Where I started and where we're going...
Workbenches. We all have them. We all love them. Are we ever satisfied with them? Probably not. Or at least, I'm not. I guess to fully appreciate my current journey, you should know where I began.
I don't think that I have a photo of my very first workbench. At least, not one readily available. However, I can paint the picture verbally. I wanted to start reloading. For those of you who are unfamiliar, reloading is building your own bullets. This was back around 2010 or so. Anyone who is a firearms enthusiast knows that at that time, ammunition was very difficult to find and expensive to procure. I got a wild hair one day and decided to build a reloading bench. The fact that I had a sum total of ZERO in the way of knowledge of or necessary equipment or components for reloading (or bench building, for that matter) might have discouraged a lesser (read wiser) man, but nonplussed, I bravely began blazing the path to being able to shoot more/cheaper.
Only the finest of materials would suffice for this bench, so I wisely chose either Lowe's or Home Depot (don't remember which) as my supplier. I, in my infinite wisdom, selected 3/4" pine boards as the beefy top to my first bench. I attached a 2Ă—4 to the studs (at least I hope that I hit the studs!!!) in my garage, and the screwed 3 pieces of 2Ă—4 into the top of that. I ran the 3/4" boards across those and propped up the front with 2Ă—4 legs that were very poorly cut.
There you have it. My first bench. It wasn't really level. It wasn't really strong. It wasn't really even a bench, but what it was was the first step down a road that I may never reach the end of.
It didn't take me long time realize that I MIGHT be able to ever so slightly improve on my initial design.
I decided that if ever given the opportunity to build another, and really- after the solid construction of the first, would that time ever come…- I would build a solid base using 2×4s and 4×4s.
I thought that if I ever did acquire the equipment and components needed to begin reloading, I MIGHT want something a little sturdier. Luckily, a promotion and a move to a new house afforded that opportunity.
Upon arrival at the new house, I put my plan in to place. I wanted this to be the bench to end all benches. I built it - using only a drill and a circular saw - bigger than I intended. I cut down 6 legs from pressure treated 4Ă—4s and framed those out with 2Ă—4s. I hadn't discovered the necessity of measuring at this point, so my bench ended up being slightly (ok- a lot) taller than I intended. 45" of tall. It was also 8 feet wide and 36" deep. As I said, it was to be the bench to end all benches.
Now, at that point, I actually did acquire reloading equipment and components, and certainly wasn't strapped for space. My bench could comfortably accommodate 8-10 people and was plenty beefy. I had not yet discovered the importance of things like sanding, gluing, jointing or planing. Even without that knowledge, I knew that if there were ever an opportunity to refine my design (and at this point even I - as inexperienced as I was - knew that it wouldn't be long before I would create a reason) I would make a few changes.
The opportunity to further refine my design presented itself relatively quickly. By this point, I had started edging into the quicksand that is woodworking. I had begun acquiring tools, but had no real method for storage. My refined workbench was going to be slightly smaller and would be butted up beneath a pegboard tool wall.
I still had not purchased a planer or jointer, but I had learned the trick of running the 2Ă—4s through a table saw to knock the rounded edges off allowing the boards to be butted together without the "valleys" between them. This was the result:
Overall, I was thrilled with the newest iteration of my workbench. Little did I know that the journey was just beginning.
In the next entry, I will discuss the last bench that I built and its pros and cons. Then, I will discuss my most recent bench build and bring you along on the journey as I continue my quest for a better bench. Thanks for reading!
Workbenches. We all have them. We all love them. Are we ever satisfied with them? Probably not. Or at least, I'm not. I guess to fully appreciate my current journey, you should know where I began.
I don't think that I have a photo of my very first workbench. At least, not one readily available. However, I can paint the picture verbally. I wanted to start reloading. For those of you who are unfamiliar, reloading is building your own bullets. This was back around 2010 or so. Anyone who is a firearms enthusiast knows that at that time, ammunition was very difficult to find and expensive to procure. I got a wild hair one day and decided to build a reloading bench. The fact that I had a sum total of ZERO in the way of knowledge of or necessary equipment or components for reloading (or bench building, for that matter) might have discouraged a lesser (read wiser) man, but nonplussed, I bravely began blazing the path to being able to shoot more/cheaper.
Only the finest of materials would suffice for this bench, so I wisely chose either Lowe's or Home Depot (don't remember which) as my supplier. I, in my infinite wisdom, selected 3/4" pine boards as the beefy top to my first bench. I attached a 2Ă—4 to the studs (at least I hope that I hit the studs!!!) in my garage, and the screwed 3 pieces of 2Ă—4 into the top of that. I ran the 3/4" boards across those and propped up the front with 2Ă—4 legs that were very poorly cut.
There you have it. My first bench. It wasn't really level. It wasn't really strong. It wasn't really even a bench, but what it was was the first step down a road that I may never reach the end of.
It didn't take me long time realize that I MIGHT be able to ever so slightly improve on my initial design.
I decided that if ever given the opportunity to build another, and really- after the solid construction of the first, would that time ever come…- I would build a solid base using 2×4s and 4×4s.
I thought that if I ever did acquire the equipment and components needed to begin reloading, I MIGHT want something a little sturdier. Luckily, a promotion and a move to a new house afforded that opportunity.
Upon arrival at the new house, I put my plan in to place. I wanted this to be the bench to end all benches. I built it - using only a drill and a circular saw - bigger than I intended. I cut down 6 legs from pressure treated 4Ă—4s and framed those out with 2Ă—4s. I hadn't discovered the necessity of measuring at this point, so my bench ended up being slightly (ok- a lot) taller than I intended. 45" of tall. It was also 8 feet wide and 36" deep. As I said, it was to be the bench to end all benches.
Now, at that point, I actually did acquire reloading equipment and components, and certainly wasn't strapped for space. My bench could comfortably accommodate 8-10 people and was plenty beefy. I had not yet discovered the importance of things like sanding, gluing, jointing or planing. Even without that knowledge, I knew that if there were ever an opportunity to refine my design (and at this point even I - as inexperienced as I was - knew that it wouldn't be long before I would create a reason) I would make a few changes.
The opportunity to further refine my design presented itself relatively quickly. By this point, I had started edging into the quicksand that is woodworking. I had begun acquiring tools, but had no real method for storage. My refined workbench was going to be slightly smaller and would be butted up beneath a pegboard tool wall.
I still had not purchased a planer or jointer, but I had learned the trick of running the 2Ă—4s through a table saw to knock the rounded edges off allowing the boards to be butted together without the "valleys" between them. This was the result:
Overall, I was thrilled with the newest iteration of my workbench. Little did I know that the journey was just beginning.
In the next entry, I will discuss the last bench that I built and its pros and cons. Then, I will discuss my most recent bench build and bring you along on the journey as I continue my quest for a better bench. Thanks for reading!