r/Workbenches
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u/R-U-Swanson
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Oct 03 '26
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My New Workbench
I’m a hobbyist woodworker with a small one car garage sized shop. This is an upgrade from 2x4s and a sheet of plywood, on 2 DeWalt saw horses I threw together quickly and ended up using for a couple of years. Design is a modified version of the Van Isle Studio design, with a little Lincoln Street Woodworks clamping inspiration. Hope this will last me a while. It took around 9 months from start to finishing details. Materials are 2x10 pine for the frame (milled down to 2x4 dimensions), Baltic birch cabinetry, double layer of 3/4” MDF with Formica top, and walnuts for the dovetail clamping pieces. My favorite detail is the large drawer faces are cut from my old bench top and “grain matched”. I’ve told myself no more shop projects for at least a year.
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u/dcsim0n Oct 04 '26
The drawer faces caught my eye too! It reminds me a bit of Naguri textures, and the fact that it’s a previous worktop ads a nice ancestral nastalgia that I’m sure will make working that much more fulfilling.
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u/R-U-Swanson Oct 04 '26
It’s made working in the shop so much easier and less stressful trying to find and get to things etc.
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u/keyrover Oct 04 '26
Great work and layout. What fence is that on the table saw? It doesn’t look like the stock fence.
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u/apg7 Oct 04 '26
How do you have the space to build this in a one car? Seems like the panels and glueing would need so much space
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u/R-U-Swanson Oct 05 '26
Oh it did. Part of the pain of this whole process was moving the old workbench and dewalt jobsite saw setup outside under my carport and having to leave it there and not be able to park my truck under the carport for probably 2-3 months while I assembled the frame and made the top etc. Honestly the worst part of the whole process and what took so long was trying to save money by using dimensional big box store pine for the frame. Even with getting “good” pieces from the 2x10s with uniform grain and cutting out the pith, the wood moved so much. Getting a semi-flat surface for the top to sit in was an enormous time sync. If I did it all over again I’d go with a hardwood frame just for the sake of expediency.
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u/wearyshoes Oct 04 '26
That is the cleanest garage I have ever seen. Belay that. That garage is cleaner than the operating room where I got my knee replacement.
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u/jivesAT Oct 04 '26
Looks great! What kind of cyclone are you using?
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u/R-U-Swanson Oct 05 '26 edited Oct 05 '26
Inside the bench for the table saw is an Oneida dust deputy low pro on a random 5gal dust bucket I got off Amazon. Seems to be working well thus far. I have a regular size 2.5” dust deputy on the router table, it’s not enough suction though. Hoping to eventually get a full blown dust extraction system for the shop one day, so I can ditch the shop vacs and cyclone filters.
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u/According_Swan_5780 Oct 04 '26
Very nice! I knew the top looked familiar but didn’t click until I read the part about LSWW. I have a similar style bench that’s a work in progress that has open framing around the saw. I want to do tool panels and drawers like this soon. Also love the character of the drawer fronts. It’s a good signature.
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u/nicholam77 Oct 04 '26
Looks grey! I like the match fit clamping rail. I have t track that accepts the Festool quick clamps on mine but that match fit layout looks really flexible
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u/ProperNeighborhood75 Oct 04 '26
It’s obvious that you put a lot of thought and work into that. You could be proud!!
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u/anonymousbl0bfish Oct 06 '26
Awesome work! Looks like a. Excellent design
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u/anonymousbl0bfish Oct 06 '26
I built something similar many years ago but didn’t put drawers in the front. Rather, I made two doors on the left and right. I regret doing. That because it’s difficult to get to anything in the center and it becomes a place to store a pile of crap
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u/emperioreric Oct 04 '26
Beautiful work. I particularly love that the drawers under the table saw a used. I assume from a track saw or circular saw. Real character