How to Build a Custom Workbench

Just north of Bellingham in Ferndale, Washington, Ron makes a stop at the home of Melvin and Bertella Hansen, who have requested that Ron help them to build a workbench in their garage. The garage was originally built with extra space to accommodate this long awaited project. Melvin's wish list includes a tool storage area, ample workspace and a recessed area for his new miter box saw. The only concern is if his wife will ever be able to get him to come in from the garage!

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• To make sure that what Ron had in mind was exactly what Mel wanted, Ron drew a simple sketch. Ron designed the bench in three sections with the "L" in the corner and with a forth section that drops down slightly for the miter saw. Identical braces supported all the sections.

1. Cut wood:

• Ron made a list of each piece of wood they would need to cut. On the list there were many pieces that needed to be exactly the same length.

• To save time, Ron made an exact measurement for the first piece of wood and then marked that measurement from the blade and created a stop block. They positioned the wood up against this block so that each piece they cut would be identical.

• After the stop block was clamped in place, Mel and Bertella took turns with the saw.

• It only took them a few minutes to cut to length all the 2 x 4s needed to build the bases.
  

2. Cut notches:

• To make sturdy legs for these bases, they sandwiched two 2 x 4s together creating, in effect, a 4 x 4.

• Ron and Mel cut matching notches in each piece of lumber. When the too pieces were placed together, the notches formed a square hole or mortis. The bottom rail or brace would pass through this hole on both leg assemblies.

• They cut the notches by making repeated passes with the sliding compound miter saw set to cut only halfway through the 2 x 4.

3. Leg assembly:

• To assemble the legs, they glued the two halves of the legs together by applying a generous amount of wood glue on the 2 x 4s with back and forth motions.

• They set a 2 x 4 bottom rail into the notches and the matching part of the leg on top trapping the rail within the notches.

• They further secured the leg halves together with a wood screws.

• A top rail was attached with both glue and screws across the top of the legs. This assembly, consisting of two legs and a top and bottom rail, formed the end frames for the bases.

4. Bench Assembly:

• To begin assembling the bench, they connected two of the end frames together with side rails, first by clamping them into position and then by securing them with screws.

• They placed 2 x 4s across the lower rails and screwed them in on each end. These 2 x 4s laid side by side formed a handy storage shelf.

• The top of the workbench was cut from a sheet of ¾" medium density fiberboard. Ron used a clamp-on straight edge as a guide for the circular saw to cut a perfectly straight line.