Project Information
Well, it took me a week and half to build it, but I KNOW it was well worth the effort!
For the last month I have been doing upgrades to my shop. First I put in a steel ceiling and new lighting. Next, since I had NO drawer space at all, I decided to take the time and build what you see here - a very sturdy bench with two banks of drawers built into it.
The bench measures 10 feet long and is 28 inches deep. The body is made from framing lumber and the top is made from 10 inch wide lodgepole pine. It started out around 1 3/4" thick and when smoothed wound up just over an inch and a half. The three sections are biscuit jointed and glued together with breadboard ends to (hopefully) keep it from warping.
All imperfections in the surface were filled with water putty and then re-sanded smooth. A coat of spar varnish was applied and then a final coat of semi-gloss poly. The pictures were taken when the poly was still wet - I hope it will dull out a tad when dry.
It's a small shame I'm going to be drilling holes in the top tomorrow to place some of my bench top tools on.
There are also 16 drawers built into the base - 4 at 9 inches deep, 8 at 5 inches deep and 4 more at 4 inches.
I already have plans to fill the majority of the drawers, which worries me a little.
I really hope this bench lasts me a long while - it was a pretty big effort, but it feels worth it now!
I really need to thank Matthias Wandel for giving me most of the ideas for this build.
Enjoy!
-bob
For the last month I have been doing upgrades to my shop. First I put in a steel ceiling and new lighting. Next, since I had NO drawer space at all, I decided to take the time and build what you see here - a very sturdy bench with two banks of drawers built into it.
The bench measures 10 feet long and is 28 inches deep. The body is made from framing lumber and the top is made from 10 inch wide lodgepole pine. It started out around 1 3/4" thick and when smoothed wound up just over an inch and a half. The three sections are biscuit jointed and glued together with breadboard ends to (hopefully) keep it from warping.
All imperfections in the surface were filled with water putty and then re-sanded smooth. A coat of spar varnish was applied and then a final coat of semi-gloss poly. The pictures were taken when the poly was still wet - I hope it will dull out a tad when dry.
It's a small shame I'm going to be drilling holes in the top tomorrow to place some of my bench top tools on.
There are also 16 drawers built into the base - 4 at 9 inches deep, 8 at 5 inches deep and 4 more at 4 inches.
I already have plans to fill the majority of the drawers, which worries me a little.
I really hope this bench lasts me a long while - it was a pretty big effort, but it feels worth it now!
I really need to thank Matthias Wandel for giving me most of the ideas for this build.
Enjoy!
-bob