Reclaimed 2×4 Work Bench

Apr 11, 2023

I have always loved the idea of a heavy table or butcher block workbench and wanted something simple that could double as an outfeed table for a table saw. I considered making a joiner bench out of 2×10’s but the price of wood had gotten crazy. I saw a FB marketplace post where someone was getting rid of some 2×4 garage shelving. Since this was the middle of a global pandemic and 2×4’s cost almost eight bucks a piece I jumped on the opportunity to buy a bundle of wood for 20 bucks. Of course I had to spend another 30 on a Uhaul, but still think I came out ahead.

Of course the shelves ended up being too tall for the truck I rented and luckily the people had some tools and helped me dismantle the shelves to load into the truck.

I got them all stacked nicly in the garage and ended up keeping two sections of the garage shelves for, well, garage shelves.

Most of the shelves were put together with screws, but a couple sets were assembled with nails. I have pulled a lot of nails in my life and there is kind of a zen state to it. Of course once’s you get in the flow, one nail will put up such a fight you question your life decisions. Sometimes that fight even causes other nails to jump out of the board so… it’s worth it? I currently have another pile of wood full of nails and I totally want to improve my nail pulling game.

The rounded edges of a 2×4 really suck at being a table so they had to ripped off. I could have perhaps left the round over edge on one side for the bottom of the bench top but decided all the dimensions should be 3 inches and square so 1/4 inch off each side.

Laying out the boards to see what size table I could make

Based on the length of my boards and the size of my space I determined 2 feet by 5 feet seemed like the right size.

Let the glue up begin.

I’m a bit limited by my clamp collection so the top was broken into manageable sections for the glue up. After this it would have made sense to run the sections through a planer, but alas, I do not have one.

Seen here testing the limits of my bar clamps. I only have four that are long enough to span the top width. I have since learned a neat simple trick where you can use two clamps to make one longer clamp…. Next time Gadget (if Gadget is my next oversized glue up).

This is where I regretted not cleaning up the faces of the boards. The 4 clamps just could not get the joints tight. I clamped a few cauls to counter the wacky samurai sword shaped bar clamp forces.

Here I have the base loosely assembled and held with clamps as I hammer the top onto the legs. This was a very satisfying part of the process. I did end up switching to a larger mallet and a block and had to beat the hell out of it. Still… all the more satisfying.

Fully assembled and glued. Seen here watching glue dry. This is where I first noticed the top starting to form a twist. One of the legs slowly lifted up off the ground and one of the half laps opened up.

After noticing the twist I tried to plane some of out with a small block plane. Better, but the twist persisted.

Using the bench as an out-feed table. See those garage shelves in the background? Bonus.

At this point I just wanted to say it was good enough and I started using the bench. I built a few projects including a closet door and a nightstand. The project shown here is carving some Among Us tree decorations. The twist causes a few headaches so I set on the path to properly flatten the top.

So I’ve watched a few videos of people using a router to flatten large live edges slabs. They usually have a flat reference plane to work from. I am trying to make that reference plane so I found two reasonably straight boards and screwed them to the sides of the bench. Getting these boards parallel involved some mathematical craftiness involving string and diagonals that I honestly probably did wrong. I checked it like 100 times staring down it with one eye closed until I felt comfy that the rails were good enough.