Restoring a Wooden Workbench (by Capitan Farloc)

Do you have an old wooden workbench collecting dust in the garage or basement? Don’t throw it away! Even if it’s stained, worn, or damaged by time, it can be restored and brought back to life. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to restore a wooden workbench—from thorough cleaning to replacing damaged parts, and finally applying a protective finish. A great way to breathe new life into one of the most essential tools in any DIY workspace.

Introduction

Once upon a time, there was a workbench that had seen better days. For decades, it had silently endured the relentless march of time, tucked away in a dusty corner of my brother-in-law's garage.
This workbench, lovingly and skillfully crafted by his father over forty years ago, was gifted to me a few months back. Now, I’ve decided it’s time to breathe new life into it, to restore it to its former glory (well, ‘glory’ might be a bit of a stretch—after all, it’s a homemade bench built from reclaimed wood). So, here’s the story of how I brought this old workbench back to life.

The Workbench Before Restoration

Unfortunately, this workbench had been left unused for years, stored away in a cellar. Although it was quite sturdy in its construction, it was in a rather poor state. In this photo, you can see the condition it was in when I first got it.

Disassembly and Cleaning of the Workbench Pieces

The workbench, although handmade using reclaimed wood, is sturdy and well-constructed. However, it is dirty and worn, and the three planks that make up the top were assembled with a gap of about half a centimetre between each one, which has now collected all sorts of dirt over time.
So, I disassembled the top, the drawer, and the frame supporting the shelves, and cleaned and washed each piece thoroughly.

Sanding the Workbench Top and Shelves

Since the top was particularly damaged, I decided to remove the varnish by first using an electric planer and then an orbital sander, bringing the wood back to its natural state.

My plan is to repaint the entire wooden frame with a couple of coats of enamel but keep the workbench top and shelves in their natural wood finish.

Woodworm Treatment

Upon a visual inspection, I noticed the presence of woodworms in several areas. To prevent ending up with a pile of sawdust instead of a table in a few years’ time, I applied a couple of coats of woodworm treatment using a brush.

Enamel Painting of the Frame

I made a slight modification to the structure by removing the front crossbar so that the workbench could also be used while seated.
I then filled in the existing holes and applied two coats of light blue synthetic enamel (which gives it a professional workshop look) to the entire surface of the table’s base.

Fixing the Workbench Top

As I mentioned earlier, the planks were originally assembled with a gap of at least half a centimetre between each one, which, over time, had naturally filled with all kinds of dirt imaginable.
I decided to create a single, solid surface by edge-gluing the boards together using 8mm beech dowels and a Wolfcraft dowelling jig

Using this dowelling jig (available in various brands and models), it’s quite easy to align the holes on the two boards without any risk of misplacing them. After drilling the holes in the centre of the edge of the first board, simply insert the dowels. Once the two boards are aligned and clamped together, you can use the specialised guide to transfer the holes to the second board, as shown in the photo.

I then carried out a dry assembly to check that the holes were drilled correctly and that the two pieces fit together perfectly.
The first and last dowel were positioned at a certain distance from the edges of the boards because I plan to cut two 5 cm strips from the top to insert crossbeams, which will help prevent the top from warping over time.

Gluing and Clamping the Workbench Top Boards

Since the dry assembly test went well, I glued the wooden boards of the top using standard PVA glue. 

"I then clamped the two pieces together tightly using woodworking clamps. Once everything was securely in place, I cleaned off the excess glue that had oozed out using a damp cloth. I then left it to dry overnight to allow the glue to set properly.

Cutting the Side Edges of the Workbench Top

After gluing the three boards together, the two side edges were left in a rough state, and the original green paint was virtually impossible to remove.
Additionally, near the edges, there were visible screw holes from when the boards were originally secured to the workbench. These looked quite unsightly, and I didn’t plan to reuse them since I had already decided to fix the top with screws from underneath.
Wanting to preserve as much of the original material as possible, I decided to salvage the piece by cutting a 5 cm strip from the edges of the top using a table saw. This way, I eliminated both the rough sections and the visible screw holes.

Installing the Side Crossbeams

Since the boards were quite warped (meaning the surface was far from being ‘flat’    ) and I also needed to make up for the 5 cm that I had cut off the edges, I decided to cut 5 cm wide strips and use them as crossbeams. This served a dual purpose: recovering the removed material and trying to straighten the top as much as possible.
Of course, I used wooden dowels and the usual dowelling jig to attach the strips.

Gluing and Clamping the Crossbeams

For the crossbeams, after confirming proper alignment of the dowel holes with a dry assembly test, I used PVA glue and tightened everything with woodworking clamps.
Since my clamps couldn’t cover the entire width of the top, I employed one of the ‘tricks’ shared by Mariobrossh in some of his posted projects. I screwed a strip to the centre of the underside of the top, allowing me to attach the clamps there and tighten everything securely.
Of course, I’ll remove the strip once the gluing is complete. The remaining holes won’t be an issue, as they’re in a non-visible area.

Sanding and Filling the Workbench Top

Obviously, I realised I made a bit of a mistake by painting the boards before assembling them, as now I have to go over them again with the orbital sander to smooth out the inevitable steps formed between the boards and the two crossbeams, which weren’t perfectly flat.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a thickness planer, so I couldn’t hope to correct the wood’s warping with a manual electric planer.
Using the sander, I started with a coarse grit disc (40) and gradually worked my way up to a fine grit (320).

Rounding the Edges of the Workbench Top

Using a bearing-guided router bit mounted on my router, I rounded the edges of the wooden top. This not only helps prevent the edges from chipping or getting damaged but also... let’s be honest, rounded edges just look nicer.

Protecting the Wood with Stain

As recommended by Mariobrossh, I applied three coats of water-based wood stain to preserve the natural wood colour of the top.
To apply the stain, I tried using a roller, and I must say, it worked quite well. After each coat, I lightly sanded the surface with very fine sandpaper (I believe it was 320 grit). I have to say, I was quite pleased with the final result.

Final Result of the Restoration Work

In the end, I secured the top using wood screws fastened from underneath the workbench. I reassembled the metal supports for the shelves, repainted the drawer, and added a steel handle with a classic (slightly retro) design.

The workbench has thus transformed from its original condition... which was this:

To its final state after what I like to call a restoration, which is this:

I hope you enjoyed the article and found it useful. For me, it was a pleasant and relaxing experience to restore this old workbench and give it a new lease on life in the corner of my garage dedicated to DIY and craftwork.
Thank you all, and I wish you a wonderful day.

P.S. If you have any questions, advice, or simply want to let us know that you enjoyed the article, feel free to visit the forum from which this article was derived and leave a message by following this link:

Consigli per restauro vecchio banco da lavoro

Thank you
Luciano (Capitan Farloc)