As bad as I hate it, Facebook marketplace helped me out with this exact problem. I found this about 30 minutes from my house and got it for $400 delivered! 4.5 x 12 feet with 1/4 inch steel top. Took about 3 hours of cleanup and paint but now I have my mig welder and cylinder, 6 inch vise, 6 inch dual wheel buffer, a stack of 10 jm23 insulation blocks for a oven I'm working on sitting on it and plenty of extra working room.

You never know what you'll find, just have to be prepared to jump on it. The guy had posted it 30 minutes before I saw it so I lucked out, maybe you will too.

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As bad as I hate it, Facebook marketplace helped me out with this exact problem. I found this about 30 minutes from my house and got it for $400 delivered! 4.5 x 12 feet with 1/4 inch steel top. Took about 3 hours of cleanup and paint but now I have my mig welder and cylinder, 6 inch vise, 6 inch dual wheel buffer, a stack of 10 jm23 insulation blocks for a oven I'm working on sitting on it and plenty of extra working room.

You never know what you'll find, just have to be prepared to jump on it. The guy had posted it 30 minutes before I saw it so I lucked out, maybe you will too.

Great Find! I've been looking there, so far no luck.

I have a steel top/wood base for my hot work and have a long wooden table for my drill press, chop saw, and belt sander. Both tables are build out of 2 by 6's and 4 by 4's

My first benches were 2x4 and 4x4 depending on the weight needed. But I went to local steel shops like the local welders and fabricators and asked if I could buy some of their scraps.

I picked up some 2x2" tube for the legs and cross sections then they sold me the 6 footers at their cost plus a little.

I did have to to buy my top but that was a little spendy. think its 2'x6' or 2.5'x6' dont recall. somedays it seems bigger than others.. lol

at 1/2" thick it was nearly 300 for it. But she is a sturdy beast.

Scrap yards and recycle centers will sell you stuff. Heck a repurposed stainless steel table base from a kitchen going out of business and a wood top is just fine to start.

After I posted, I went to work and paid attention to my table needs. When I first started out on my own, I followed what I had when I worked for others and got a 1/2 plate cut into 5/4' and 3/4'. When I was doing architectural work, they came in real handy. But now days, I mostly do small stuff and while it's a lot of forging, nothing I do requires a steel table. At best a small sheet of steel to draw on and be able to hold hot work up against is all I really need. Not saying a heavy steel table isn't a great thing to have, just you don't really need it.