Work Benches

What do you use for a workbench? Is it a real workbench? A chunk of plywood on sawhorses? Or are they your kitchen table? I'm curious about what y'all use. Mine consist of 2 TV trays for assembly, and a folding table that holds stacks of patterns and half-completed projects.

I actually have a workbench in the shop where I do my cutting and sanding. But I don't have a dust collector in the shop so I usually do the spray or wipe on finish in the garage on the sawhorse table! But if I use acrylic paints in my project I do it upstairs in my craft room on an 8 foot folding table. But when I put a portrait in its frame I cut the backing posterboard sheet and do the final placement of the cutting on the kitchen table! I didn't realize I used so many different places to do a project until I really thought about it!

I have a spare bedroom that I use for a "Hobby Room". This includes a multitude of things I have tried and some that I have stayed with.

It is a large room with 4 large desks that I have topped with heavy one and a half inch kitchen worktops.

The 1st stands apart from the others (Which are in a U shape formation) and is home for my Computer and Computer equipment etc.

The 2nd stands under a large window and I use that for model building, sketching etc or anything that would benefit from a good natural light. This desk forms the crossbar of the U.

The 3rd forms the left of the U and containers photograhic equipment such as a lightbox, lights etc - useful for photographing small objects.

The 4th Forms the right of the U and now hold the scroll saw and scroll saw tools, blades etc.

Lots of shelving around the room provide adequate storage for needed items.

I use another smaller spare bedroom for spraying, painting, varnishing etc. Light sanding is also done here.

I also use a wooden shed for things like heavy sanding, storage etc.

A few years ago I used a small corner of the living room but once the children flew the nest I expanded a little ....

I had a new kitchen a few years back and put parts of the old one in my workshop I use MDF for the tops that way when they get chipped I can turn them over or just replace them, the stock 4ft x 2ft sheets just slip straight in, I like a clean flat surface to work on so I change them about every 3 month............Paul

My work is done in my garage and sometimes out in the driveway with an easy-up shelter for protection from the sun. I have 2 work benches which I use. The first was built about 5 years ago and it was over built beyond belief. I wanted it to be strong and used 2 layers of 1" MDF for the top and bottom shelf. It measures approx. 6" long by 3" deep. I enclosed the bottom area to provide protection for various other pieces of equipment. The other work areas base is a fooseball table which my boys used a few years ago. I made a top out of 1/4" MDF and made it up in a honeycomb type manner by creating a cavity of 4" high pieces and assembled them with a top and bottom with 1/4" MDF. It is also very strong and measures 4' by 5'. A good size for laying out my frames during assembly as well as cutting full sheets of mat board which measures 32" by 40". If I get a chance this weekend, I will take a couple of photos to share.

Ron

I built my work bench from a design on lowes. The only problem I had was how much it weighed. It not something I am able to pickup. But the weight makes it a very stable work bench. If I ever need to move it out of the shed I will have to disassemble it.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Build/Workbench.html

Pictures

I use a few different types of tables myself. A got a couple of really sturdy electronic tables from a company that was throwing them away! Also, a few fold-up tables that I bolted to the wall; they work great for my router tables & belt sanders. I also acquired a couple of square restaurant tables that were put on the sidewalk by the dumpster. One of them has wheels, so I keep my drill press on that one. One mans trash is this man's gold!

I do all my work in my small shop, unless the project is to big. I have workbenches on three sides, two of them hold my tools and the other is where I do all my work. They are all built by me. the one i use for my work station started out as a train table, but found out didn't have enough time for 2 hobbies like that, and took up to much valuable space in the small shop (10 x 12)

I have a workbench and I also use my table saw top. I also use a work mate for some heavy sanding jobs out doors with the belt sander, as my shop vac really won't contain all of that sawdust created by a belt sander.

I was fortunate enough to get some lower cabinets with doors when a business was going out of business so i can store most of my hand held tools out of the way and behind closed doors.

I have a bench made from a kit about 30 yrs ago, a 6' heavy metal table, a 6' folding table, 6' glue up table, drawing table and desk in the shop. I also use an old horizontal file cabinet that is for the router. I still don't seem to have enough table space.

I've got a homebuilt stand for my scrollsaw made from 2x4's and 3/4" plywood. Nothing fancy but it works. Building another such stand for my lathe. Then I have an old teacher's desk from a school that I have a computer on for pattern making and such. I use saw horses and plywood for most other shop activities as I'm working in a very limited space.

Barry

I use anything I can get my hands on for a table. My main work table consists of a kitchen table I saved from a family member's garbage that had been left outside to give it a warped top, a door screwed down to that for flatness, and some MDF on top of that for a clean, renewable, surface.

My paint, catchall table beside the work table is a door on top of sawhorses.

I do have several work benches littered around the shop with different tools on them.

A few weeks ago, the school threw away a 48" x 10' (feet) table that used to be in their computer lab. I saved it from the dumpster.

You got me to thinking. With all this table top area, why do I have to clear a work area every time I work on a project? Strange.

I built a 3' x 6' table from two-by-fours that was meant for doing sanding and finishing of my scroll work. But my father-in-law gave me a lathe and the bench was the prefect size for it. So now I'm back to using what little space I can find, including an old typewriter table. My wife told me to build another bench after I moved some tools into the basement.