| Project by schwingding | posted 12-07-2007 02:19 PM | 4145 views | 4 times favorited | 24 comments |  |
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These are my recently completed basement workshop benches.
I made them my height, that is, they’re too short for normal humans (I’m 5’5”), and it is SO nice to have a bench that isn’t too tall for me. I do a lot of sitting down carving work as well and it is even nicer to have a bench that is the right height. Plus, as a hand tool junkie, I can put my body into hand planing rather than just my arms.
The benches are made using a dozen frames of 2×4 squares, each one through mortise and tenon’d together, and then thru bolted. The backs of each frame is screwed into a wall stud and the base is secured to the floor with liquid nails. Thereafter I laid 3 2×6s across the tops of the frames and on top of that 2 sheets of 3/4” plywood glued together. The tops are 1” thick solid laminated beech purchased from IKEA. The edges are framed in 2×4” white oak, with a curly maple backsplash. The drawers are made from 1/2 plywood with solid cherry fronts.
These benches are ROCK solid.
-- Just another woodworker
24 comments so far
rikkor
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11294 posts in 5364 days
#1 posted 12-07-2007 02:23 PM
Oooooh my, is that nice! And, unlike mine, you can still see the top.
toyguy
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1798 posts in 5327 days
#2 posted 12-07-2007 02:25 PM
Very nice….......I’m green with envy !
-- Brian, Ontario Canada,
Brad_Nailor
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2545 posts in 5447 days
#3 posted 12-07-2007 02:35 PM
That is a really nice bench. Lots of work space, and it’s made like it belongs in a fine kitchen. Nice work.
-- http://www.facebook.com/pages/DSO-Designs/297237806954248
DustyNewt
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690 posts in 5352 days
#4 posted 12-07-2007 02:44 PM
Beautiful and solid. Archeologists will probably dig these up in a thousand years and wonder what manner of man was this.
-- Peace in Wood ~ http://peace-in-wood-by-dustynewt.zibbet.com/
SPalm
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5338 posts in 5372 days
#5 posted 12-07-2007 03:46 PM
Very nice. I also have been eyeing that IKEA beech top. Hard to pass it up.
-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon
mot
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4928 posts in 5526 days
#6 posted 12-07-2007 04:00 PM
That’s a really nice setup. Nice find on the Ikea benches.
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Thos. Angle
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4444 posts in 5452 days
#7 posted 12-07-2007 04:33 PM
My kind of benches. That is some floor for a wood shop. Well done.
-- Thos. Angle, Jordan Valley, Oregon
CharlieM1958
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16292 posts in 5708 days
#8 posted 12-07-2007 06:11 PM
Wow! Niiiiice!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess they ARE rock-solid. They must weigh as much as a Sherman tank.
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
GaryK
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10262 posts in 5478 days
#9 posted 12-07-2007 06:16 PM
Great looking benchs! Too pretty to use… almost.
-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX
Blake
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3443 posts in 5364 days
#10 posted 12-07-2007 07:07 PM
Great arrangement, and TONS of working space. I love it. Load them up with crap on top and then they will be real workbenches.
Very nice, and it seems like you did it economically. Very good.
-- Happy woodworking!
John Gray
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2370 posts in 5375 days
#11 posted 12-07-2007 10:48 PM
Really really nice!!!! Could you post more pictures so we can see below the long side of it?
-- Only the Shadow knows....................
Kerux
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812 posts in 5374 days
#12 posted 12-08-2007 12:22 AM
And why isn’t that in MY SHOP? hmmmm?
Really nice!!!!
-- http://caledoniachurchofchrist.yolasite.com/
SWODADDY
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31 posts in 5331 days
#13 posted 12-08-2007 01:44 AM
Wow what a really nice job. I am going to build my own workbench here in a few weeks and I am going to think about the height now. I am 6’5” so i think it will be nice to bring it up a bit. Really nice project!!!!
-- The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goals, the tragedy of life lies in not having goals to reach for.
DrSawdust
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323 posts in 5588 days
#14 posted 12-08-2007 03:31 AM
I know what I what for christmas . . . a bench just like that . . . only a little taller, I’m 6’2” :-)
Excellent work!!!
-- Making sawdust is what I do best
Dorje
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1763 posts in 5486 days
#15 posted 12-08-2007 08:22 PM
Looks like a great set-up! Nice work!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
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