My pallet wood workbench.

Last week my dad kindly gave me a number of wooden pallets so that I could use the wood from them. I have several projects which I need wood for including the edging for my veggie patch, a chicken coop and I also need to fix my gate which the wood will be useful for. The first thing I have built though is a workbench. I should really have sanded down each plank before I started but I'm too lazy!! I quickly sanded down the edges only and then got the box of screws out!

First I made the legs and screwed the sides onto them. I reused the blocks from the pallets as well to give the legs some strength.

I then selected planks of the same thickness to use for the top. I screwed them on using four screws for each plank - two at each end. Rather than drilling pilot holes I gently tapped the screw into the wood with a hammer before screwing it in the rest of the way. I also added at this stage a plank at each end between the legs for added support.

Once all of the top planks were secure I simply measured the width and marked a line down each side leaving a 5 inch overhang on either side. I then cut along the lines removing the ends to leave me with nice straight edges.

Next, I screwed three planks on the leg supports going the length of the table. This adds more rigidity at the same time as providing a ledge for my toolbox!

And that's it, my free workbench all finished. It took me a few hours but you could do it quicker if you have a cordless screwdriver.. I don't own one so had to do it the old fashioned way screwing each screw into the wood by hand.