Microsoft Word - Woodshop 101 Part 1 of 3

Plywood

Plywood is made by gluing thin

pieces of wood together to

formasheetthatisagiven

thickness. Plywood can have a

topsheet made from anywood

you can imagine. Most of

what you’ll see at lumber

warehouses are, pine, maple,

birch, and oak. Pine, being the

least expensive, is what we

chose for our bench top.

Plywood is graded by the

appearance of the face on

each side. A-Excellent, B-

Good, C-Average. The

backside can sometimes be

listed as 1, 2, 3, instead of A,

B, C but they mean the same.

So our piece has a good side

and an average side. Make

sure when you build your

workbench that you put the B-

side up and the C side down.

Things You’ll Need

Hammer

Screwdriver

Handsaw

Brace drill

3/16” twist bit

12d nails

6d nails

(16) 3 ½” screws

6½”benchvise

(1) 2” x 4” x 8’ pine

(1) 2” x 4” x 6’ pine

(1) 4” x 4” x 8’ pine or fur (see

text to make sure this is long

enough for you)

(1) ¾” x 2’ x 4’ sanded pine

plywood

Safety glasses

at your side with your wrist bent so your hand is

parallel to the floor. Now, with the help of a parent

or friend, measure from the ground up to where

your wrist is bent. This measurement is a good

work surface height for you. What happens when

you have two of more people using the bench and

they aren’t the same height? You compromise like

we had to do. That’s ok, a few inches one way or

the other won’t matter a whole lot.

The workbench we built is 24 ¾” from the ground to

the work surface. Keep this measurement in mind

whenyougotobuildyours. Ifthat’swayoffyour

ideal height adjust the measurement of the legs for

your workbench accordingly. In the cut list below

youcanseethatweuseda4”x4”x8’forourlegs.

This worked out for us because we wanted a work

surface height around 25 inches. By cutting our legs 2’ long each we got

4 out of our 8’ piece. Remember to add the thickness of the plywood top

(3/4”) to your total height. Let’s look at our parts.

Workbench cut list:

Top (1) ¾” x 2’ x 4’ sanded BC plywood

Long aprons (2) 2” x 4” x 45’

Short aprons (1) 2” x 4”x 2’

Legs (4) 4” x 4” cut to the appropriate length

Parts to the workbench,total cost includingvise was less than$ 40