I needed a desk. Anne and I moved to a larger place in East Vancouver during the COVID pandemic - work from home in a laneway house wasn’t exactly a nice setup. With a weekend to myself I decided to try to put together one of Matias Wandel’s simple workbenches. He details the design and build process really well on his website (woodgears.ca) and in this Youtube Video. Plans and a BOM are here: Woodgears Workbench Plans
Tools were borrowed from the Vancouver Tool Library, just a couple kilometers from my new home. The design is robust, easy to put together with minimal tools, and breaks down really easily into smaller subassemblies - I shipped it back to Ontario when we moved in 2024 and it survived just fine.
Materials
- QTY 2 - 8’ 2x4
- QTY 2 - 8’ 2x6
- QTY 24 - 2" Screws (for the frame)
- QTY 1 - Solid core door (I foolishly went with MDF and could barely get it onto my roofracks and up the stairs at home, it’s a pig! Craigslist special)
- QTY 4 - 3" Screws (optional, used to secure the top to the frame but a heavy enough door can just sit on top)
- 4’ of 5/8" dowel
- Wood Glue
Modifications
I wanted a storage area for my leather underneath, so I added a 1x10 along the bottom and a 1x6 backer. A series of pegs from unused dowels keep the leather from rolling off the front.