What does your workbench look like?

I have a maple topped bench I built that is about 20 x 36 and about 4" higher than normal( for taller folk) I wanted to be able to walk all around it. That is because some tasks require tackling it from different angles.

 

I made some like this (another small one not pictured).



And arranged them like this:



It's a mess right now, I need to organize it. My plan is to put my drill press on the stand that the air filter is currently on and my lathe on the stand next to it. I stand in the middle and use the peninsula bench most of the time.

 

I do my guitar and amp tech stuff on the workbench above. The left side is lightly built in one hour, from scrap. It's ledgered to the wall, and is very stable. The shelves are fluid, but they've been in this configuration for a few years now.

The right side is a Pennsylvania House cherry hutch I inherited when my Dad moved to Florida. I built a matching top that slips over, to protect the cherry top. I love the storage this hutch provides.

The bench topper is 1/8" hardboard, which I like for it's smoothness, plus it's inexpensive to replace when it gets too messed up. Amp work is done on the hardboard, and for guitars, I lay down a big sheet of industrial pressed wool felt, to protect the guitar from scratching bits of metal.

Tool placement is perfect for easy access, but imperfect because tools are continually passing over guitar bodies. I'm planning to build a few drawers down the left side, under the bench, and one wide drawer under the bench top. I'll keep a lot of my oft-needed files and whatnot in this drawer. Screwdrivers, pliers and such will probably still be mounted handles-up, as they are now, but in a smaller standalone block, on the bench, in between the two work areas. No more dropping tools on guitar tops.

The other change I'm planning is some kind of peninsula jutting out between the two work spaces. It'll be no more than a foot wide, and will give easy access to both sides of an instrument, as well as more working area. I tend to keep my bench tops clear of clutter, but this one will be even more so. It will always be a clean, safe, padded place to set a guitar. I just haven't decided if it'll be a full table, like the one @lbridenstine shows above, or a cantilivered, break-down thing, similar to StewMac's "body board":




For rougher work, I have a heavy duty bench in my garage wood shop. Smooth, flat top with little to no deflection. Great for assembly, glue ups, planing, scraping, sanding, etc. The drawer is just like the one I'm planning for the lightweight bench. As you can see from the car, it's an unheated space, and pretty much mothballed during the winter months. It's still evolving, but I've got plenty of light, some wood storage, the bench and tool area on the nearby wall, drill press, home built router cabinet, table saw, band saw, spindle sander.... No jointer or planer yet. Dust collection is me moving my shop vac around from machine to machine.

 

A rare view of my bench, you can actually see parts of the top!

 

I have seven or eight workbenches, and none are clear or clean.
Some do get all cleaned off for a project though.
The drill press bench is 8' long wood top steel attached to the wall. Oily too, must use clean wood add on tables for drilling clean wood.
It's right next to a '56 Chevy so there's some competition between languishing projects.
The guitar bench is actually a film darkroom counter, but I put two milk crates with a sheet of plywood and carpet so the guitar is up at 46", plus there's another small surface at 60" for soldering really small stuff with mag goggles. Pickups in ziploc bags hang from print drying clips.
My back and neck are shot and standing up straight gets more minutes of function.
I'm surprised I don't damage bodies and necks that sit waiting for a GAS attack.

Upstairs there's a routing and hand tool dust making bench next to the router table. There is wood debris around it from two years ago, like an old birds nest.

The kitchen table always absorbs some overflow, and marriage counseling might be in order. Seriously.
Most small tools I actually use, I probably have at least five of them, so there's one or two in every work area, but that tends to result in tools covering much of workbench space.
The bicycle bench is easily a foot deep, but it is connected to a fuel system bench so carburetor parts snuggle with 9 speed titanium freehub clusters.

Time to get rid of some stuff...

 

Wow, that would drive me nuts.

 

At the moment, like this.

 

My workbench is my dining room table. This was from awhile back when I was gluing some square dowels in my Gretsch 5120 to install Filtertrons. Lots of projects-in-progress here, they're all done now. Note blood pressure machine.

 

In answer to the OP - a total freaking mess!

Meant to take a picture earlier today, but got busy and forgot.

 

Dude! I don't feel so bad now!

 

I'd love to have the space for some of these workbenches.....one day

 

I have none cause Everytime I try, it gets loaded with crap before I can finish it. I think I need to build shelves for crap first.

 

Mine is kind of Beirut-ish....

 

This looks better set up than the workbench Leo Fender was working at the end of his life in that picture that keeps appearing

 

Right now it looks like a bomb went off in a hoarder's house you see on A&E.

Thanks for reminding me I need to get around to cleaning it up. I come here to escape what I should be doing.

EDIT: I'll try get a photo this weekend after the marathon cleanup.

 

Speaking of hoarding, I've found the 2001 calendar works fine for 2018. A couple swipes with a magic marker and viola! - relive that wonderful year all over again!

Just don't go to those marked doctor's appointments by mistake.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I have a whole house to live in, with my wife, but thanks to a chronic illness, I cope better in two rooms (around 225 sq ft), not counting bathroom and kitchen.

The outer room contains 15+ guitars in hard cases, a twin bed, recliner, wooden rocker, armoire (there's no closet), TV, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a few large houseplants, and a cart crammed full of office supplies, and printer. This is where I sleep, eat dinner (mostly), relax in front of the TV, and read. Also, three times per month, I set up a card table as a medical workstation, and a nurse comes and gives me a day-long infusion in the comfy chair. It's a bit cramped, but I make it work by sliding the recliner two feet back and forth each day, to make room to get in and out of bed.

The inner room hosts my desk and computer, more bookshelves, permanent pedalboard, bunch of guitar stands, stacks of amps, more houseplants, and my workbench. I play guitar seated by the pedalboard, near the computer.

The wood shop workbench is out in the two-car garage. My wife parks on one side, and I now park outside in the warmer months, so I can make sawdust. Everything I do out there is planned with space considerations foremost. I put off building the shop out there for THIRTY YEARS, because it's not enough space. Last year I said "enough", and now I'm having a blast, making up for all that lost time.

 

Imagine a dumpster fire with a guitar and parts lying around amidst it.