2/7/04
The Workbench

We spent a long weekend up at the country so there was no work done on the Ferrari, but I managed a couple of hours in my garage working on a workbench. The workbench is a pretty important piece of equipment in any shop, so I wanted to make sure I made one that would be better than anything I have made or used in the past. After spending some time thinking and drawing out my plans, I decided that I would need to build more than one bench to serve my needs, so I set to work on my “high bench.” This bench would be 40 inches high, and work well for detail work where I needed to be close to my work, like carburetor rebuilding, or soldering. Anything lower for this kind of work is bad for my back, and hard for me to see up close. It wouldn’t need to be too deep, so I planned for it to be less than 30 inches deep so I will still be able to reach things hanging on the wall behind this bench.

I set up a temporary work table for my sawing and drilling on a folding table I found in the trash. It’s amazing the things people throw out in NYC! I often find perfectly serviceable things thrown out on trash day, and I call my bringing them home “Curb Shopping!” I try not to collect junk, but a banquet table with a couple of scratches was perfect to take upstate to my garage. It already made itself useful by helping me cut some wood!

I doubled up my 2X4s for each leg and bolted them to the diagonal bracing with carriage bolts. The bottom of these legs will get more bracing and the top will get screwed to the plywood counter top. I plan to use two sheets of plywood for the top and glue these two layer together. It may seem over built, but I hate wobbly work benches. I also like to have a work bench with some weight to it so when I do some heavy hammering, the bench can absorb the impact.

Next is a trip to the lumber yard for some plywood!

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