Workbench cut list: top, legs and stretchers from 2x4s and one sheet

The bench this page works out

A plywood top on four 2x4 legs, held together by two rectangular frames of 2x4 stretchers — one under the top and one lower down. Each frame is two long stretchers the full length of the bench, with two short stretchers between them. The legs stand in the corners of the frames, and the top is the same size as the frames and sits on the legs.

That is the arithmetic the list is built from, not a recommendation. How the legs and stretchers are joined, how high the lower frame goes, and whether the top is screwed, glued or bolted are yours to decide, and a lower shelf, a vise and hardware are not on the list. It gives the lengths to cut and how many boards and sheets to buy.

How the parts are counted

For the default bench, 60 in long, 24 in deep and36 in tall with a 3/4 in top:

• One top, 24 in × 60 in, from the sheet.
• Four legs, 35 1/4 in long.
• Four long stretchers, 60 in — two for each frame.
• Four short stretchers, 21 in — two for each frame.

Twelve pieces of 2x4 and one of plywood. The drawings on this page show each board as a bar: its length is to scale, and its width is not, because a 3 1/2 in face drawn to scale against 96 in would be too thin to read.

Where the thicknesses are subtracted

Two parts on this list are shorter than the measurement they come from, and for two different reasons.

The legs lose the top. The height you type is to the working surface. The top sits on the legs, so they are the height less the top’s thickness:

leg = height − top thickness

36 in − 3/4 = 35 1/4 in. If you change the top to two layers or to thicker plywood, change the thickness on the form and the legs follow.

The short stretchers lose two 2x4s. They fit between the long stretchers, which lie along the outside of the frame, so they are the depth less two thicknesses of lumber:

short stretcher = depth − 2 × lumber thickness

A 2x4 is 1 1/2 × 3 1/2 in, not 2 × 4 — the name is the size before drying and planing. So the short stretchers are 24 in − 3 = 21 in. Work it out with the nominal 2 in and they come out 1 in short, and the frame will not close. The long stretchers and the top lose nothing: both are the full length of the bench.

Short stretchers inside, or outside

The frame can go together the other way round: short stretchers the full depth, 24 in, with the long ones between them at57 in. The footprint is the same and so is the arithmetic, the other way about. It does change the shopping list. With 8 ft boards, the way this page builds the frame takes 5 boards and the other way takes6 — a 57 in stretcher and a 35 1/4 in leg still share a board, but four 24 in short stretchers no longer fit on one.

The same kind of question applies to the top. This template makes it flush with the frame. For a top that overhangs, the frame is smaller than the top by the overhang on each end and each side: type the frame’s size here and cut the top larger by hand.

Reading the boards

Lumber is only ever cut to length here, so each board’s list is a row of crosscuts. On the default bench, boards one to four each give a long stretcher and a leg: 60 in + 1/8 in kerf + 35 1/4 in is95 3/8 in, which leaves a short end of an 8 ft board. The fifth board gives all four short stretchers. That is 5 boards, and the waste on them is 3.1%.

The top uses one sheet, and the drawing shows how little of it: the waste figure of 68.8% counts a 23 7/8 in wide strip the full length of the sheet that is left over, plus the 35 7/8 in end beyond the top. Both are big enough to keep.

Board length changes the count

Buy 10 ft boards and the same bench takes 4: each board gives a long stretcher, a leg and a short stretcher, with 3 3/8 in left over after the kerfs. That margin is thin — a board that is short, or has a split end you need to trim, will not give all three. 12 ft boards also take4, with more to spare.

Two benches from one sheet

A 4 × 8 sheet is 48 in wide, so it looks as if it should give two 24 in deep tops side by side. It does not: the rip between them takes a kerf, and two24 in tops need 48 1/8 in. With a 1/8 in blade the page puts the second top on a second sheet. Make both benches 23 15/16 in deep — half the sheet less half the kerf — and both tops come out of one sheet, 60 in long each, with the end of the sheet left over. Change the depth on the form and the short stretchers follow it.

In millimetres

Switch the units and everything typed is converted. A bench 1500 mm long, 600 mm deep and 900 mm tall with an 18 mm top takes one 2440 × 1220 mm sheet and 5 lengths of 2x4 at 2.4 m, or 4 at 3.0 m. The legs are 900 − 18 = 882 mm, and the short stretchers 523.8 mm: the form’s 2x4 is 1 1/2 in, which is 38.1 mm, thick. Where timber of that section is sold under another name or a slightly different size, measure it; a different thickness changes the short stretchers.

Mistakes that change the shopping list

• Using the nominal 2x4 size. Short stretchers worked out from 2 in come out 1 in short.
• Cutting the legs to the bench height. They are short by the top, or the bench is 3/4 in taller than you meant.
• Making the bench a little bigger. At 72 inlong the long stretcher and leg no longer share an 8 ft board, and it takes6 boards. At 30 in deep the short stretchers need two boards, and it is 6.
• A top longer than the sheet. A 4 × 8 sheet gives a top up to 96 in long with its grain along the bench. Type 97 and the page says the top does not fit.
• Forgetting the kerf. Every crosscut takes 1/8 in. On a 10 ft board carrying three parts that is 3/8 in of the 3 3/8 in margin.

Before the first cut

Measure the 2x4s you bought — thickness, width and length — and the plywood’s thickness. The form uses 1 1/2 × 3 1/2 in for a 2x4; if yours differ, the lengths that depend on them change. Then check the cuts on each board against the board itself before you start.

The PDF gives each board its own numbered block — a drawing of the board and its crosscuts, in the same order as on this page — so you can number the 2x4s on the rack, match each to its block, and cut them one at a time.

Questions

How many 2x4s do I need for a workbench?

For a bench 60 in long, 24 in deep and 36 in tall with two frames of stretchers: 5 2x4s 8 ft long, or 4 at 10 ft. A 72 in long bench takes 6 at 8 ft. Type your own size to see yours.

How long should workbench legs be?

In this build the top sits on the legs, so a leg is the height of the bench less the thickness of the top: 36 in − 3/4 = 35 1/4 in.

Why are the short stretchers 21 in, not 20?

They fit between the long stretchers, so they are the depth less two thicknesses of 2x4 — and a 2x4 is 1 1/2 in thick, not 2. 24 in − 2 × 1 1/2 = 21 in.

Can the top be longer than 8 ft?

Not from one 4 × 8 sheet with its grain running along the bench: a top longer than 96 in is shown as not fitting. The 2x4s have the same limit at 8 ft; choose 10 or 12 ft boards for longer stretchers.

Is a lower shelf or a vise included?

No. The list is the top, four legs and two frames of stretchers. A shelf, a vise, joinery and hardware are left out; the page gives lengths, not a design.

What is in the PDF?

The parts, the totals for the sheet and for the boards, a drawing of the sheet and of every board, and the cuts in order. It is made in your browser and nothing is uploaded.