Sitting inside one Tennessee shop, it was hard not to notice the welding setup. In the center, a massive welding table topped with a 1-inch-thick slab of steel. Never saw one that big. And no army was going to move it.

At a shop in Illinois, the owner hoisted a large and old anvil to the top of his welding table. He told us that he could hit the anvil with a 3-pound sledge, as hard as he could, and the table wouldn't move.

He hit it.

The table didn't even shimmy.

Great welding tables are built first in the minds of farmers who know that a welder, a cutting torch, and even a plasma cutter (and a heavy hammer) are indispensable in a fully functioning shop.

Based on what we've seen, we took a swing at our own table.

While the two tables described above are the battleships of the welding trade, ours is more like a cruiser -- a bit lighter and sleeker, but still able to take a punch -- and perform heavy work. It has easy-to-add features that maximize the size of the work surface. Its compact, well-designed storage spaces let you move parts and tools with the table.

This table weighs 850 pounds and sits on four 1,000-pound max-load wheels. The top is 4-by-8-foot, 3/8-inch plate steel. The table stands roughly 36 inches off the floor. The welded frame uses mostly 2-by-2-inch square steel tubing.

Here are some of the features of our do-it-yourself welding table. You can also see these features close up in this video: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

-- The coolest part. This 40-bin rotating parts tower is made of three readily available parts. The bins are hung on a louvered panel bent to form the tower. The point where the panel ends meet is spot welded. The tower is welded to a heavy-duty speaker swivel. The swivel is bolted to heavy-load drawer pulls. The entire assembly is screwed to the bottom shelf of the table. The tower can be stored under the tabletop or pulled out for easy access.

-- Take a break. This table includes a swing-out seat. The hinges mounted to a table leg are made from lengths of steel pipe and welded to the leg with a piece of bar steel. The seat is taken from an adjustable stool. Here it screws down into a female-threaded coupler welded to the end of a mounting frame. The seat is designed to be adjustable.

-- Space for parts. Rows of parts bins are each supported with two lengths of flat bar steel -- six pieces of bar in all. A plastic lip on the back of the bin hangs over the top piece of flat bar in the row. To keep the bin extended forward, a second piece of flat bar rests against the back lower half of the bin. Notice that the tabletop extends over the parts bins. This keeps welding waste from filling the bins.

-- Heavy-duty storage. Space on the back side of this welding table is not wasted. The steel mesh-encased storage area is divided into two shelves. The top shelf has a mesh bottom to let debris fall through to the bottom shelf where it can be swept away. The upper shelf also is recessed an inch to keep tools and parts from falling onto the floor while the table is being moved. Between the shelving area and one end of the table, a length of round bar is welded in place. This creates a convenient spot to hang various welding clamps.

Tell us what you think. What might you have done differently? Send us a picture or video of you working with your welding table.

Send them to: Dan Miller, The Progressive Farmer, 2204 Lakeshore Dr., Suite 415, Birmingham, AL 35209 or email dan.miller@dtn.com. If we use it, you get $50 plus a hat.

Follow Dan Miller on Twitter @DMillerPF

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