaper than homebase in general round my area. Jewson or a proper timber merchant will prob be cheaper but if you want to browse the shelves you might find wickes a little friendlier to the inexperienced. Wickes also have redwood PSE for a few quid more.

I second the vote for ply over OSB for the top, but you might fancy trimming the edges with timber to prevent tearing.

If the CLS you are looking at is stencilled with ‘C16’ then its strength graded – so it will be perfectly up to the job of making a workbench. If the stuff in home base isn’t marked then B&Q and Wickes will sell stuff at similar prices and handy 8ft lengths and I’m pretty sure the B&Q stuff is structurally graded.

3×2 at C16 grade will be perfectly up to the job. 4×2 is barely any more expensive and is easier to make strong corners with if you’re not a confident woodworker just because you’ve got more overlapping material to aim at.

If you’re buying new then the problem you’ll have with OSB or Ply is you’ll have to buy quite a bit more than you want as its sold in 8’x4′ sheets. If you’re close to an IKEA they sell a thinnish (32mm I think) beachblock kitchen worktop that is pretty cheap and in sizes closer to what you’d want and easier to get home in a car.

For the worktop it may be worth checking the for the B grade stuff at Ikea or local timber merchants.

Ikea is good for worktops. Mine came from the bargain bin with a chip in it. Cost £10 for a 3m length, 38mm thick so nice and solid.

I followed these plans: http://straightchuter.com/basic-workbench-design-plans/

Easy to change dimensions to suit your space although as per the plan it nicely uses a full sheet of MDF. I just added some metal/plastic adjustable feet, partly to keep it level (and it made any inaccuracy in my construction) less of an issue) and partly because the garage sometimes floods and I wanted to keep the wood off the floor. I put an extra top of hardboard over the MDF that can be changed when it gets damaged.

Have a google for local timber merchants, mine delivers free if it’s over £25 worth – Wickes will charge you £30 just in delivery for bulky stuff. Else if you want to carry it yourself, get to B&Q and have them do the main cuts for you so it carries better in the car or on a roofrack.

I wouldn’t use soft whitewood

+1

either hardwood or hardwood ply (cut stips and screw&glue together to make the legs and frame)…. (not pine ply as it’s soft and crappy).

look at either a kitchen worktop or a solid (27mm) hardwood ply/multiplex for the top.

if you use MDF as above them make sure you seal if, especially if it is sitting outside in a garage/shed. it’ll absorb water over time and pretty much disintegrate in front of your eyes.

old fence posts, 2×4 and some 18mm ply

[url=https://flic.kr/p/dZahAK]Bench #1 with base, sides and back[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

either hardwood or hardwood ply

Have you read the OP? Why on earth would you go to that expense and effort for a bench thats going to have 3 things sat on it?

“I wouldn’t use soft whitewood”

+2. Because it’s cheap crap, from fast-grown trees, and quite frankly has no place in a proper workshop. If you’re mounting power machines and a vice to a bench, you need it to be very strong, and rigid. Heavy duty hardwood is where it’s at. And anchoring is a good idea. Something like trying to get a stuck BB out by using the toll in the vice and twisting the frame, will put an awful lot of stress though the bench, so you want something that doesn’t break! My main bench uses 4×4 and 4×2 hardwood for the frame, with sealed 25mm MDF for the top. My second bench is a bit lighter, but still uses 3×3 and 3×2 for the frame, with a 42mm kitchen worktop off cut on top. That’s a bit ‘wobbly’ if you do anything boisterous on it though, so I’m going to upgrade it to a heavier frame.

You don’t need to be spending a fortune on materials; good quality kitchen worktop offcuts can be found very cheaply, and scour the skips in affluent neighbourhoods for scraps (people in such places are always having building works done), as well as any reclaimed timber yards. You don’t need to have to go anywhere near a B+Q or Wickes, Homebase etc. None of my workshop ‘furniture’ has cost me anything. I’ve got 2 approx 120×60-70cm pieces of salvaged oak block worktop sitting in my workshop, I might make a 3rd bench out of them. 🙂

I know the ‘nail it and screw it’ crew will be horrified, but I spent the time doing proper joinery on my benches. Mortice and tenon joints are much stronger than just using screws. Takes a lot longer, but does a much better job. Up to you though.

I know the ‘nail it and screw it’ crew will be horrified, but I spent the time doing proper joinery on my benches. Mortice and tenon joints are much stronger than just using screws. Takes a lot longer, but does a much better job. Up to you though.

I spend my time making things in a workshop – not making the workshop. Its there to do a job – the workbench isn’t the job.

Hardwood is stronger but that doesn’t matter is softwood is strong enough. The benefit of using hardwood (or even red pine) would be improved workability for mortice and tenon joints and so on. But if you’re not going to make those joints – and a well thought out screwed construction will be strong enough too – theres no point other – than your own entertainment.

None of my workshop ‘furniture’ has cost me anything.

… other than time. So it depends how much your time is worth.

“I spend my time making things in a workshop – not making the workshop. Its there to do a job – the workbench isn’t the job.”

Making a decent workbench is an excellent project for anyone wanting to get into making stuff. Making other workshop ‘furniture’ is also great for learning, problem solving, and having fun doing stuff. Of course, it depends what you want to do in your workshop; if it’s only fettling bikes occasionally, then you don’t need anything fancy. I do that, plus make furniture, repair stuff, and all sorts of other things.

“But if you’re not going to make those joints – and a well thought out screwed construction will be strong enough too – theres no point other – than your own entertainment.”

My main bench is much stronger than If I’d only used screws. And tbh, didn’t take much longer to make. Having seen screwed together benches fall apart, experience taught me that doing a job properly is well worth it.

Thanks all, there are some good ideas there.

I’ve just google’d for a wood reclamation yard, and there is one a few miles away; I’ll certainly go and have a look there.

I’d love to have the skills to build a bench with ‘proper’ joints et cetera, but I suspect that’ll be beyond me just now. I’ll probably just settle with screwing it together for now. I’m planning some other furniture down the line which will be assembled without fixings anyway.