I made us a workbench from completely recycled materials. It took a few hours off my Sunday but was quite fun and I got to play with the selection of pry bars that the kids got me for father’s day.
I stacked 3 palettes in a U formation for one end of the base, and put an upside-down T of two palettes “underneath” to form the base. The palettes were screwed together with 32mm #8 square-head screws – I’m starting to like square-head screws as they’re easy to extract and recycle as well as drive in.
Two plywood-surfaced palettes make the top. 4 Crossbeams from other palettes were slipped into the butting ends of these and bolted into place: Two alongside the central crossbeam, one at each of the side beams. I even used recycled bolts from heavy-duty palettes. The top is then held on the bottom with screws wherever the palettes happen to align nicely.
It’s quite sturdy, and I can bounce up and down on it like a demented thing without it wobbling about. It has now acquired a vice and removable cutting area, and is in actual use. It does rock a bit when you saw something in the vice, but it is sitting on some much abused carpet.