Every year we put out a call for reader workbench photos. Every year we’re astonished by what shows up in our inbox. This year’s roundup includes 15 of our favorite reader-built workbenches – ranging from a beautiful hand-cut Roubo in quartersawn white oak to a brilliant $45 bench built in a single afternoon from big-box store lumber. There is no wrong way to build a bench that works for you.
Reader favorite: The Plywood Roubo (Portland, Oregon) – A full Roubo with a split top, built entirely from Baltic birch plywood. The builder argues that plywood is more dimensionally stable than solid wood and makes better bench material. He’s not wrong. The bench has been in daily use for three years without any movement or checking. The leg vise is commercial. The rest is shop-built. It looks incredible and probably cost less than a solid wood version would have.
Most creative use of materials: The Reclaimed Oak Bank Counter (rural Mississippi) – A 10-foot slab of white oak reclaimed from a demolished bank counter, supported on steel pipe sawhorses with hand-welded bases. No vise at all – just a sliding planing stop and a set of holdfasts. The builder says he’s never needed a vise. He uses holdfasts for everything. The slab has a character that took decades to develop, and it now lives in a shop where it will develop decades more.
Thirteen more reader benches are in the full gallery below. We accept bench submissions year-round – send your photos, dimensions, and build story to our reader submissions form and tell us what makes your bench yours. The next roundup goes live in January.