How Are Work Benches Made?

Bench Legs

• The legs are important components of any work bench because they act as the main support. Lowe’s suggests using 2-by-4 boards as the legs and doubling up the wood for extra support. Attach the pieces in an L-shape before affixing them to the top of the bench. Other designs call for thicker wood boards to offer the extra support. In some cases, the designer creates two rectangular boxes from eight pieces of wood and attaches one box to each end as the legs.

The Tabletop

• The surface of the work bench has a thick shape and design that affixes permanently to the top. A lift-off tabletop is dangerous because it lacks any stability. When you put a heavier object on the table, you risk the top moving or shifting and tipping over. Some designs feature a flat top that attaches to the top of the legs. Another design uses a box that you turn upside-down before attaching to the legs.

Additional Supports

• When making a work bench, additional supports are important. The supports typically contain pieces of wood boards, attached between two legs. The supports attach on both the longer sides and the shorter sides of the bench. Using extra pieces of wood takes some of the weight off the legs, which keeps the legs from bending or bowing. Some designs use multiple supports, such as two supports evenly spaced between the legs. The number of needed supports typically depends on the weight placed on the work bench.

Extra Storage

• Work bench designs might feature extra storage underneath the tabletop, such as a series of shelves evenly spaced from the bottom to just underneath the top of the bench. The shelves give you storage for tools and hardware. You can add metal, wood or plastic drawers to the shelves for organizing hardware and smaller tools, including nails and screws of different sizes. The extra storage adds more stability to the work bench, but does make the bench slightly heavier.