Shed Wood Idea: New Yankee Workshop Workbench update cutting the plywood benchtop

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

New Yankee Workshop Workbench update cutting the plywood benchtop

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The plans called for making the benchtop out of 3/4" plywood. Ive had this sheet of 1/2" plywood in my garage forever. I planned out all my cuts and I was able to make the bench top and bottom shelf with 2 layers of the 1/2" plywood. I made the tray bottom out of 1 piece.

I set up the 4x8 sheet on my 2 sawhorses with 2x4s running the length for support. I also set up a straight edge to run my cordless saw along. This end will be cut off here and then cut into two matching pieces to make the bottom shelf.

I also set up two scrap pieces of 2x4 to support the wood when I cross cut it.

I checked the far corner and it is pretty square so I clamped a 1x3 down to use to cut the piece for the tray bottom. I gave it a couple of extra inches and will cut it down to size on the table saw. This will make sure that the side cut with the 1x3 ends up being square.

My table saw came with a 28 tooth blade. I bought a 40 tooth blade a couple of weeks back and I am finally getting a chance to try it out.

Here is the tray bottom and shelf top cut to size.

The 2 pieces for the benchtop have been cut to size.

I cut the hardboard to width using the same settings that I used on the plywood.

I didnt want to have to deal with the leftovers of a full sheet of hardboard so I bought 2 smaller pieces that fit in my car. I bought 2 because they were not long enough to cover the length of the benchtop.