Workbench

My first workbench

This morning I finished up a project I've been working on for a few weeks! A workbench!

Created out of a need for a real area to work and to store tools. I also added a workshop lamp for good visibility because that floor lamp in the picture just wasn't cutting it.

I started off with a model in SketchUp. The design is pretty simple. Four feet wide, two-foot depth, 37 1/2 inches tall. Only three different cut lengths, sixteen 2x4 pieces total. Two 2'x4' boards for the surfaces, one with a cutout for the legs. The pieces laid out on the "floor" were to visualize how many 8' 2x4s I would need to purchase.

All the pieces after being cut to length. Had a very hard time selecting the lumber because clean, straight wood is hard to come by for cheap.

Here is one of the frames after being put together.

The bottom shelf board with the cutouts. I wasn't paying attention when I was drawing the lines for the cutout and oriented one of the corners wrong ...

The two frames laying on top of eachother. In the background is a rejected frame because it was just too warped..

The legs put on between the two frames. The bottom surface was placed before everything got screwed together so it could be slid back down into place.

Picture of the room the workbench would be going in. Very messy and ugly!! Going to be working on cleaning it out this weekend.

Tacked down the top surface with some nails. Everything's all solid now! Sanded down the tabletop with a rough grit and a fine grit to try and smooth down the board as much as I could (this material was very groovy and prone to chipping so it was definitely necessary). Placed a lot of the toolstuffs on the lower level.

Notice the poor lighting. So little light on the top! It's all pouring in from the side. Not very good for working on stuff. Definitely had to get a proper lamp in here.

The final product again just to compare with the lighting.

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Closing thoughts...

Looking back on this project, if I were to do something differently, I think it would perhaps be to skip the creation of the frames before attaching the legs, and to instead attach the pieces individually. The long pieces to the legs, and then the cross beams to the long pieces.

I don't know for sure at this point, but I feel as though the frustrations of the frames ending up wobbly due to warped wood could have been avoided by not trying to get everything together at the same time.

Anywho, this is great! I think it came out really well and I'm excited to have somewhere to work.