How to Make Workbenches & Shop Storage Solutions

28 Projects to Make Your Workshop More Efficient from the Experts at American Woodworker

Randy Johnson

• Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781565235953
• eBook ISBN:
  9781637411087
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Technical & Manufacturing Trades
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Everything you wanted to know about building a workbench, making outfeed tables for shop machines, making work tables and assembly tables, storage cabinets for tools, materials and supplies. Bonus: Build like an aircraft engineer, super-flat and strong with a torsion box workbench, assembly table, and alignment beams.

Tool Storage

Woodworking requires many tools of all sizes. Some, such as your tablesaw, are large; others, such as your route, are medium; but the small ones, such as your hand tools and accessories, are the most numerous of all. Most woodworkers have a large collection of small tools. Many of these are precision instruments or have sharp edges that require careful storage. Keeping them organized so you can find them pays big dividends when you’re in the middle of a project. Although there are a variety of commercial tool storage solutions that might meet your needs, many woodworkers prefer the custom “madeit-myself” approach to tool storage. After all, woodworking is about building things; what better way to practice and show off your skills than to make your own tool storage? The solutions provided in the following chapter are all very useful as designed, but feel free to modify them to fit your situation. Whether you need a simple clamp warehouse (my favorite), or you want to hyper-organize your tools with a dedicated place for everything you own, getting all your tools “hung-up-and-putaway” not only makes it easier to find them, but also will earn you oohs and aahs from your friends.

by SETH KELLER

Dovetailed Tool Box

FILL IT, CARRY IT, BANG IT AROUND: THESE JOINTS WILL LAST FOREVER

A lightweight, sturdy toolbox is perfect for odd jobs around the house. Carpenters used to make their own, just nailed together. I’ve built a more sophisticated design using two different dovetail joints.

The corners of my toolbox are held together with through dovetails. The cherry handle supports are dovetailed, too, but this joint is more subtle. It’s a huge tapered, sliding dovetail. (Fig. A, Detail 2). To make this joint, I used a special dovetail bit and a shop-made jig. The jig is so simple that I can guarantee you’ll get a perfect fit right off the bat.

Tools and Materials

You can make this box with many different dovetail jigs. I used a Keller (no relation!) through-dovetail jig for the corners. Other through-dovetail jigs will work, but you may have to change the width of the box’s sides for the spacing between the pins and tails to look good. You can also use a half-blind dovetail jig, the kind widely used for making drawers. If you do, you might have to increase the thickness of the sides and ends to accommodate the dovetails’ length.

I used white pine for the sides; it’s lightweight and easy to sand. I used cherry for the handle supports because it’s stronger and contrasts nicely with the pine.

Dovetail the Box

1. Mill the sides (A...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• What You Can Make
• Workbench Projects
• Assembly Tables
• Tool Storage
• Materials Storage
• Torsion Box: The Ultimate Workbench