Plan the Bench Around Your Shed, Not the Other Way Round

Before you cut a single length of timber, spend ten minutes in the shed with a tape measure. Three numbers matter: height, length and depth. For most people the bench top should sit at roughly knuckle height — about 900mm for someone of average build, 950mm if you are tall. A quick check: stand up straight, let your arms hang, and make a loose fist. The top of your fist is a comfortable height for sawing, chiselling and assembling. If you plan to do a lot of hand planing, drop it by 50mm; for fine, fiddly work, raise it.

For length, 1800mm is the sweet spot in a typical 8ft by 6ft shed, and 1200mm works if space is tight. Depth of 600mm gives you room for a vice, a few tools and a workpiece without turning the bench into a shelf. Leave at least 900mm of clear floor in front of it, and set it where daylight falls over your left shoulder if you are right-handed. Never build it across a door swing.

Timber, Tools and Fixings

You do not need much. A simple, rigid bench comes down to decent carcassing timber, a sheet of plywood and a handful of screws.

• Timber: about nine metres of 38 x 89mm CLS — sold in most timber yards as 47 x 100mm. Buy five 2.4m lengths and you will have spare for shelf battens and braces.
• Top: one sheet of 18mm hardwood-faced plywood, 2440 x 1220mm. This cuts neatly into two pieces of 1800 x 600mm.
• Fixings: 100mm wood screws for the frame, 40mm screws for the top, plus a box of 65mm. PVA wood glue.
• Tools: a handsaw or fine-tooth panel saw, a square, a tape, a spirit level, a hand drill with 3mm, 4mm and 8mm bits, a countersink bit, a screwdriver, a smoothing plane and sandpaper in 80, 120 and 180 grit.

Choose straight timber. Lay each length on the floor of the yard and sight along it — a banana-shaped leg will make a rocking bench.

The Cut List

Buy your CLS and cut everything in one session while the saw is out.

• Four legs: 38 x 89 x 864mm.
• Four end rails: 38 x 89 x 372mm.
• Two long rails: 38 x 89 x 1572mm.
• Top: two sheets of 18mm ply, each 1800 x 600mm.

Check every cut against the last one rather than trusting the tape alone — small errors add up quickly on a frame.

Build the Two End Frames

Each end frame is two legs joined by a rail, and the two frames should be identical. Lay a pair of legs flat on the floor, 372mm apart, and slide a rail between them. Position the top rail so its upper edge is flush with the tops of the legs, and the lower rail about 150mm up from the bottom.

Drill 4mm clearance holes through the legs and 3mm pilot holes into the ends of the rails. Run a bead of PVA into each joint, then drive two 100mm screws per joint. End grain splits easily, so pilot holes are not optional. Once the frame is together, check it for square by measuring corner to corner — both diagonals should match. Repeat for the second frame.

Join the Frames and Fit the Top

Stand both end frames upright and clamp a long rail between them at the front, roughly 50mm down from the top of the legs. Check it with a spirit level, then screw through the legs into the rail ends as before. Fit the rear rail, then a second pair lower down at shelf height if you want storage underneath.

Lay the first sheet of plywood across the frame, overhanging about 25mm at the front and back for clamping room. Screw it down with 40mm screws into the legs and long rails, spacing them roughly every 200mm and countersinking each head. Now spread PVA generously across the first sheet and lay the second on top. Screw upwards from underneath so no fixings show on the working surface — 40mm screws through the bottom sheet will bite into the top layer without breaking through.

Plane the edges flush and sand the top through the grits. A wipe-down with a damp cloth between grits lifts the dust.

Vice, Shelf and a Bit of Protection

A bench is only finished once it earns its keep. Fit a woodworker's vice on the front left corner, with the jaws flush with the front edge, and bolt it through the leg or through a 100 x 25mm apron screwed beneath the front edge. Drill a row of 19mm dog holes at 150mm centres in line with the vice and you have a makeshift tail vice.

Drop a shelf onto the lower rails using 12mm ply or leftover boards. Finish the top with boiled linseed oil or a hard wax oil rather than varnish — varnish looks smart for a fortnight, then chips and turns slippery. Add a sacrificial sheet of 3mm hardboard if you do a lot of gluing and painting, and replace it when it gets grubby. Finally, if the shed floor is uneven, pack the feet with offcuts and check for wobble before you bolt anything down. A steady bench is a pleasure; a rocking one is a permanent irritation.