Download the PDF Plan
Join me for a simple build using only basic hand tools and hopefully pick up on a few tips and tricks along the way.
These bench trays are great for storing all of the little bits and tools that you might have rolling around on your workbench top. All dimensions are shown in the drawing and it’s really simple to alter these to build a tray at your preferred size. This is a perfect weekend project, especially if you’re just getting to grips with hand cut dovetails.
Download the plan and build your own.
![Pt 2: Reamers & Tenon Cutters: Use & Applications [Shop bought vs Homemade]](https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/355735B8-6EB7-48E7-8135-A45EC52D5F2F-400x250.jpeg)
![Pt 1: Understanding Chair Joinery: Tapered Round Joints | [ FREE 6 Part Video Course]](https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/D4FD5406-5390-49FC-B939-255EFF4F845C-400x250.jpeg)
![Why and How to Blunt Your Chisels [VIDEO]](https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/26269099-F519-415D-9196-5BF152B10DFF-400x250.jpeg)
![Remove Saw Set = Improve Your Joinery [Video]](https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/9D16FCB8-2406-4C54-93C9-550C75097009-400x250.jpeg)
jobs a good’n
Always a pleasure to watch your work!
Not underwhelming in the least. What a joy to watch you work and pass along so much skill in such a basic project. Thank you.
Well explained with some interesting tips (as usual). Good to see you’re back!
Glad to see a new video.
A cardboard dovetail template – genius.
A nice project that I can use. Definitely building one because my workbench turns into a mess.
This entire job and video was brilliant! It’s not what we make but how we make it – large small or otherwise. Love the intro and the music too – never ceases to entertain. Thanks so much for doing what the pair of you do to make the world a better place.
9I did something right then.I made a tray last summer for same reason .Good job and love the comment one tends to pile the workshop in it .
Underwhelming… if one ever feels insignificant, try to sleep in a room with one mosquito.
Loads of small tips that’s HIGHLY useful, such as a cardboard dovetail guide. No real need for my posh 4-in-1 dovetail guide, then! 🙂
Good to see you back at it, Richard. A bit concerned about your lungs – I kicked that habit years ago, but I’m gonna warn you: the sum of one’s vices is constant….
Oh, and the mosquito: should it alight upon one’s so-called pride and joy—the family jewels, those regions customarily approached with reverence and the utmost delicacy—it offers a quiet but decisive proof that violence is not, in fact, a universal remedy.
Hello Richard and Hellen,
A really nice video as always. It’s the small things that set you apart from the rest, like the dovetail marker and that shooting of the sides.
But why not just nail the bottom? Is it purely for the chamfer?
Thanks
Jeroen
When’s the next series? I’m ready to preorder!
“Well… I may or may not have accidentally stumbled into the pub last night.” 😀
Love it. Been there, done that a few times.
That`s a lovely double bass you have there. Are you playing on the video?
Another great video though. Always enjoy watching you work.
Like the wee bench tray and will definitely be making one.
Cheers. 🙂
Glad to see you back. The first thing I noticed was the cigarette.
Like the no fuss style and easy to follow your process
It’s good to see an expert at work with such ease
I will definitely be making a bench tray once I’ve built my workbench
Happy new year Richard
Thank you
Just wanted to say the glue line at the bottom could have been concealed with a bead. That would only require fitting the bottom and rounding edges before gluing. A bead can be scrapped after gluing the bottom too if you don’t mind the looks of a scrapped pine.
Nice one Richard. Thank you.
So glad to see you back at it again. Simplistic detailed methods of the use of hand tools to achieve the fine high quality results. Hope to see you soon on the next project.
Great to see you back.
However, I couldn’t help but notice a certain shift in tone in your videos. Cigarettes? Pub? Overall dark and depressive mood? New location. New workbench.
I understand that time wasn’t having a nap in the last years. Life happened. If it was hard on you and your family, please rest assured that you have a huge bunch of people out here on the internet who greatly appreciate your work and commitment! You had an immense, positive impact on us in terms of helpful tips, insights into a professional’s mind and great humour!
So if you plan a new series, there is only one thing to say: Shut up and take my money. 🙂 Looking forward to it!
Have you seen Paul Seller’s latest post about softwood dovetailing? He’s suggesting that working to pencil lines creates looser joints in softwood – meaning it as a good thing? But as you have found… in softwoods, the pencil allows you to choose a level of extra-compression, not just cutting to one side of the line, but leaving a sliver of wood between saw and line (shown in your video). He deleted my comment about this difference!