Last spring we put out a challenge: build a new workbench with a $250 budget and a one-month deadline. We expected a handful of responses. We got 47. Here are eight of the best – eight different approaches to the same constraint, eight different shops, eight very different results.
The Sheet Goods Bench (Kevin, Ohio): Full plywood construction – two layers of 3/4-inch birch on top, torsion box lower shelf, commercial face vise bolted directly through the apron. Clean, light, finished in one Saturday. Cost: $210. Kevin says it’s not his forever bench, but it’s been his daily bench for eight months and hasn’t moved or flexed once.
The Salvage Bench (Maria, Texas): Entirely reclaimed – a rescued door slab for the top, 4×4 posts from a demolished deck for the legs, cabinet hardware from an estate sale for the vise. Total cash outlay: $35. The rest was time and creativity. Maria says the hunting for materials was half the fun.
The Speed Bench (James, Vermont): One sheet of 3/4-inch MDF for the top (doubled up), four 4×4 posts, construction lag screws, no vise at all – just dog holes and holdfasts. Built in four hours on a Saturday morning. Cost: $90. James is a production maker who just needed a flat, solid assembly surface. Mission accomplished.
Five more builds from this challenge – including a converted kitchen island, a bench built entirely with hand tools, and a stunning Arts and Crafts-style bench in quartersawn white oak – are in the full roundup. Tell us in the comments: what would you build with $250 and a month?