Project Information
Here is my almost completed new work bench (74"L x 26"D x 36"H), still need to throw on some oil and wax on the top and drill dog holes. I had been using two plastic saw horses and a single layer of mdf, in as few words as possible, it sucked. So I had originally purchased 135 BDF of some maple from a local lumber guy to build myself a real work bench. After letting the wood sit for about a year I decided that I would begin my build, but then I had a realization, my current bench wasnt going to work to build it and I wanted to practice some joinery and building before diving into my dream bench. What came out of that is what you see here, its what I call my trial run work bench. The base is made up of Fir and maple. I purchased some 4×4 fir, the best pieces I could find at Orange and then grabbed one of the many boards of maple that I had in my garage. The legs and feet are fir and all the stretchers are maple. I drawboned the stretchers to the legs with thick mortise and tenon. This is definatly the way Ill make my base again, with the drawbone it is solid. The pegs were 3/8 oak. The top is a plywood and MDF sandwhich, bottom and top are 3/4" maple ply and two layers of 3/4 MDF glued and screwed together, very heavy. The apron is maple. For the vise I had a piece of 10/4 cherry in my junk bin, had some checking and holes, but made a great chop. The tool chest below is made from oak ply (which I got for free) and some oak boards I had laying around for the drawers. I laminated some oak and maple and turned the knobs for the drawers. It holds a lot of stuff. This was a great learning project and I feel confident now that my real bench will turn out great. This was also a budget build using stuff I had on hand. Minus the vise and the drawer slides I have about $100 into this build, with the hardware (which I will reuse on my next bench so I look at it as a mute) I have $160, so a total cost of about $260 Im very happy. I tried to move this thing last night to clean and I couldnt budge it. Luckily everything comes apart so when I have to move it becomes manageable, somewhat. Once I move to my new place with more space Ill start the new bench but until then this will work perfect for my uses.