Rethink Everything You Know About Workbenches

Triangles are stronger than squares because the shape means that there is no possibility of pivoting at the corners. The only way for the angle at any corner of a triangle to change is by changing the length of any side. If you're building with rigid materials, that just can't happen without catastrophic failure. With any parallelogram, however, all sides can remain at the same length while also pivoting at each joint. When you whack a triangular brace on, you transform your parallelogram into two triangles.

really good looking work bench, I really like how you solved each problem, I learned from those problems.

That was a joy to watch. Your design is very well thought out.

Fantastic work bench, I especially like you showing your mistakes and the fixes for them! Well done.

Super. So well thought out and for every issue you had, you were able to find a solution. Very impressive.

I just finished making my bench today and it's a winner!!! Since I read all the discussion around the cross bracing I decided to plywood the entire back section. It won't move either way now. This is a great design!

I didn't realize that I really need one of these until I saw your video. Thanks for sharing!

Nicely done, Thomas! 100% on the parting words, too 👍🏻

A workbench with a new slant and purpose...smaller size and fold away! Well done and thank you!

Thank you so much for sharing. Hubby and I have been trying to figure out a plan and here you are. Being AMAZING! Thank you!

I really appreciate your attention to safety!

This is great, and oh so close to an idea I’ve been working on. Well done. Scott

Very nice concept for a compact work surface. One change I would make if I built one would be to position the hinges so that the table surface when closed does not have a gap. It would only require a modification to the clearance made with the router and the gap would be gone. Nice job!

Very nice design. I love space saving solutions like this.

Good idea. I'll have to think about this one for my shop. Thank you.

Now this dubbeling those large clamps to fit the large tabletop board, that is fantastic! I should have known before… so weird I didn’t think of it for my former project, making large 7 feet sliding doors. I managed, however this would have made my day for sure! Thanks man. You’re a craftsman. Like!

That bench is pure awesome Thanks for sharing !

useing a diagonal brace is esetially the same as putting a full covered back panel on a bench/cabinet. By stretching it corner to corner it basically covers the same amount of area than a full back panel.

Great Video... you're the Mr. Rogers of Woodworking...

I've been looking for a folding workbench design for some time, and I think I found it. Thank you for sharing. Your subscriber from the Philippines 👏