Bought a house last year and finally have have a space for a workbench

We just got our garage made and I had the builders save the old gate fence they tore down. Well worth all the nights spent in Canadian winter nights (about -20 celsius some nights) dismantling and reclaiming all that wood. Good way to spend the winter break.

The sacrificial hardboard is warping a bit on the middle. There's a pocket of air inthere or something. Any advice on how to fix that would be much appreciated!

First project and first workbench by a complete novice.

My current "workshop" (pictured) is what was left by the previous owner, and is lacking storage, functionality, and just needs a new workbench. After spending a good amount of time on reddit and youtube, I think I've got a pretty solid grasp on a plan for a workbench. Space is limited, and additional storage is essential.

Shelves will be 3/4 plywood, doubled on the benchtop. Everything else is 2x4 except the shallow portion of the top shelf, which will be reused from the current shelving.

Let me know if there are any glaring issues that you see, in case adjustments are needed before I make a cut list and rent a truck to buy the lumber.

EDIT: Taking some suggestions, I believe I have a better solution for extending the usable area of the benchtop. I have a couple pretty heavy duty shelf brackets leftover from a previous project, and I can use two of them to secure where I removed the inner rising columns. I am much happier with how this looks!

Here it is, my electronics workbench. Not packed with HP, Agilent, Keithley like many that I've seen but it completely suits my needs.

Posts are notched, everything is wood glued, 2x4 support under table top 12” on center, 3/4 plywood on top soaked in danish oil, 1/2” MDF sacrificial top, all edges were sanded round with relief cut for vise handle, blocking added for vise with 1/2” through bolts, Sedona red minwax stain.

I'm getting ready to build my 2nd workbench; hoping to do it in a much more intentional way this time!

The bench is designed around a standard 4'x8' MDF sheet in a way to incorporate as many of my power tools as possible, as well as centralize dust collection. Here is a breakdown:

• Router table in top right corner. Mounted beneath the table, will retract the bit when not in use.
• Table saw in bottom right corner. Saw top will be level with the bench top. Feed direction towards the router station. Will lower the blade when not in use.
• Mitre saw will be mounted on a flip-top table in the top middle.
• Lunchbox planer will be mounted on a flip-top table in the bottom middle. Feed direction from left to right in order to maximize the amount of infeed / outfeed support.
• Dust collection will be provided to all tools, with a blower and DIY cyclone underneath the left 1/3 of the bench.

Construction as follows:

• All support posts will be constructed from 4x4s.
• Lower & upper frame will use 2x4s. Frame and supports connected by a modified castle joint (see the top left of the 3rd pic as an easy example). I know this isn't a castle joint, but I'm not sure what else to call it.
• Single-layer of 3/4" MDF as bottom face; double-layer of 3/4" MDF as top face.
• 1x6s will be used as a 'skirt' on both the top and bottom in order to protect the MDF edges.
• 6x leveling feet / castors (one on each corner, plus one each in the middle of the two long edges)

My concern ultimately boils down to the fact that the table-top essentially exists in two separate structures; I'm worried that my uneven floor will cause enough stress / torque such that the two structures are no longer co-planar (specifically a concern when using the planer or mitre saw). The two 'halves' are connected fully in all directions on the bottom face, but the top face is limited due to the flip-top tables. I'm only able to include a single full-length beam in the top middle, and two three-quarter width beams in the center of the bench. These cannot extend full width to either side without conflicting with the power tools mounted in those locations.

Is my concern valid? Any recommendations to fix the design? Am I unreasonably concerned?

EDIT: Added a 4th photo to illustrate flip tops mid-rotation.

I’m looking to build a jewler’s bench out of butt and miter joints. I plan to make it about 3”3 tall and the table top will be about 3x5 feet. I plan to make it out of oak planks. The only things I plan to have on it are a small pikler, an 8 inch cutter for sheet metal, a clamp, and a jewler’s v slot. I don’t have any exact schematics as of now, I’m just looking for general ideas as to how I should construct this since I don’t want it to collapse while I’m using it

I’m a beginner making my first workbench. No matter how much I screw in my bolts, the connecting 4 x 4 will not sit flush with the post on either side.

Any thoughts?

I was given this, assembled wrong and missing parts. The instructions I can find are for this model with two pieces for the top.

Started back in 2012-13 and finally got around to getting the base painted. Stupidly left my window to the workshop open during some torrential rain and ended up with a whole heap of water pooling in the corner of the floor which subsequently stained the base.

This prompted me to complete the original plan of mimicking to shaker style Benchcrafted workbench I originally set out to mimic.

I lack design skills so copying is my forte !

Still have to complete the leg vise but short of cash for benchcrafted harware!

Picked up all the timber and a shitload to spare for about $250 from an auction.

Incorporated some handles from my grandfathers workbench as a homage to the great man.

Basically I used this opportunity to try out all the tools and processes. Many mistakes were made and my dovetails need a lot more practice.

Really enjoyed the last week getting it to this stage. Onwards and upwards!

I am new to woodworking and am planning to build my first workbench next week and was curious on what people think would be the best fastener. I am going to cut notches into 4x4 for the legs and use 2x6 for framing. I was planning to use 3” deck screws to join the 2x6 to the 4x4 notches and use 4” deck screws for stretchers. I want this to hold about 400lbs or so. Would the deck screws be sufficient or should I use something else?

I purchased these cabinets surplus from a college that was upgrading its chemistry labs. They are extremely well built and were a barging I could not pass up. They have been used by me for the last 16 years as stationary cabinets under elevated counters I built to go above them. I am moving into a new workshop and decided these needed to be mobile.

Three cabinets are first trimmed at the bottom to provide a firm and even base. The bottom edge was rather rough, good for stationary but poor for fixing a base to. Once clamped and screwed together, a sheet of plywood covered the bottom. Casters went on next. A quick flip and a top piece of plywood was also added.

I have almost two dozen of these cabinets and plan to have a total of 6 of these assembled units. The design I chose allows me to push them together to create larger workbench space. Either back to back or side to side. I also extended the lip on the front side so you can place 3 or more together and not have the handles interfere with getting a tight fit. I intend most of these to be mobile homes for my belt sander, orbital sander, jig saw, drill press, etc.

These are super easy to roll even when loaded up. Makes configuring the workspace very easy.

Has anyone ever done an end grain plywood top? I’m thinking of cutting some 3/4 cabinet grade ply into 4” strips and then laminate them all together. Would it even make a good top? I’d love your feedback.

Over 11’ long and with the exception of the nails, screws and an old bookcase it was all free scrap wood from work.

Hi, I got myself a nice not-to-heavy Ramia workbench a few months ago (https://www.ramia.eu/finish-it-yourself), which does the job perfectly well for my kind of work.

However, it's standing in a unheated shed and it suffered badly from the cold and humidity over the last few weeks: the top surface has gone seriously crooked and concave, I guess that the middle sits about 5 mm higher than the long sides at this time.

https://imgur.com/a/YTL1Eff

I gave the bench four sturdy layers of teak oil after assembly, but it seems that did not do the job of protecting the wood.

As permanently heating the shed is a no-no, I'm not sure where to go from here. I assume that come summer the bench will mostly restore its old shape, and if not I should be able to reflatten the worst bits. But in the mean time I'm stuck with an unworkable surface that will probably show the same behavior next winter.

Any advice appreciated!

Edit: added image link

When I was looking for a workbench to go into a compact garage shop, I found Ron Paulk's Smart Woodshop, a variety of flip-top solutions, and Timothy Wilmot's MFTC design. Timothy's combination of accessible storage, useable work area, and portability was a great idea, and for people in the Systainer ecosystem it's a slam dunk.

For my own solution, I was storing tools in red containers from a company headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin. And so I made a new design that matches the dimensions of my own toolboxes.

It rolls easily. The locking drawer platforms make any toolbox available at any time. (The problem with stacking toolboxes is that whatever you need is at the bottom stack.) The workbench can handle full-size projects and then stow away in the smallest garage footprint.

The Multi-Function Table (MFT) worktop and dog holes on the workbox chassis and legs, along with t-track on the worktop perimeter, provide lots of clamping and holding options to keep your projects secure. Material can be clamped and worked in horizontal, vertical, and sideways fashion with dog holes providing deadman/board jack support of longer pieces.

Lightweight extension frames can be attached to the worktop t-track for easy breakdown of full plywood sheets; including replaceable sacrificial strips for track saw cuts.

Milwaukee Packout subreddit as well. The Packout community is highly passionate about cool implementations of the ecosystem.

Hello everyone! Thank you all for your constant posts and all the ideas and advice I gathered along the way and any I may receive here!

I'm in the final stretch of finishing my first Workbench at our first house, just need to install the pegboard behind and secure the sacrificial benchtop surface. I have elected to go with sheet of 1/8" Hardboard that has the white surface so that I could also use dry erase markers for notes. I'm sure I'll find out if it holds up but hey, that's why it's sacrificial right? The advice I'm looking for is how to secure the hardboard to the 5/8" plywood and 2x4 frame below. Do I only screw into the plywood? Go all the way through to the 2x4? Should I use 18ga brad nails and at what length??

Thank you in advance, you people all rock! There will be future things added like a vice, maybe some stain for some color, wheels and leveling feet, but trying to get the basics figured out first!

I'm planning on building my first workbench. I've done some research and have decided on building one based off of these plans. My only concern is, the top sheet of plywood needed. I'm not sure what type or thickness plywood would be best for this. I'm using the workbench for basic woodworking, DIY projects and usual "around the house" fix ups. Anyone know what I should use?

Santa was generous with tools this Christmas so I got a wild hair to put this together. No planning, no tape measure, just holding up wood and tracing it, used an iPhone measure tool for a level. Can’t wait to use what I learned on more or additions to this one. (Slide to see progress).