These ingenious workbench upgrades will make a huge difference in your workshop efficiency. And they’re easy to DIY!
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29 Simple Ways to Make Your Workbench Work Harder
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Easy-to-Access Cordless Tool Chargers
Mount charger stands for your cordless tools on scrap pieces of pegboard and hang them on a pegboard wall so they don’t become an octopus-like tangle on a shelf or workbench. Just pull one out for charging, or plug it into a power strip under the pegboard and charge batteries right on the pegboard. Most chargers have mounting holes or keyhole slots on the bottom. For those that don’t, use a large hose clamp ($2 at a hardware store) to mount them. Thanks to George Moyer for ending our charger clutter.
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Pencils at the Ready
Reader R. B. Himes sent several cool tips for keeping pencils handy. Insert pencils into holes drilled in the edges of shelves, or put small screw eyes into the erasers and hang ’em from nails. Reader Jerry Seaward has another: Glue a scrap of window screen to the bottom of a piece of 1-1/2 in. dia. PVC pipe and clamp or screw the pipe to your workbench for a dust-free pencil holder. Other pencil hangouts? Wrap a strip of self-stick Velcro around a pencil and put a corresponding strip wherever you need a pencil. To make a pencil stay put on metal surfaces, attach a piece of magnetic tape ($2 a roll at fabric stores) to it.
Need another? Buy plastic coaxial cable holders ($2 for a 20-pack), reverse the brad direction and tack ’em on the side of a work-table or tool rack. You can quick-draw the pencils out of the plastic jaws.
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The Well-Clamped Work Table
When you make a table for a portable workbench with a clamping top, bevel the edges of the auxillary table’s cleats at 10 degrees. Beveled cleats will keep it from popping up when you’re working. And using two cleats on the outside, instead of one in the middle, lets you store the table flat between jobs. P.S. Check out the Keter Folding Work Table, too—You can use this workstation as a miter saw stand, to secure boards for cutting or painting or for whatever projects are on your to-do list.
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Landing Pad for Your Sander
It used to drive me nuts waiting for my random orbit sander to stop spinning so I could set it down. If I didn’t wait, it would dance around and tumble off my workbench. My solution was to keep a piece of carpet on my bench. I just set the sander on the carpet and let it wiggle quietly to a stop. — Phil Wortford.
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The Perfect Padding for Your Vise
Holding odd-shaped parts in a bench vise is tricky. When I need to sand or file an odd-shaped part, I sandwich it between two pieces of rigid foam in the vise. This solidly holds the part without marring it. – Anne of All Trades
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Mount a Power Strip
This oldie-but-goodie tip comes from David Gersic. Screw a power strip to the side of your workbench and you won’t have to monkey with extension cords anymore when using power tools for bench work. Next, check out 19 futuristic workshop tech products that’ll make DIYers drool.
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Find-Anything Hardware Drawer
Nothing has a chance to randomly accumulate in the shop—not in apron pockets, on cabinet shelves, not even in a drawer. There is truly a place for everything, everything goes in its place, and no usable area remains empty. One of his hardware drawers is a sublime example.
In this drawer, movable partitions are held in place by strips of foam weather stripping at the front and back. The 44-plus boxes rest on edge, labels up, for easy grabbing and stowing. Think of never having to wonder where to find a 1-in. drywall screw or a 3/8-in. washer!
Shop for boxes at craft, tackle, office or dollar stores. But if you want lots of just about any particular size box, check out althor.com. This is for super-organized shop rats, though. The minimum order is $100! But you get tons of high-quality boxes for the money.
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Laminate Flooring Bench Top
Leftover scraps of laminate flooring make a great workbench surface. Laminate is tough and easy to clean—dried glue or paint scrapes right off. If you fasten the laminate with small nails, you can easily pry it off and replace it every few years. This is one of the easiest and most durable workbench top ideas you can DIY.
Plus: How to install luxury vinyl plank flooring.
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Simple Sandpaper Cutter
Cutting sandpaper is a quick way to dull your scissors or utility knife blade. Instead, I fastened a hacksaw blade to the edge of my workbench. I slipped a washer behind the blade at each of the mounting holes so a sheet of sandpaper to easily slides in behind the blade. I fold the paper where I want to cut, just as a reference. — Kim Boley. Have a small workshop? Try some of these brilliant storage solutions!
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Miter Saw Waste
This waste-management ingenuity is pretty handy at a miter saw station. Directly below the hole is a recycling bin resting on a rollout shelf. When the bin fills up, it’s off to the burn pile. Learn 11 things you didn’t know about recycling.
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Save Time with this Simple Jig
The right jig or fixture makes work efficient and produces excellent results. I made this jig to round over the ends of a group of identical parts. It’s just a platform with two rails that hold the parts in place. The rails are the same height as the parts. This, along with the “dummy” part at the end, negates any tear out. Also, on a big roundover like this, don’t take it all in one pass. Taking several shallower passes decreases the chance of leaving burn marks on end grain. – Christian Frost
Check out some more easy woodworking jigs right here.
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Instant Bench Vise
Clamp a hand screw on your workbench and use it as a vise for holding boards on edge for planning, drilling or sanding. See more tips for updating your classic workshop tools to do more.
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Add a Key-Holed Ruler
You can mount a removable key-holed metal ruler on the front edge of your workbench, for both easy measuring on the workbench and for easy access for measuring and marking projects elsewhere. Simply drill keyholes (a larger hole with an overlapping smaller hole above it) in two locations along the ruler. After drilling the keyholes we sanded them smooth to get rid of the potentially dangerous sharp edges. Next, drill appropriately sized screws (ones that will fit into the smaller sized keyhole) to the front of the workbench and use the keyholes to mount the ruler to the bench with screws.
Also, it is important to note that we placed our screws in a location in which the ruler would lay flush with the edge of the workbench. This makes it extremely easy to use the ruler for quick project measurements because of its convenient location. Plus, check out these 45 hugely helpful handy hints!
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Workbench Dropcloth
Mount a roller window shade on one end of your workbench and pull it out for painting projects. Home centers will cut shades to the width you need, so measure your workbench before going to the store.
P.S. It's a good idea to wipe wet paint off the shade before rolling it back up.
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Stabilizing Sanding Projects
Belt sanders are essential woodworking tools, but you need to make sure the piece you’re sanding stays put. That’s sometimes difficult when you’re sanding something on your workbench, as clamps can get in the way of sanding. The trick is to screw boards to two edges of your work surface, creating a corner. As you sand, the belt’s spin pushes the workpiece against the boards or “fiddles” as they’re sometimes called. Make sure your fiddles are thinner than the part you’re sanding. — Travis Larson
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Melamine Workbench Topper
Screw down a sheet of 3/4-in melamine as a new workbench surface. You can write on it and it erases easily. Dried glue scrapes off, varnish spills don't stick and heavy projects slide on the slick surface for easy positioning. Use two-sided melamine and flip it over when the first side gets worn out to expose a brand new surface.
A 4 x 8-ft. sheet of melamine (plastic-coated particleboard) costs about $35 at home centers. Check out our best tips for using melamine.
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Pipe-Clamp Cradle
This handy under-mount rack keeps your clamps right where you need them. Simply cut a series of 1-1/4-in. diameter holes along the center line of a 2x6 and then rip the 2x6 in half to create the half-circle slots. Next, screw 1x4 sides and top to the cradle and screw it to the bottom of your workbench.
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Racquet Caddy
Here's a slick use for that old wooden tennis racquet that's gathering dust in the garage. Drill a hole in the handle and screw it to the underside of a workbench. Position the racquet so it can swing in and out from under the table. Use it to hold tools, parts or other small items.
Plus: 30 more handy hints for the workshop.
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Rosin Paper Workbench Cover
Here's instant protection for any kind of messy job. Before you start, just unroll enough rosin paper from this jumbo paper towel holder to protect your workbench. The thick paper absorbs all the glue or finish. When the paper gets too dirty, tear it off and throw it away. A roll of rosin paper is 170 ft. long, so one will last a long time. Here's how to build your paper holder: Buy a roll of rosin paper and a length of 1-1/2-in. pipe at a home center. Round up some scrap lumber and get ready to do a little bit of head scratching to customize a bracket arrangement that works with your bench design. Our setup should give you the general idea. Bore 1-7/8-in. holes in the scrap wood brackets. Screw keeper strips over the holes to keep the pipe from falling out as you unroll the paper. Use a handsaw to cut the paper roll and a hacksaw to cut the pipe to match the width of your bench. Then load the roll and start dripping stuff all over it. If you don't have a dedicated workbench and you'd like to build one, we've got more than a dozen different step-by-step plans for workbenches from simple to spectacular. For complete step-by-step instructions, click here.
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In-and-Out Benchtop Tools
Go clampless with bench-top tools! Determine a base width you can use for all the smaller power tools you own—grinder, sander, drill press, scroll saw. Cut a base for each tool from 3/4-in. plywood with 45-degree bevels along both edges. Next, cut and screw 1-1/2-in.-wide boards with 45-degree bevels on your workbench for the tool bases to slide into. The tools will remain rock steady as you work and slide off when you're done.
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Vinyl Tool Tray
What can you do with a leftover length of gutter? You can screw it to the edge of your workbench and use it to keep tools and fasteners out of your way but handy for assembly work.
Check out these other nine uses for gutters that aren't on the roof.
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Make a Simple Bench Hook from Wood Scraps
A bench hook minimizes the need for vises or clamps, allows you to make quick cuts and the more sophisticated hooks make quick miters easy. We modified our simple bench so that hooks stop fence is shorter than the platform to help prevent tear-out on your work piece. Here's how we made ours.
Check out these other simple DIY workbench upgrades.
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Gluing Pedestal
Ever scratched your head over how to position clamps on a project that requires clamping from all four sides? This gluing pedestal makes the job a breeze. Buy a 12-in. pipe nipple with pipe flanges on both ends and screw it to a couple of scraps of 3/4-in. plywood. Cut the pedestal top an inch or so bigger than the project to make clamping easier. Now, with the base of the pedestal clamped on your workbench, you can crank on the clamps from every angle; up, down and sideways. (Be sure to cover the top with plastic sheeting or wax paper, or the top will become a permanent part of the project.) Thanks to Travis Larson for this high-flying tip.
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Vise Jaw Liners With a Little 'Give'
Scrap pieces of composite decking boards make ideal jaw liners for a woodworking vise. Compared with a wood liner, the rubbery surface has more give and grip. That makes composite liners good for holding cylindrical or oddly shaped work pieces. And when you release the clamp, the composite liner returns to its original flatness.
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Space-Saving Cutting and Finishing Bench
Save space and make plywood cutting easier by building this hinged, flip-up, open-web bench. It’ll take some care and patience to cut the interlocking joints, but after that, assembly is a cinch. Make everything from 1x4s. The bench shown is about 3 x 5 ft.—a good size for nearly any plywood cut. Keep the screws at least 1/4 in. from the top edge. Get it out of the way by tipping it up against the wall and locking it into place with a wooden turnbuckle, turned behind a 1×2 catch block that’s mounted with the thin side against the front board.
The grid work provides solid, even support for sawing or finishing. But make sure to set your saw to cut only 1/8 in. into the table so you don’t hit any of the assembly screws or weaken the table. Thanks to Bob Dawson for this cutting-edge tip. Build a workbench on a budget that functions like a million bucks.
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Woodworker's Tablecloth
A vinyl tablecloth—any size—comes in handy for all kinds of woodworking jobs (available at discount stores). Put it under boards you're gluing together. Any glue drips will easily peel off the plastic surface after they dry. Or place the tablecloth as a thin cushion under workpieces you're sanding and finishing, and use it as a protective barrier between the workbench and project parts when you're tapping that next masterpiece together.
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Worktop Saver
To keep your workbench clean, especially if you use it as a mechanic workbench, use a sacrificial worktop tacked to the top of your work surface for those nasty mechanic's chores like metal work, grinding or carving. Just buy a 2 x 4-ft. piece of 1/4-in. hardboard and either tack it to the top with small nails or use double-sided tape to hold it in position. When the rough-and-tumble work is done, you can lift off the temporary top and still have a clean, blemish-free workspace for fine work.
Plus: 25 gift ideas for a budding home mechanic.
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Mobile-But-Secure Benchtop Tools
Shazam! Fasten your bench-top tools to your workbench in seconds. Bolt 3/4-in. plywood bases on the tools and then glue and screw a wood strip along the front edge to fit into a woodworking vise. Crank this strip into a vise to lock the tool into place. If you don't have a vise, drill a couple of clearance holes along the face of the wood strip on the base and drive screws through the strip into the edge of your workbench. Then just unscrew to remove the tool.
Plus: Learn how to use a bench grinder with these expert tips.
