Shopsmith Forums

Hi Guys,

I made a simple workbench with recycled materials and left overs. I bought 3 used base cabinets all for $35, and the top for $10 at a local thrift store. (The top is a commercial, solid core door 1 3/4" thick). I put pegboard around 3 sides to hang clamps, etc. The pegboard cost me $16. I used some leftover plywood for the base and 2 X 4's scraps left over from another project. i used my Shopsmith to cut the pegboard, plywood and 2 X 4's and my circular saw to cut the top. Some white paint and 3 coats of poly urethane on the top and I had my workbench. Not as fancy as the solid maple workbench I just viewed on this site, but it is sturdy and cheap. For you newbies out there is was simple and fun. I found an 8" vice on Amazon on sale for $35, and will mount that next week. So for around $100 I have my first workbench! :-)

Nice looking unit.

Congratulations.

John

That looks nice!

Very nice job there. And cheap does not mean not useful congratulations

From the pictures, looks like you are progressing along quite well. My first workbench was also made using a kitchen cabinet which was put out for a trash pickup and I purchased a counter top on sale and added a vice. Served me well for many years. These days I am using one I purchased at Woodcraft during a sale many years ago. What ever works and gets the job done will do.

Nicely Done! I have a " Bench" made out of a recycled stuff. The frame is part of a training table from our old school training room. The top is made from the box from an old water bed. (2X 8s) If I need a bigger surface for assembly, I have a hollow core interior door salvaged from an old house that fits on top. Just saying, you have done pretty much what I did, only a lot prettier! Thanks for sharing. ( Might use your model for inspiration and do a better one for me.)

Good plan, Jon! Your bench should hold up for a long time. One of my benches has the same base. It is solid as a rock! Difference is the top, which I made from 3 sheets of MDF. The 3 sheets allowed me to make an expanding top rack that will hold sheets of plywood, for further breakdown.

jon wrote:Hi Guys,

I made a simple workbench with recycled materials and left overs. I bought 3 used base cabinets all for $35, and the top for $10 at a local thrift store. (The top is a commercial, solid core door 1 3/4" thick). I put pegboard around 3 sides to hang clamps, etc. The pegboard cost me $16. I used some leftover plywood for the base and 2 X 4's scraps left over from another project. i used my Shopsmith to cut the pegboard, plywood and 2 X 4's and my circular saw to cut the top. Some white paint and 3 coats of poly urethane on the top and I had my workbench. Not as fancy as the solid maple workbench I just viewed on this site, but it is sturdy and cheap. For you newbies out there is was simple and fun. I found an 8" vice on Amazon on sale for $35, and will mount that next week. So for around $100 I have my first workbench! :-)

Good looking unit. Now the fun part. Getting it dirty.

There is a feature that I like on a bench that is normally only ever on a bench by accident. That is a place to occasionally put one foot up for a shift of balance much like the old brass bar-rails. No, I haven't spent a lot of my time hanging on bars.
On the old shoe finishing machines used for decades in shoe factories and shoe repair shops the end frames were heavy cast iron and the horizontal members were steel pipe which were clamped into place. A concept not much distant from the SS bench tubes. There were 4 tubes (hey, like Shopsmith again). The upper two were maybe 30" or so off of the floor and the Lower tubes were about 6" off of the floor. The tube lengths ran about 10' long or longer on many of the older units. When my father left the shoe trade around 1941 he had accumulated several of the very heavy old beast and he used them as parts for all manner of things from home-made farm machinery to building several workbenches. The mechanics bench that I grew up using, and still use, was built from one of those heavy frames. I have spent about forever working at that bench and have propped one foot or the other up on that bottom pipe while working maybe 10,000 times. Maybe more.
Then when I sat up a shoe repair business myself back in the mid 1970's I used one of those old finishers (actually several different ones but all that style) and spent 20 years working at that machine while propping one foot or the other up on that lower pipe while I worked. Doing so really helps limit backaches and fatigue. Just start watching horses They almost never stand on 4 legs... Even sleeping they almost always take the weight off of one leg or the other changing now and then.
When I built my current woodworking bench back in the late 1970's I made sure it had a strong lower shelf about 6" above the floor where I could rest a foot. I'm not sure I could ever enjoy working at a bench where I could not put a foot up... Here is a pic showing the castings and pipes frame.
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Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the kind words, and great ideas. I like "cruising" this website because I learn a lot from all of you. Now if only I had more time. . .

By the way, I showed my wife the workbench and now she has some ideas for me too! Guess who will get priority on my time and projects?????