The First Project: the Work Bench

After researching woodworking for the past several months, in the beginning of December I finally moved to my new house in Texas. I epoxyed the garage floor and did my best to get mostly unpacked, but I was eager to start woodworking and wanted to get to work right away. The first project I wanted to build was the work bench. It seemed to me a good way to learn some basic skills, but because of it's inherently functional nature if I made mistakes it wouldn't be a big deal. I also needed a work bench because I didn't really have any other work area to use.

During my research, there were two bench designs that appealed to me. The first, Asa Christiana's bench from Getting Started in Woodworking, appealed to me because of the face vise and the solid construction used throughout, but routing the channels for the threaded rods seemed a bit beyond my skill level at the time. The second bench plan I liked came from the Kreg Jig YouTube Channel. I liked the 2x4 construction because it is cheaper and easier to work with than heavy pieces of wood, but I wanted more clamping options than the bench in the Kreg plan has.

In the end, I decided to build a 2x4 frame using pocket hole joinery like in the Kreg plan, but increased the bench top dimensions to 24" wide but a full 5' long. This allows for a 1' overhang on the left side of the bench, which gives me an area for clamping and also gives me the option to add a face vise later on if I decide I need one. I threw together a quick plan on a legal pad and then it was off to the store to buy some wood!

A quick sketch of my plan

At Home Depot I had my piece of 3/4" MDF cross cut at 3' and then had the remaining 4' x 5' section ripped lengthwise, so I left the store with a 3' x 5' piece that would later become my lower shelf and two 2' x 5' pieces that would get laminated into my top. I also got six 8' 2x4's. Using my friend's miter saw, I cut all of my 2x4 pieces to length and then started drilling the pocket holes for the bench frame.

I used the oversize MDF piece that would become my shelf and a couple of moving boxes to make a temporary work surface. Using a Kreg Jig, I put pocket holes in all the joints for my frame. 

I put together the two halves of my bench frame and then using wood glue and clamps, put the two pieces together nice and square and screwed everything together. I also used a combination square to make sure I had nice 90 degree angles at every joint, which made assembly much easier since everything lined up fairly well. I did deviate from my sketched plan by adding a stretcher to the top of the bench so that I would have an extra place to anchor the top to the frame. 

Frame assembled

After finishing the frame, I started laminating my two pieces of MDF for the top. The cut from Home Depot wasn't exactly center, but I still had a 24" width on the thinner piece and cleaned the top up with a circular saw once the pieces were finished laminating. 

I glued the two pieces of my top together and then clamped the four corners. I also ran some 1" screws through the bottom piece to make sure that the middle of my bench top would be pulled nice and tight while the glue was bonding. 

Next up was cutting the shelf. Using a circular saw, I made a freehand cut to remove some of the excess width of the board. Then, I clamped the piece I had just cut onto the remaining shelf so that I could use the board's factory edge as a cutting guide. My saw's blade is 5" from the left edge of the shoe, so by clamping my cutting guide at 19" I ended up with a 24" wide piece of MDF with both edges straight and very close to parallel. I used the same cutting guide to trim the shelf to length, then using a borrowed jig saw cut out the holes for the bench legs. I used a scrap piece of 2x4 to trace the dimensions of the cut onto each corner of the shelf. 

Using the factory edge of a scrap piece as a cutting guide

Making the cut outs for the bench legs with a jig saw

The next morning, I used the cutting guide I made to trim the bench top to 2' wide by 5' long. I dropped the shelf in place and screwed it to the frame from underneath. Next, I coated the top rails with wood glue, got the bench top into position, and screwed it in place to the rails. with the double thickness of 3/4" MDF, the bench top is very heavy, but not so heavy that I can't easily move the bench around with my wife's help. Because MDF is also fairly cheap, if I ever need to replace the bench top it won't be a huge investment. 

The finished project, ready to be used!

Building this bench was a rewarding experience for me. As a newcomer to woodworking, it let me get used to using power tools and experimenting on a project that isn't supposed to look pretty. There are angles that don't quite line up perfectly. There are edges that aren't perfectly flush with each other. But it doesn't matter, because it is a bench that is meant to be a tool itself, not a display piece. I still plan to add a face vise and drill dog holes at some point in the future, but for now having a great work area with plenty of clamping space is all I need to get me started on my next set of projects!