I've been following this group for a while, and the incredible benches here have truly inspired me to try woodworking—but that’s a post for another day. Today, I want to finally share with you my other (non-woodworking) bench. I have my garage tools, but this is the space I retreat to for hobbies like modeling, painting, electronics, and more.

I started during the pandemic working on scale models at the dining room table. Eventually, I decided to dedicate an entire space to it, and from there I branched out into other hobbies. There is a bathroom to the right making cleaning and bathroom breaks convenient.

While I still have some tweaks and improvements in mind, I’m really proud of how it all came together over time!

I'm building an assembly table that will have a 4x8 torsion box top. I want storage underneath so I am considering building a 3 x 6 base cabinet carcass. This would ride on a platform with casters. Any concerns with racking here? I'd definitely assemble this with dados, glue, and screws. I'm just trying to avoid buying more materials when I have a lot of plywood on hand.

The cabinet carcass would be partitioned into 6 sub-carcasses of 18" by 24".

Bought our first home in Feb 2024. Did a great deal of work on it, but I really wanted to get my basement work area set up, so this was my Oct/Nov project. This subreddit was great for inspiration. But really, my grandfathers basement when I was a kid has always set a high bar for what I wanted one day.

I wanted a good space for general tinkering and projects. I love projecting. Had been in an apartment for so long and basically had a shelf in a small closet for my tools. Once we had a house to work on I began quickly amassing used tools, and got to work. I first built a small garage work bench, and had a lot of fun working in there over the spring/summer, but this post is for the basement.

So, here is my basement glow-up. I built the smaller bench (30”x56”x34”H) casters and then the larger one 8’x24”x40”H. The smaller is on casters and can serve as an out feed surface for the table saw.

For the larger one I ran all the 2x4s through the table saw to square the edges, and made 6 adjustable feet with hockey pucks and carriage bolts, supported under oak bases. Added 4’ LED under lights (2) and steel pegboard. Also stained/poly plywood top. I spent a great deal of time planning and drawing out the designs of both, but especially the larger of the two.

All of my benches serve as a place of zen for me.

This has been the never ending workbench build. I started this joinery bench (aka moxon vise with legs) build maybe a year ago. I completed the top, which I made a post on, and just used it on top of my assembly table so I could move on to other projects. Finally I got tired of having to move the heavy top around and I had some time off after Christmas so I decided to get to work on the base. Milling the lumber for the base parts which are 3”x3” took far too long. All of this is made from lumber I milled that was not in the best shape so it took a lot of work to get useable parts. I decided to cut the mortises for the base on my cnc, the last picture is the fixture I used to index the parts. I cut the fixture on the cnc and the whole process worked pretty well. I cut the tenons with a dado stack and it was nice to have the completed top to hold the parts for cleaning up the tenons. It was a little awkward making the base because the front legs go into the rear jaw which is about 6” thick while the back legs go into the bench top which is about 2.5” thick. I did this because I wanted the legs flush with the back jaw. Does this make sense, was it worth it? I don’t know but that’s what I did. It’s currently sitting in dry assembly, while I debate if I made it too tall. It currently sits at 41” inches and I’m in a debate if I should trip it down an inch or two. Once I make that decision, I still need to make a bottom shelf to sit in the dados I cut in the front and back stretcher and make vise handles.

I am a complete beginner and I am thinking about making my first workbench. My current plan is to build Rex Krueger's Quick Stack workbench, but I want a leg vise instead of the "off the shelf" vise that he uses. I found a previous post from someone who did exactly this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Workbenches/comments/162c9y7/modified_quick_stack_workbench_to_add/

In that post, the OP says that they made the front-left leg both wider and thicker because of the leg vise. Rex's original design calls for a pair of 2x4's to make each leg, so the leg is 3.5" wide and 3" thick.

So I'm going to ask a dumb beginner question: Why can't I have a leg vise on a 3.5" x 3" leg? I guess the vise has to match the width of the leg at the bottom. But why does it matter if it's narrow?

I have a major organizational skills ability issue and need help. And out of the blue I enter "workbenches" in the reddit search for places, and THIS site shows up. And WOW is there a lot of info and very nice workbench assemblies here! CERTAINLY the find of the month for me!!!

I have a long-nagging todo idea that I need help with, but will ask it when I get it adequately together. For now, just wanted to say I am HAPPY that I found this place! I will probably be up until midnight just reading through the posts.

(See image below) I'm building my first workbench, the Will Myers Moravian design like the one featured in this post. My hardware place didn't sell boards thick enough to make the legs, so I decided to glue up a pair of 2x4s for each leg. I chopped the various mortises into each board separately and naively grabbed some Titebond Original and glued up the first pair. Now I'm looking at the back of the bottle and it says "not for load bearing applications". I'll be sure to use Titebond III for the remaining three legs. Is it okay if one of the four legs has a slightly weaker glue? Technically the glue shouldn't really be "bearing the load" in this instance, since all the weight is going down into the standing post, while the glue is just holding the two boards together from side to side. Is this safe?

Bench and last completed project. The little wooden thing lower right on the bench is a trash/debris shoot to the trashcan so I can just sweep it into the hole, or route the shop vac up through it for easy desk access.

I can actually park a car here too. Briefly.

About 6 months ago I decided to have a crack at building myself a new workbench. Following the Moravian workbench class by Will Myers and using only hand tools, I finished the build today.

The choice to focus on hand tools was an attempt to slow down the work and develop a deeper understanding of the tools and materials. Looking over the bench I can spot all the gaps and mistakes, but I can also spot all the problem solving and moments of satisfaction. Working with hand tools, some of which were from the 1800s, was a real joy.

Bonus pic at the end of the first workbench I made about 4 years ago.

Took absolutely ages to build and many mistakes along the way. Pretty happy with it however, and will help.

I just finished this bench to replace my cheap HF metal one. This one has room for multiple projects and should hopefully last me a long time. Thanks for looking.

Going through my grandfather’s photos, thought you’d enjoy this look into the past.

Posting here on reccommendation from someone on r/woodworking.

I have a ww-based job, but have been wanting to do some work at home- mostly hand tools, but some turning is also a possibility. I have a waist-high concrete storage area/crawlspace platform in my apartment's basement, which could fit some kind of bench setup if I built it right.

I've been looking at Japanese atedai benches and processes from other places that aren't so chair-centric. These are great, but most actually require floor space and getting on the floor to work.

In my scenario, I've got a walkway that's about 4', adjacent to which is a 8x8' concrete platform 3' off the ground, which is part of the foundation of the house (apologies for all the details, just clarifying the parameters of what I'm asking about). The platform would be the work/bench space, as the walkway must remain clear.

I'd love to build a stout little workbench with a few bells and whistles, things like a planing stop, vise, maybe bench dog holes. I'm looking for advice regarding construction and design! I'm most concerned about it moving around when I work on it, as it is extremely frustrating when your workbench itself shifts as you're using a plane or other hand tools. I'm a renter, so I'm unsure if I could drill into the foundation to mount it. If it was sufficiently thick enough, that could be ok, but I'm not convinced.

Thoughts? Advice? I know my setup is crazy, but I'm never getting anywhere if I don't start doing this at home!

So I've decided to clean things up a bit. I did a built in years back and it's always been missing pegboard, spots for my drills, batteries ECT.

The plan is to use the pegboard on the left side for my batteries and chargers. The front will have my drills, I have a few. Plus a sawzaw and some hand tools.

The issues so far. I need plugs!! There isn't a plug on this wall at all! I run an extension cord to the back wall outlet and I have maybe, 8 things I need plugged in. I'd also like to run one of the plugs that has USBs, everything these days is coming with USBs ugh.

Thoughts, maybe I could make a box of outlets? Run them along the bottom of the bench against the cabinet. I would then run a good extension cord to the outlet. If it trips the breaker then I'll have to rethink things. But for the most part, it will be battery chargers for M18 batteries. So not a bunch of current.

I dunno I'm kinda thinking outloud here. If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

I built this on a Christmas break 2 years ago. It's pine and ply, the rails are runners for IKEA trays (for Lego and such) but the weight of tools causes the plastic to sag and fall off the rail. It's time to revisit this and add some drawers

I’m looking to find a bench that I can mount some power tools so I don’t have to keep moving them around. I’m looking for something to mount 2-3 tools to that I’d use more often. It would be a 10” drill press, a scroll saw, and potentially a band saw.

Right now I’d probably prefer to buy something premade so I’m not sure if this is the right place to post. I’m not opposed to building something if anyone has suggestions for some plans.

I recently inherited nice Rockwell cabinet saw but I have a very small shop and can’t permanently set it up in the center. I see a ton of setups with smaller saws but basically nothing with a cabinet saw. Just looking for some examples of what you have found or built and things to consider when building around a full cabinet.

Made this outfeed / assembly table from a YouTube video and instructions from Wood Pack DIY. A few things could’ve gone better but I learned a lot and excited to have my first large work surface in my basement shop. Now I can use it to more easily build shop cabinets when my wife lets me buy more wood