It isn't easy...

[SPSlick]

...making a workbench when you don't have a workbench to make it on.

 

[Self Taught]

Hi SPSlick, so very true!, I built one about a year ago. Spent my time in the shop complaining about not having a bench, to help build a bench. Why is it, that a build, seems to require, what we are trying to build, to make building it easier.

 

[Tierney]

Yes and no, it probably depends on what tools you have and what you are trying to trying to make. Many aspects of woodworking involve some element of creativity....

You could use a door/bit of worktop on trestles.

 

[SPSlick]

Yes and no, it probably depends on what tools you have and what you are trying to trying to make. Many aspects of woodworking involve some element of creativity....

You could use a door/bit of worktop on trestles.

If only I had a door and some trestles...I could make some...on my bench when it's finished

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I still don't have a real workbench. Mines just an old pine table with vices bolted on.

 

[undergroundhunter]

I laminated my bench top first (on some cheap Stanley tressles) and then made the leg frames on that, mine is all trad no metal fixings (only on the vices). Took some juggling to do letting the top cure before I could start anything else but I got there.

Matt

 

[marcros]

I can't remember quite how I did mine but I didn't have a bench to do it on, nor a workmate at the time.

If you have not yet designed the bench, think of the construction as you do so. For example, thinking back... If you laminate the legs together from 2 pieces, you can leave a gap for the front rail and back rail. That makes the construction quite quick, and you can use a few clamps to hold the rails on before gluing.

I could probably sketch a few things out if you are not committed to a design already or have something else in mind...

 

[SPSlick]

I can't remember quite how I did mine but I didn't have a bench to do it on, nor a workmate at the time.

If you have not yet designed the bench, think of the construction as you do so. For example, thinking back... If you laminate the legs together from 2 pieces, you can leave a gap for the front rail and back rail. That makes the construction quite quick, and you can use a few clamps to hold the rails on before gluing.

I could probably sketch a few things out if you are not committed to a design already or have something else in mind...

Thanks for the offer but I'm currently waiting for the glue to dry on two sets of legs and rails before connecting those two sets together and putting the top on.

 

[SPSlick]

I laminated my bench top first (on some cheap Stanley tressles) and then made the leg frames on that, mine is all trad no metal fixings (only on the vices). Took some juggling to do letting the top cure before I could start anything else but I got there.

Matt

I'm using melamine faced chip board. Wouldn't fancy laminating it myself.

 

[bugbear]

I made a fairly substantial workbench (still my primary workbench) using a workmate.

BugBear

 

[DiscoStu]

It's not too hard to make a bench without a work bench. Although my top is 2 x 18mm MDF and I got that cut at B&Q before I had my table saw. That said I've cut plenty of boards with a straight edge and a circular saw.

 

[-Matt-]

38mm thick kitchen worktop, on 38x63 CLS with 75mmSq pallet wood. Half-lapped and screwed. (Has kitchen units under it now)

Cuts cut and put together in what amounts to a day.

 

[John Brown]

Cranes V Skyhooks

 

[Silas Gull]

It's a bit like the old chicken or the egg question.
Which still gives me sleepless nights, by the way.

If one considers the bench as an installation, rather than a functional apparatus, then the concept of building it from the ground up becomes psychologically more palatable.

As it reaches fruition, however, however the practical possibilities can begin to be salivated over, and that immense feeling of satisfaction that comes with it banishes the memory of sore knees and aching back, one can cluck triumphantly, like the primordial hen as it lays the first of many eggs. Yea, the bench, ahh the bench, behold the bench...

 

[Tim_H]

But when you finish your workbench you will have a workbench to build the next one on....

 

[SPSlick]

But when you finish your workbench you will have a workbench to build the next one on....

That's actually part of my cunning plan.

I'm building it as multifunction table, part tablesaw outfeed and part assembly table and part workbench. Eventually it will help in completing the planned workshop. I should probably do a WIP.

 

[WoodMangler]

I made a fairly substantial workbench (still my primary workbench) using a workmate.

Me too - the workmate was a wedding present from my in-laws (42 years and counting), and I still use the same bench now.

 

[whiskywill]

Cuts cut and put together in what amounts to a day.

Including plugging the hole in the leg where you had cut where you shouldn't have? #-o

 

[disco_monkey79]

Good luck with it. The aggravation is well worth the satisfaction once complete.

 

[bugbear]

Actually, making a elegant full size workbench without a full size workbench is pretty difficult.

Actually, making a sturdy full size workbench without a full size workbench is pretty easy.

(so you can make a elegant full size workbench in two steps )

BugBear