At least a couple of times each month, I get a query about Richard Tendick’s “Power Tool-Friendly Bench,” which was featured on the March/April 2014 cover of American Woodworker. So to cut down on those emails (and because I’m generally a nice person, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding), here’s that article, free. The intro is below; download the PDF at the end of it for the article in its entirety.

Power Tool Friendly Bench

by Richard Tendick

Innovative features such as a lever-operated mobile base and dual-height pullout tool platforms give this bench a five-star rating, especially if you have to share your shop space with cars and other vehicles in a garage.

The mobile base works just like a floor jack, so you can easily move the bench from the middle of the shop to store it against the wall. Th e tool platforms allow you to pull out stored benchtop

machines and raise them to operating position—flush with the top of the bench—in seconds.

The benchtop houses a power strip, so you don’t have to fish for extension cords to plug in portable

power tools. The top is long enough to mount a vise at one end

and a router at the other.

Simple construction methods make this bench doable for most woodworkers. You’ll need four sheets of plywood, a hollow core door and some hardware. You can get these materials

at any home center.

The bench’s modular design is easy to modify to fit your space or tools. Shorten the top, for example, or install drawers or shelves on one side of the cabinet or forgo the tool platforms entirely and just build the bench. Whether you build the Cadillac version shown here or an economy model, this bench is sure to enhance your woodworking.

For the rest of the article, including project drawings and sources, download this PDF:

AW_PTFBench

For more from American Woodworker, get the DVD with all issues (1985-2014). For more on workbenches, read Christoper Schawrz’s “Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use” (revised edition) and “The Workbench Design Book.”

— Megan Fitzpatrick