Temporary Workbench?

[Bill Miltner]

I screwed up. I am building a new workbench but I sold my old one before I finished the new one. Now I need to smooth plane some of the pieces but don’t have a sold surface to use . What have you used as a temporary workbench?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Table saw.

[Jerome Hanby]

I bought some folding banquet table legs and used 2x4 lumber to make a cutting table for my circular saw and portable panel saw. I've been using it for a make shift workbench and assembly table.

[Jason White]

Flush solid-core door from Home Depot on a couple of sawhorses. Heavy and solid! The door will run you about $40.

Jason

I screwed up. I am building a new workbench but I sold my old one before I finished the new one. Now I need to smooth plane some of the pieces but don’t have a sold surface to use . What have you used as a temporary workbench?

[Jacob Mac]

I use my table saw with the fence as a stop. But I am close to finishing my real workbench

[David Perata]

I have three shop areas and needed too many benches to build a European style. I buy 26" wide X 8' melamine shelf material at the local Home Depot or wherever, and glue together 2 X 4's for legs. I square the 2 X 4's on the jointer and planer. Then I bolt them onto single 2 X 4 frames. They are level, solid, cheap and fast.

[Wilbur Pan]

If you have a way of bracing a temporary workbench up against something solid, like a wall or a pillar, you won't need a lot of mass. I made a temporary workbench out of a poplar beam and sawhorses that was rock solid by bracing it against a wall. Chris Schwarz told me that he uses this idea as his standard answer for the "How do I build a workbench without a workbench?" question.

[John Schreiber]

I made the legs for my bench first and screwed a 2x12 on top of them, then clamped the whole shebang to a solid table. I made stops from dowels.

[Thomas Canfield]

To add to Jason's suggestion, you can pick up a used flush solid door at the recycle stores for much less than new. I picked up a new 24" oak veneer solid door for under $20 that I am planning to cut up to use for a mini lathe stand. Cheaper than lumber and definitely adds weight.

[Prashun Patel]

I'd go one step lighter than Jason: use a lauan hollowcore door. From $19 at BORG.

Instead of sawhorses, make 2x4 legs.

Bolt the whole thing to the wall.