Just wanted to show off my almost free workbench.

I forgot to take a pic of it after I finished, but this is the frame of it. All this wood was free. At the place where I work, we sell a lot of slurry pumps from a certain company, and almost every crate or pallet they send us is made out of pine 2x6's, 1x6's and 2x4's, and they're generally cut to exact lengths which is also very nice.



I had several 2x6's that were exactly 47" long, so I used those for the outside top frame and bottom braces, and then several more 2x6's that were around 30-ish inches (can't remember) and I used those for the legs. Ran a few 3" long wood screws along with the nails I used when I put it together, then went out and bought a $15 sheet of 1/2" plywood, cut it in half, and made a top. Just mounted a vise on it last week and it's pretty solid!

And, I still have a pile of boards left over, maybe I'll build some shelves out of them or something.

 

Looks pretty darn sturdy and you can't really beat the price.

 

They are getting ready to tear down a building where I work, and I'm getting one of the solid core doors. The door is thicker than a modern door, thick walnut veneer, and has a huge stainless steel plate on one side. Which IMO ruined the door. I'm going to put it in the garage on it's hinges and part of it's door frame. Counter balance it so I can raise it up against the wall, when not in use.

 

Another good source for shop tables, shelves, or whatever is the metal frames used to import 4 wheelers into the country. They are roughly 4 feet by 8 feet and 3 feet high. Made out of light weight square tubing and has 4 pads that the wheels set in. I picked up 5 of these for $80.00 and used them for shop tables, welding tables, etc. Good deal for the price.

 

I found out after I put the top on that it wasn't quite square...oops


Not that I was really going for precision anyway, it serves its purpose!

 

What did you use for the top?

I'm building a bench with free 2x4's and 2x6's. I've looked at 3/4" plywood and MDF, but I'm not sure which would be better, or maybe something else I haven't thought of.

 

I just used 1/2" sheathing, $15 a sheet (at lowe's). It wasn't rated with a letter designation, but the top sheet on the stack had one side with no knotholes, so I used it. I figured with the extra bracing I had, 1/2" was plenty thick enough.