Building an All-Purpose Collapsible Work Stand – For Carpentry, Construction, and More!

In this video, I am building an all-purpose collapsible work stand using plywood and simple design. These work stands are a common place in a lot of Japanese worksites and shops. They are light, collapsible, and sturdy. I made a few of these work stands before and have seen them used in the carpentry shop where I work constantly. Sometimes it is hard to find a set to use because they are always being taken out of our workshop and into a construction site. For the cost of 3000 JPY (~$30 USD) you can make 3 sets of these work stands. We have used these work stands to stack over 40 sheets of drywall (plaster board) on top and also for supporting lumber and other things. I even saw them being used for a BBQ at the shop a few months ago.

I used 12mm thick plywood (or veneer board – ベニヤ板) cut down to 600 mm x 910 mm. The nominal size of plywood in Japan is 910 mm x 1820 mm which is perfect for making 3 sets of work stands from two sheets of plywood. I would recommend grouping the plywood together to make them a mated pair if in the event that your main cut to 600 mm x 910 mm is a little off. This entire project took about 4.5 hours and required some basic tools that most people may have.

The tools I used were:
Ryobi – Circular Saw EDM663
Black & Decker – Jigsaw
Milwaukee – M18 Drill (Japan Edition)
Tajima – Circular Saw Guide – MRG-LX1000
Dewalt – Compact Router
50 cm Shashigane
Tape Measure
Pencil

I hope you enjoy this video. Leave comments if you liked the video.
#woodworking #japanesewoodworking #carpentrylife
Videographers and Editing:
Kaori / Garrett

Equipment Used:
Olympus OMD EM-1 Mark iii (4k)
Apple iPhone 10 (4k)
Rode Interview Microphone (Audio)

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23 Comments

  1. I really appreciate that you shared the plans for table work tanks so much am following your adventure from France 🇫🇷 ✌️

  2. Definitely putting these in my shop. With limited space for storage of tools. This is perfect for me. Thanks as always and and always great job.

  3. Great stuff.
    Id have a tendency to make them much taller at around 890mm. From a standing position the orginal ones would destroy my back stooped over.
    Im going to build a modified set.
    Thanks for the vid👍

  4. After watching hours of your videos, theres something what keeps coming in my mind any time. …I see you, and others, often work so low. Why not using a bench to relieve the back? with my back, i would be tired and painfull withing hours of woodworking. much respect for you and your colleagues 👍👍

  5. I think I've never seen someone doing these triangular cut outs. Probably some people does not care much about its weight. I see no other reasons to cut it like this

  6. I imagine f you remove the center feet portions off both base panels, it should level easier, still have all the strength you might need on it and be lighter.

  7. 軽量化のための穴が現代的で独創的でとても良いですね
    車のシャーシみたいでデザインもカッコいいです

  8. I'd not realized the standard dimensions of a sheet of plywood in Japan was so different! Interesting to see.
    I can also say that as a tall person (~195cm), I might use US spec plywood to make much taller work surfaces… Like maybe only get a single stand out of a sheet of plywood and have 4' tall stands!! 😀

  9. I have just been asked to make these for an event here in Japan. And yes, as noted by other watchers timber sizes in Japan are annoyingly smaller. Ply boards stop at 12mm. Excellent video. Thanks.

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