I built something similar …and sounds like found the same experiences you did…hey but we have to start somewhere right…Great job, and now you have a place to learn somemore.
the nice thing here is,you have a nice,clean,simpl, sturdy design that is inexspencive to build and will serve you well for many years.if it gets to hacked up,build a new one.very nice work
Greetings: Stellar job on the bench. Now all you need is a couple of vices, some dog holes, and a bunch of drawers under the top, and you"ll have one heck of a workbench. Here's an example:
Thank you all for the nice comments and welcomes. Ya'll are too kind, for sure.
Now some specifics:
PineInTheAsh: Most choices were based on the plans calling for dimensional lumber without real specifics… but mainly on my naivete. I didn't think it made a real difference. Silly me.
noknot: Thank you for the wood info - it was haunting me! No real movement in the bench now (I guess I meant "warping" in my write-up) - that 50lb pebbles really helped keep it down and the door tied it all together (helped 'level' a bunch of my mistakes lol)
MOJOE: pretty simple once I flipped the frame over and worked it upside down. The HD saleman said the door weighed 130 [lb], but I'd put it closer to 80-90 [lb]. Oh and it just BARELY fit inside of a Honda Fit… won't do that again… probably.
Rick Dennington: That's a nice bench! I plan on making at least one column of shelves and adding a vice/dog setup, but I've got some major organization to work on first. Soon!
dustyal: At the HD. They didn't have any in the 'slightly damaged' section, but I asked a salesman and he took me to a hidden cubby with about 4-5 doors. 80" long and 32" or 36" wide. 32" was $54 new… I was way too excited to wait for one to 'get damaged' or shop around so I bit the bullet.
Nice job! I made a very similar bench and came to the same conclusions as you. Unlike you, however, I did not take the time to square up the dimensional lumber (when I made it, I did not have a jointer, planer, or tablesaw so there didn't seem to be an easy way). It threw all my measurements off, and while the bench came together nicely in the end, it bugs me everytime I look at my bench. The good news is that when you use 2×4s, it's cheap! I could take the top off, rebuild the frame/legs and spend about $20 doing it.