Rethink Everything You Know About Workbenches

I used to think workbenches needed to look like this or this or even this but since building my current workbench I'm having second thoughts I implemented one simple strategy to keep it from wobbling and I haven't seen this workbench on YouTube yet because I'm in a smaller space I need to build my shop fiture accordingly it may look a little bigger in the video but I'm in a onecar garage Workshop and I feel very fortunate for the space that I do have because I know a lot of people are in smaller spaces than me but anytime I build something like this workbench I need it to be space efficient and practical and I want it to look good because I'm in this shop a lot I need this tabletop to be light and you'll see why in a few minutes so I'm not just gluing two pieces of 3/4 in plywood together I'm actually cutting 3in strips and gluing them to the underside of the tabletop to give this some much needed rigidity and also keep it light this will also create more surface area to attach the hardwood border to the edges of this tabletop and that is really important because I will be able to then attach the tabletop latches connecting the top to the legs Okay so why am I making what looks like two tabletop pieces well I'm glad you asked I will be connecting these two tabletop pieces using hinges and that will allow me to fold this workbench up when I'm not using it putting it out of the way and allowing it to only take up 9 and 1/2 in of space away from the wall allowing me to have you guessed it a lot more room for activities that is how the tabletop top will fold up but in a few minutes you'll see how the legs will fold in to make this folding workbench possible for the tabletop border I'm using white oak because it's what I had on hand and this is 44 White Oak which is actually closer to 3/4 of an inch and I'm just attaching it to the edges using glue and clamps because I don't have long enough clamps I'm doubling up and even tripling up clamps to get the length I need to attach this tabletop border I'm doing this to this large tabletop piece and also to the smaller tabletop piece and now on to the legs I know this is probably Overkill but because I have a planer I ran all the 2x4s through it which I'm going to be using for the legs because it makes the wood look a lot nicer and makes it so I don't really have to sand the leg construction I'm using on this which is actually the same leg construction I used on the first folding workbench I made is really easy but also makes for a really sturdy leg structure I'm essentially gluing two 2x4s together leaving space for an upper support piece and a lower support piece which will make these legs really strong I'm cutting a notch in this lower piece which is where a long stretcher will go and that's one way to keep this workbench from wobbling but it's not the main way I've created detailed written stepbystep plans for this build and to go along with that there's a 30 minute instructional video so if you want to build this you can build it alongside watching me build it in the video there will be a link in the description to the these plans or you can just go to Thomas custom Woodworks docomo for the plans that I create is to make them accessible to everyone so even a beginner can follow them and build the project no problem there'll be a materials list a tools and accessories list cut list and diagrams with every measurement that you'll need so you can ensure that the build will be a success even though glue would probably be enough to decrease the dry time and to make sure that these leg structures will stay together for years and years to come I'm reinforcing a lot of the glue joints with screws and then hiding them with dowels I'm just not a huge fan of exposed screws in most cases so I reset the screws and I'm hiding them with oak dowels because I think that will be a nice contrast another way you could reinforce these glue joints is to skip the screws and just use dowels but I use screws cuz to me it's just a little simpler okay it's pocket hole time I don't use pocket holes a ton but they're going to work well for this workbench and I'm reinforcing it with glue so that they can be really strong over the next few minutes you'll be seeing the other folding workbench that I built that mounts onto the wall in the background of this video and you may be wondering why I'm making another folding workbench I'll answer that question in a minute but first I want to tell you what the one simple strategy is that will keep this workbench from wobbling it is adding a diagonal cross brace to this workbench base this does a much better job than a horizontal brace of keeping everything stable and honestly I'm not sure why but I've tried both and this works much better if you know why this works much better please share it in the comments now to make this folding workbench fold I'm going to be attaching the legs to the base using hinges and these are the same hinges that I'll be using for the tabletop to make that fold okay so why am I building another folding workbench well the first reason is the first folding workbench I built was a little big for my space the tabletop was 76 in x 36 in and this one will be a little smaller the second reason is I got a lot of feedback from people saying they did not like how much valuable wall space the first folding workbench I built took up and this workbench will take up less wall space but in my opinion less valuable wall space I'm marking exactly where these tabletop hinges will go because I'm going to use my router and a straight cut bit to recess these hinges into the tabletop if I skipped this step the hinges would get in the way of the legs when I fold them in using original gorilla polyurethane glue and screws to attach the hinges to the tabletop pieces and using both Gorilla Glue and screws will ensure that these hinges will not loosen over time now remember when I said I did not like the look of exposed screws so I cover them with dowels well in this case attaching the small tabletop piece I did not cover the screws with dowels but I have a very good reason for that I didn't feel like it moving on attaching the large tabletop piece to what I've already built was really really easy all I did was use the gorilla glue and screws and then this tabletop should fold up perfectly right so the big tabletop piece is resting a little slanted and it's because the edges are hitting each other I think it's because I had to recess the hinges so much and I want this to rest straight down but I think it's going to be an easy fix I'm just going to chamfer the edges that are hitting each other on the small tabletop piece and the large tabletop piece and that should fix the issue and that did fix the issue but when I was literally completely done with this workbench another problem arose that I had to deal with but for now let's just enjoy the fact that this workbench can now fold easily and works perfectly I personally like to put finish on my workshop Furniture I know some people do some people don't but I really like like the way it looks and it protects it a little bit from liquids I've had a few people ask me what these latches are called and they're called toggle latches or toggle clamps although these latches do help keep the legs and the tabletop connected I do not trust them on their own so I'm adding this lower stretcher and I even technically use a hand tool to complete this next step though I don't think Shannon Rogers has to worry about me starting a competing hand tool school I was utterly exhausted from using that hand tool so I did the other side with the jigsaw okay at this point I want you you to try and feel what I'm feeling I'm so elated and excited that I finally finished this workbench only to discover that it will not fold up properly and at this point initially I do not know why it was actually a really simple fix the latches were getting in the way of the tabletop so I just needed to cut two recesses in the tabletop [Music] tradition is great tradition connects the past to the present and there's also room for new things for creativity and Innovation and I don't consider myself an innovator but I do like to create and I think everybody has the ability to be creative there's room for everyone at the table and if I could leave you with two things it would be to be kind and be [Music] awesome

Channel: Thomas Custom Woodworks

Views: 265,831

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Id: 3CoNfsMI31w

Length: 12min 15sec (735 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 14 2023