working off a 2x6 workbench just laid

over some sawhorses and while it does

work it's a little bit frustrating not

having a lot of surface area to work off

of so this week I took the time and

threw together a very quick but strong

assembly table slash workbench stay

tuned and I'll show you how I did it the

body of the workbench is built

completely from three sheets of plywood

and if you're interested in building

your own and I do have a set of plans

that includes a full material list and

cut list for you I started off by using

my tracks all to break down the sheets

of plywood into more manageable size

pieces of course utilizing the cut list

that I put together for the build then I

used the table saw to rip all of the

pieces down to the final dimensions I

started off by assembling the legs of

the workbench utilizing my super jaws to

hold it in place

while I was putting them together and

just about everything on the workbench

is glued and screwed together since this

is an indoor project I stuck with pipe

on original wood glue after getting the

legs built I then glued and screwed the

side panels into place this will not

only connect the two legs together but

it'll also enclose the sides giving me a

small amount of area to use a storage it

was my goal when building this workbench

not only give myself a large usable work

surface but also a place to store items

that I most frequently used while

building so the workbench will serve as

a way to store these items until I have

more time to deck out the walls of my

shop to store these items after getting

all of the bottom shelf supporting

stretchers into place I cut down a sheet

of plywood to make up the bottom shelf

and set it into place while I'm setting

that into place I want to say a big

thank you to you peer bond plywood for

sponsoring this project and supporting

what I do here bond is a hardwood

plywood that is sold at your local Home

Depot so it's readily available the best

part is is that it's very high quality

plywood but at competitive prices

so if you have a project coming up where

you'd like to use a little bit higher of

grade of plywood then definitely check

out peer bond at your local Home Depot

it's made right here in the US and they

use it for Melda highest three solution

in their manufacturing so it's even a

little bit more environmental friendly

at this point the bottom shelf is just

test fitted into place and you can see

when I stand on it that it has a little

bit of bow and give to it this is

completely taken out whenever I glue and

screw it into place after getting that

bottom shelf attached I moved up and

repeated the process for attaching the

stretchers that will support the top oh

and here you can see as I walk across it

just how much flex gluing and screwing

it down took out when I was modeling

this and Sketch up I was really thinking

that it was gonna have some rot to it

because of a long span distance however

I was shocked at just how sturdy and

unmoving it felt and the biggest

contributor to the stability is the fact

that I glued all the joints the top is

made from a full sheet of plywood which

will give me plenty of surface area to

work on the only thing on this workbench

I didn't glue is the top and that is so

I can replace it easily in the future

whenever it gets a little bit too

destroyed I went in straight from the

top and used a countersink bit to make

sure that the screw heads wouldn't be

proud of the table and get in my way

when sliding things across the top from

start to finish this only took me six

hours to build and that is with filming

slowing me down so if you're needing a

workbench then definitely don't put it

off as it's a very simple project to

complete

now I could have very well stopped here

I had the top four working on the bottom

for storing stuff on but I decided to

take a little bit more time and build a

few out ons to make it a little bit more

functional a few projects back when I

was building those outer Ron Duck chairs

I was making a mental note of all of the

things that I would have liked to have a

storage solution for readily at hand and

one of the biggest things was hardware

storage so my first out on was to cut a

few french cleats so that I could

utilize some of these hardware storage

bins that I made years ago these have

just been tucked away in the box since I

moved out of my shop in Fort Worth and

it felt great to unbox them and finally

put them to use again I'm attaching the

French cleats directly to the side of

the workbench and I already know that

tons of you will comment that these will

fill up with sawdust being out in the

open and yes much like everything else

in the wood shop they will get dusty

however I've had these bins exposed on a

rolling caddy in my previous shop and

for me the amount of sawdust that gets

inside them isn't bothersome enough to

override the convenience of having them

readily available so I still move

forward with the decision of placing

them directly out in the open on my

workbench and on that note if you'd like

to make your own bins and I do have a

free set of plans on all three sizes

that I felt before in the past

moving on to drill storage I wanted

someplace to store my drills that wasn't

all the way across the shop and I

thought about storing them under the

overhang however if a drill has a bit in

it and that won't be possible so instead

I cut in two notches directly into the

tabletop getting the idea from my

current drill holder over on my French

cleat system it was my original plan to

drill a few of these in every corner of

the top however I think I'll start with

these two and see if one I actually end

up using it and two if I even like it

something else on my workbench wishlist

what's a place to store speed squares

it's so frustrating always looking

around for where I left my speed square

so I decided to make some very simple

holders on every single corner of my

workbench

always have one within an arm's reach

these are simple holders made from

half-inch plywood better is hatch

together in an L formation and then

touch to the underside of every single

corner improve to actually work I'm

gonna try to get into the system of

using it and then immediately putting it

right back we'll see if that works

continuing with hardware storage I made

a few simple screw box holders I've made

a few of these before and I can't stress

how handy they are to have all of your

boxes of screws in one location it's

definitely worth the amount of time it

takes to make one of these holders it's

a great project to utilize some of the

scraps laying around and of course you

can attach it just about anywhere

moving on to pencil and fit storage I

didn't make anything for this one

because Rockler already has a great

solution for this called shot blocks

it's a very lightweight organizer that

you can hang on a wall pegboard or even

set directly on top of your workbench I

utilized the front bins for your bits

and Tunsil sharpeners and then the top

compartment for a pencil or even longer

bit storage next up I made a few mallet

holders even though I only have one

mallet I made two holders and place them

on opposite legs so that no matter which

side of the workbench I'm working on I

have a holder that I could throw it into

going to the other side of the workbench

I started off by drilling some holes for

some tape storage i routed through my

scrap bin and found some half inch

dowels so I drilled some half inch holes

and then stuck them directly in place

simple enough the large area on this

side was dedicated to storing my quick

clamps I cut a small blog to hold some

PVC off of the workbench just enough so

that I could slip on a spring clamp and

straddle that PVC you can see I use

pocket holes in order to secure these

two blocks to the workbench itself and

mine does droop a little bit because of

the weight of the spring clamps but the

next time I go to the store I'm going to

pick up some off red to slip into the

PVC and this will take out that little

bit of droop that the weight of the of

the clamps creates for my quick clamps I

stuck with simple and drilled a hole all

the way through the workbench so that I

can insert a dowel and have something to

hang these clamps off of I made sure to

keep the length of this dowel just

under the length of the overhang of the

workbench so that my leg wouldn't catch

it house I'm walking around the

workbench in my last shop I made a bench

cookie dispenser and I could have sworn

I threw it into a box however I couldn't

find it so I simply made another one

I grabbed some three inch PVC and cut it

to the height of the amount of bench

cookies that I have I used one of the

bench cookies to mark its height on the

PVC pipe so that I can cut in a slot at

the bottom this will give me a grab

point I can reach my hand in and pull

one out I cut a three inch circle from

some scrap wood then use type on thick

and quick to glue the wood to the PVC

and create a shelf at the bottom

utilizing my superjaws to clamp it while

that glue is setting up and then a

countersink and a few screws to attach

it to my actual workbench lid and you

can see it works by pulling out a bench

cookie at the bottom and then throwing

it back onto the top whenever I'm done

with it with that I think the size of

the workbench are as decked out as I can

get them I am NOT a fan of having

drawers in a shop however I'm also not a

fan of wasted space which is what all of

this space at the bottom of the

workbench is without drawers so next I

put my attention into making a railing

system so I could start building and

attaching drawers I'm going with a

wooden railing system and over sliders

because sliders are expensive and with

this being shop furniture plywood rails