My wife has picked up many of the workbench books I have lying around and asked me if I could make her something similar. She is an art teacher and painter and has her office/studio in our house. It turned out to be one of the most fun projects in some time. It is kind of a take on the weekend $250 workbench and some other ideas I have run across. The legs are 4x4 fir from Lowes, but I took some time finding better pieces and milled them to look nicer. The stretchers and bottom shelf are also Lowes fir, 2 x 8's. No joinery. Since this heavy beast had to be transported upstairs by yours truly (and will have to be transported if we move), it can be completely disassembled. I used butt joints with threaded 3/8" rods in a sort of truss rod system running through each leg and channels routed in the back of each stretcher. You would be surprised at how incredibly strong this is. The top is a bit of a cheat - 2 x 4' butcher block counter tops from Ikea. At $39 each, you simply can't beat that! The second top is hinged with retractable legs and can be pulled out to give a total table top of 4 x 4 feet ( see the second pic with the second top on and open). The drawers are Blum Metabox drawers with melamine for the bottom and back and pine for the drawer fronts. The casters are fantastic - double locking from Woodcraft. I put a couple coats of shellac on it all (not the tops) and that gave the fir a nice rich yellow/gold color. I covered that with a mix of beeswax, linseed oil and turpentine.
P.S. The studio is not usually this messy, but is in a bit of flux as we figure out where to put the new bench. Don't want you all thinking my wife is messy!
P.P.S. Mostly table saw and miter saw here for the frame of the bench, but all the pieces for the bottom shelf, cabinet for the drawers and all drawer pieces were made with my MFT/3 and TS75. The MFT was the assembly table for all of it and held a good 150 pounds of bench no problem through assembly and finishing. ES 150/3 for all sanding of course!
P.S. The studio is not usually this messy, but is in a bit of flux as we figure out where to put the new bench. Don't want you all thinking my wife is messy!
P.P.S. Mostly table saw and miter saw here for the frame of the bench, but all the pieces for the bottom shelf, cabinet for the drawers and all drawer pieces were made with my MFT/3 and TS75. The MFT was the assembly table for all of it and held a good 150 pounds of bench no problem through assembly and finishing. ES 150/3 for all sanding of course!
