Mitersaw Bench Design

Hi Chuck,

I used the NYW plan for the miter bench and in one section put in a several 3” drawers (you scan see some of it in my workshop post). I put boxes of screws in one, boxes of nails and brads in another and use another as catchall drawer for loose screws, washers, hinges, etc. In addition I built extension wings that sit proud of the bench and put small drawers (2.5”) in between the supports to hold tools like folding rules, angle gauge drill doctor accessories, etc.

Once you get the bigger drawers, (I put my nail guns, hand planer, glue gun, routers, etc. in these) sized right then you can use the smaller ones for odds and ends like the ones I mentioned above.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Scott, yours is exactly how I would have done it if I didn’t have a slider, but with the slider my saw sits much further forward and so I didn’t think I wanted the wings taking up all that counter space. However, I wonder why Norm didn’t use that dead space in the wings for little drawers… it was so obvious to me and apparently to you and a few others who have built that bench to use that space for drawers, wonder why he didn’t think ofi t… maybe he didn’t want to add to the project. Who knows? But I do like the idea of the catchall drawer and the shallow drawer for screws and stuff… that might be something to think about. Thanks for the response.

-- Chuck [Elgin, IL]

One thing I realized on mine was why Norm actually used rather short drawer sides and large fronts. I started making my “tall” drawers and quickly realized how much wood it used !!! My first drawer was 12” tall, my last drawer was 6” ;) Then again I also used 3/4 all around. I love overkill.

-- Tom, Central New York

Ok here is a revamped design. on the left I have the large 16 inch drawer followed by a 10 1/2” then a 7 1/2” and a 6 7/8” however that top drawer overlays the top 3/4 inch plywood support by 5/8 of an inch, so the actual drawer will be closer to 6 inches high, which is a big drawer.

The right side has 3 3” drawers (the fronts are 4”) then a 5” a 6” a 7” and then the bottom drawer is 9 1/2 inches. The top 3 drawers will hold screws lose in divided spaces, the following drawers will hold boxes of screws and nails followed by jars of screws and misc hardware.

The tops now have 3/4 melamine instead of the hardboard and that now makes the space for the saw 5 inches giving me just over a half of inch to shim and level the saw with the tops.

-- Chuck [Elgin, IL]

Hi Chuck,

This is looking pretty good. The overhang on the right side is ok. I have the same thing on mine because I wanted to make the turn for another run of cabinets down the adjacent wall. I generally use it to store my pancake compressor there (and any other odds and ends that I can fit it there). If I ever redesign the area I probably will fill this in with a cabinet.

I agree with you about the wings and your saw. I thought about putting my slider in there as well but like you say the placement of the wings would have used up all the available bench space. So I put my Craftsman saw there and don’t use it much. The other difficulty I had with putting the slider in there is that it needed a 30” clearance. While the counter is 36” deep the saw would still protrude about 6” beyond the edge of the bench.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Scott, the reason I have the overhang is becasue I have outlets on that wall and didn’t want to cover them up with a cabinet… the wall this is going on is my power wall… so I need access. I have 4 outlets being covered by the left cabinet, but if the pancake compressor is inside the cabinet then thats good, plus I’ll probably cut an access hole in the side so I can reach in there. Plus I will probably stick either the shop vac or the cuttoff can under that wing. I use an old Builders Square garbage can to hold cuttoffs, it would fit perfectly there. The space under the saw is for my dust collection gates… when I post the first batch of pictures in my blog, you’ll understand why I can’t store anything under there.

look for that soon, I think this design is my official plan.

-- Chuck [Elgin, IL]