Above 1200 Sq/FT Blue Bomber's Garages

BB: I like your GET R DONE attitude and looks like you are making great progress on your new oak workbench.

while I don't have a BEST answer for you on the gaps I bet if you post up your questions over on the Woodworking 101 thread in general tools section one of those guys might have some proven method.

I like the glue and sawdust from the planer method mentioned. or maybe epoxy or maybe just let your finish fill in the gaps and guessing you might be using poly or varathane or some other clear product so the grain of the oak can shine.

i've got more than a few feet of cedar I bought from a local mill to plane for my fence and deck so i'm watching what you are doing and learning a lot. i'm guessing the rule is you can not own enough clamps isn't it. i've seen clamp storage options that seem to work with others, but since i have such a limited space in my garage i'm thinking i can't use a cart and i'll have to maybe hang several of mine on the back of the man door which is dead space anyway. I tried to find my pictures of clamp storage on the back of a door, but didn't have one handy so posting few i did have saved and there are more on this thread if you'd like to post up your oak clamping on it here's the link:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6914103&highlight=clamp+door#post6914103

i'm looking forward to seeing how your oak top goes together and do you already have a plan for the legs or are you putting this butcherblock oak top on some metal or wood cabinets?

good luck

spudley said:

I've used a sawdust/glue paste to fill in gaps. Keeps the color uniform.
Nice work!

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Good advice, spudley--thanks! Looks like I'll have Sunday for garage time. I hope to start on the workbench construction tomorrow.

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Finally got a chance to get back to workbench construction. Here's the starting point. The workbench will be about 30" deep, from the wall to the front of the 6x6 columns, and stretch between them, a total of eight feet long. The two tool chests are Harbor Freight 44's and theyll be built in. Therefore, the first thing to do was remove the drawers and lay one down to...



...remove the wheels. These are pretty impressive rollers, fully greasable and with robust brakes. I'll definitely keep them around for a future project.



The next task was figuring what to do with the wall at the back of the bench. I decided I didn't want to stare a bare studs behind a my butcherblock, so I sheetrocked it with some sheets given to me for helping as friend to move. Plus, they were cluttering up my other garage, so win-win.



First, I insulated with an extra roll from another project.



Then the sheetrock. My mezzanine was exactly four feet above the stem wall, so a full width sheet fit with only cutting for outlets.



Next was the cabinet base. I priced out metal tubing like a lot of other folks on here have done, but the bill was more than I could stomach. I turned once again to my leftovers pile and found enough pressure treated 2x4s to do the trick.



My garage floor slopes back to front as most do for drainage, so I puzzled a while on how to get the base level. I settled on using spacers to level the platform, then I used a spacer to trace the floor height onto the edge of the platform. After disassembling the individual pieces, I ripped them on the table saw and then put the base back together. This technique worked perfectly.



The tool chests will help hold up the bench top, but the primary support will come from 3/4" plywood salvaged from shipping fixtures for my wife's new office furniture.



A ripped 2x piece of pressure treated board established the correct height along the wall for the back of the bench.



This little spacer will help support the plywood end and protect it from water/fluid damage.



The plywood is also nailed to the 6x6 column.



That's as far as I got. I probably won't get back to it for a while unless I sneak in some week night work. The next two weekends are claimed by SWMBO for setting up furniture and fittings in her new office.

A few activities over the last two weeks...

First, SWMBO asked me to install some high-dollar displays in the front window of her new office. The display is a set of clear acrylic boxes attached to cables suspended from the ceiling and tensioned at the floor. With a drop tile ceiling and concrete floors to deal with, I puzzled a while before deciding to weld up some brackets to attach to the aluminum window frames.




Here's the installed display...



...and here's the finished bracket. One thing that's unusual about this display is that power for the LED lights flows down the unshielded steel cables. Apparently, it's okay to expose the public to low-voltage, low current wires. Just to be sure, I licked my fingertips and touched both wires--I felt no significant tingle.



SWMBO had me install just the first one to decide if she liked it. She's not totally thrilled with the shelf (dust shows up very easily), but thinks the front window looks unbalanced without the other one. I agree, so I'll be installing the second shelf in the near future.

While I had the welder out, I also worked on repairing some folding tables for the church that sponsors our Boy Scout troop. I've had these for a couple of months, so I'm glad to finally get to them.



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SWMBO opened her new office last Monday, and it looks beautiful! Everything worked pretty much as expected, so this Saturday we took a break from the family business, giving me a chance to get back to the workbench build.

First step was to cut and fasten the second 3/4" plywood end leg to the far column, with the same type of pressure treated support block underneath. No pictures of that, so below is what it looked like with the second chest emptied out and in place.



This space between the chests will hold a hose reel, if there's enough width (it'll be close).



This space will be storage for long materials. I have a Jack Olsen-esque plan for how to make it accessable. That will probably be quite a bit in the future.



I next turned to gluing the slabs of oak butcherblock together. One of the four ended up with about a half inch warp along its length, so I used one of the other slabs as a straight edge and then straightened the edges very carefully with a circular saw.



With that done, on to bench top assembly. I used the biscuit joiner to help ensure the surfaces of the slabs stayed aligned through the assembly.



After getting the first one in place, I noticed glue was dripping onto the floor from the first seam. Not wanting to waste glue or make a bigger mess than was already there, I prepped the next two and then clamped the whole shebang at once.



Here's the finished product the next morning. Overall, better than I had feared. There were still a number of gaps between boards, both along the seams as well as already present ones in each slab.



By the end of the day, I had attached a pair of full size fence boards to the back of the slab, notched the front of the slab by 1/2" on either side to clear the two columns and enlisted my visiting daughter and her boyfriend to help me maneuver it into place.



Dead level from left to right. That felt pretty good!



I'm going to add more plywood legs between the two cabinets to support the middle, but I also wanted to help spread the load across the front of the tool chest as well as clean up the gap. I cut two more pieces of oak and glued them to the bottom of the work bench slab.



Finally, I reinstalled the drawers to get a "money shot" for tonight's thread entry. Unfortunately, here's where I discovered my two Harbor Freight 44" tool chests were different part numbers and the drawers were not interchangable between the two. It seems the back drawer lock is in different positions on the double deep drawers and that the slides and slide release locks are mirror imaged. What the means is that you can install all the drawers into the wrong chest and not realize what've you've done until you get to the bottom double deep drawer. No problem, I thought, just pull it out and put it in the other chest. Yeah, this is where the mirrored slides bit me in the ***. The slide retainers don't release properly in this situation and I broke several of them before I realized what was happening and found a way to get them out without breaking the plastic clips. Overall, what should have been a quick install turned into an hour long ordeal. Nevertheless, here's the money shot:



The next step will be to fasten the slab to the support structure around it, install the central legs and seal the surface with boiled linseed oil. Still a lot of work to go, but this was a major milestone!

That workbench is nice and tight fitting, good work!

That is a very nice work bench. Congrats. on the results of your hard work.


Vince

That bench top turned out looking great! Bummer that the tool boxes turned into a bunch of extra time for you, though.

BB: awesome work on your new bench top and your toolbox bench in general. I'm wondering if you might just put on a little wider trim piece on the front of your new bench top to cover the little gap on the top of your toolboxes?

also did you make that little gap/cut on the side for a wire or do tell?

I also like the long storage behind your bench idea cause that's always tough to find spots for. another option is hanging lofts, but putting heavy stuff up there can be a pain or dangerous.

keep up the great work!!

Thanks, gents!

Drives: I did cover the gap above both tool chests with another bit of oak, just like in the second pic. Good eyes spotting the little notch in one end. It was not planned--I just missed getting an eight foot length in one slab by an inch on two boards.

This coming weekend, I hope to get a belt sander on it as well as finish installation and sealing.

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I did some more sanding this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't control the 36-grit belt sander well enough and put some gouges in the work surface. After doing some touch up sanding with 120-grit paper on a vibrating sander, I reminded myself that this was a workbench and not a coffee table. I routered a 1/4" round on the leading edges of the bench and the backsplash. Then, I filled the gaps between boards with saw dust, wiped down the surface with a tack cloth and laid down a thick coating of boiled linseed oil. After making sure it flowed down into the cracks, I waited a few minutes and then wiped off the excess. The color came out a little darker than I really wanted, but not much more. I let it dry overnight and ran my fingers across it this morning.....smooooooth!

I also added the middle legs and secured the bench to the side legs with pocket screws. I failed to take an pictures of those steps, and will try to document them retroactively in the coming days.

The next major task will be cleaning, sorting, and putting stuff away between the two garages. They are both a wreck right now. I have a number of other side projects that will fold into the clean up, as time permits.

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Looks good.
I’d do at least 2 more coats of BLO before using the bench. You’ll want it sealed up tight before the weather has it going between expansion/contraction cycles.

BB: looks great from my chair. I might tend to put on a couple more light coats too of BLO and get a little heat on it even if only a lamp/light.

I think that color turned out really nice...or at least it looks nice on my monitor!

Thanks, fellas. I went back tonight and added another coat of BLO. I'll keep it up over several evenings until next weekend.

The workbench turned out great and is in service. I'm now out of excuses for not getting things cleaned and not starting using the space. The clutter is a little overwhelming but I was determined to make some progress today and get at least one thing up off the floor. The wall-mounted vacuum canister I scored at a storage sale was the target. The vac did not come with the wall bracket, so I found some 7/16" rod in my stash that fit the upper bracket and cut it to fit between the studs on the back wall. I then notched two scrap 2x4 blocks and nailed them into the studs. The vac dropped right into place and I gave it a test run with the 30-ft hose I bought off Amazon. It worked great! Now, i need to plumb and wire in an outlet that will let me use the remote switch at the end of the hose. Progress!

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BB: you bet the new oak bench you made from old fence boards turned out great.

is the vacuum just for cleaning up the shop?

Thanks, Drives!

The vacuum is for general purpose duty in the garage, from cleaning up sawdust to vacuuming out the cars I hope the soon be able to get into said garage again.

I plumbed up a formal inlet connection for the hose last weekend. I'll try to get some pics up Saturday.

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you have to lift the vac up to dump it out? or does the bottom part open? looks good

Great job on that work bench! I appreciate the pictures and explanations. I’m terrible at remembering to take before and during pics.

Unruh said:

Great job on that work bench! I appreciate the pictures and explanations. I’m terrible at remembering to take before and during pics.

Click to expand...

I still am! I finished last weekend a project adapting a universal grass catcher to my riding mower deck and then realized I hadn't taken any pics. You just get in the zone and forge ahead with the creation process. Especially hard when you only have a few hours in the shop to get something done.

I really need to document the state of disarray of both garages and some progress toward cleaning and organizing them. Maybe that'll motivate me to actually get it done and keep it that way.

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BUGTHUG said:

you have to lift the vac up to dump it out? or does the bottom part open? looks good

Click to expand...

Bug, I meant to go grab a picture to help answer your question, but then forgot.

The canister opens at the top, and you lift out a bag to empty it.

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Man your work/toolchest bench came out great. I like the glued up top. If it were me I would put a couple of coats of Polyurethane over the BLO once it dries for a couple of days.

Looking forward to seeing the cars in there.

Bret

Thanks, Bret. I know poly would better seal up the gaps between the boards, but I'm worried about ruining it if I were ever to get chemicals spilled on it. We'll see--right now it's way too cold to put down polyurethane.

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For the last several weeks, I've been walking into the new garage and seeing this:

...a messy garage with junk everywhere. You know it's too cluttered when you've got to turn sideways to move around the building. It was time to clean up.

First, I needed to finish the projects that were causing the clutter. This table lost its leg when yours truly lost his balance while unloading it. Turns out the leg of an upside down particle board table will not stop a falling 200-lb man before the screws rip out. So, I drilled new holes for slightly larger, longer screws and got the table back in service.



Next, I've been scrapping Craftsman radial arm saws that I bought to turn in for the recall. I found six for between $50 and free around my town and five of them are worth $100 if I send in the motor and carriage to Emerson. However, I decided I could not destroy the beautiful Power Bronze era one. I did, however, marry it up to a base cabinet from the same era that was attached to another saw that didn't match. The cabinet came with a vintage Craftsman wheel kit that's pretty trick. I tuned up the wheel axles, lubing and adjusting the pivots until everything worked smoothly.



I also swapped the bent up front trim piece for a pristine one from another saw. The trim is held in by that looks like a rivet, but it's actually more like a push pin. You can tap it from the back and get it to pop out enough to get a screwdriver under it and finish removing it.


I finished rendering the RAS carcasses, saving bolts, nuts, screws, rods shafts, knobs, and pretty much anything I might want for projects down the road.



For anyone curious about the recall, here's the part of the saw that they want. Once you decide to participate, you order a box from the website (radialarmsawrecall.com) and get this flattened box within a few weeks. Inside is a postage paid return label, two pieces of packaging tape and instructions for how to remove the motor. Once the box is together. I usually put some scrap plywood inside to help prevent any sharp edges from poking through. Once I fill the empty space with whatever debris I have laying around, I seal the box and drop it off at s nearby FedEx store.




SWMBO brought home some glass cabinet doors from her office, so I whipped up some brackets to store them safely in the overhead shelving.

Finally, I installed a parts bin rack I picked at a sale earlier this year. The rack is designed to sit on the workbench surface, but I didn't want to give up that much of my new butcher block. So, I removed the feet and bolted it to the wall. The weight of the rack and whatever its holding is carried on top of the backsplash.

Finally, I moved and found homes for everything else cluttering up the floor. Here's how it looked when I closed the door tonight, after two weekends of work.

BB, that's a major improvement for two weekends.

Thanks, Bob! It feels so good to go out there now and actually have space for a car. I did a couple of smaller projects this afternoon, namely cleaning the dust from the reflectors of my small electric heater, fixing my homemade cord reel LED light, welding up a bracket to hang it on the wall, and installing a cover and a few remaining hose brackets on the lift.

I think it may be time to start planning the disassembly of the Impala. I'm about out of excuses.

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I’m liking the combined eras on the Craftsman stand. Power Bronze and Craftsman Red, nice!

BB: not sure how much you drive by industrial shops and warehouses, but they usually are tossing good commercial racking or maybe some that had a small dent that is still too good to be scrapped cause having a few of these racks in your shop will really open up more floor space. auctions are another good place to maybe buy some.

while I own a ton of racking I can tell you they are all not interchangable and if the upright or beam has been bent or tweeked a bit they are a PITA to get set up. i've set up all the racks in the pictures except I don't own that big LUMBER rack (I have the one standard one full of Cedar though) which is on my radar.

to take advantage of some of that ceiling height you might consider putting racks sideways so you can store your project cars under racking sort of what I did at my storage with my trailer under 3 8 foot wide racks that are 12 foot tall and 3 of them are 4 foot deep each.

congrats on finding some floor space in the meantime.

here's to you and your family to have a Merry Christmas and a great 2019.

Drives: great suggestion, I'll certainly consider it. I haven't yet filled up the storage mezzanine over the workbench. If I do, your method would be a good solution. Thanks for posting pics!

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Wow, exactly a month since my last entry! Well, I didn't spend a lot if time out there over the holidays but I did make some new additions.

I hit a sale just before Christmas last year and picked up this nice 1/2HP Craftsman block grinder, circa 1974 for $30.



I found this 1957 Craftsman Power Bronze radial arm saw, with cabinet, a bunch of blades and some accessories, for $75. My dilemma now is that I already own a 1960 C-man Power Bronze RAS that's in better shape. One of them is getting scrapped for the recall, so I may just combine the best of both saws into one.



This Mousehole 148-lb anvil was made between 1820 and 1830. It's working surface is in terrible shape, but I got it for only five dollars, so I'm not complaining. This anvil is now the oldest thing I own, by a wide margin!



The same guy I bought the RAS and anvil from sold me his massive Greenerd 3-ton arbor press for just $50.



Finally, while out of town on business, I opened up Facebook Marketplace and scored another Craftsman RAS for $40. I hope they keep the recall up, because these saws come up for cheap all the time!



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So, what's a guy to do with all of the parts leftover from scrapping a bunch of Craftsman radial arm saws? Well, I decided to build a stand for the block grinder, using only spare parts I'd picked from sales over the years. After all, what's the point of saving stuff if you don't use it for something?

First, I decided to cut down the table frame to make a base for the stand. I wanted to keep the radial arm structure, to include the functionality to raise and lower the vertical column. I marked and cut it at 9 inches, and then cut the front panel off and then welded it on.




Here you see the base next to an uncut table for comparison.



This project was also a way for me to dust off and improve my welding skills, as I build up the nerve to start repairing rust on my Impala. I used my Eastwood 175 MIG with .035 flux core wire for all of the welding on the project. Some of the welds were better than others. With this relatively thick gauge metal, I managed to lay down some decent beads without blowing too many holes through. Penetration was a little shallow, so I still need to keep working on settings.




I then welded a second column on top of the first to give me the standing height I wanted. I had to trim about three inches off one end of the second column to eliminate a large pair of holes in the side of the column.



For the table top, I reached into the darkness under one of my workbenches and found these two cast saw table extensions for a very early Craftsman table saw. Although I hesitated in repurposing them, I decided 1) they didn't have any real collector value, 2) I was never going to set up the saw and use it myself and 3) they'd probably end up going for scrap one day.



I used the locking collar for the arm as the flange to mount the table to the column. Readers should note that not all years of Craftsman RAS's have a completely circular locking collar. It may be only the early ones do. I cut the central ridge out so I could weld the collar directly to the cast base. The welds seemed to take and stick very well to the cast iron. Unfortunately, I got into a groove and neglected pictures of the welding process.



Here's the trial fit of the table and the grinder to the column. I thought for a bit I might have enough room for my grinder and my Eastwood buffer, but alas, no. I ended up rotating the table 90-degrees from this picture for mounting purposes.




Back on the welding table, I welded up all the side holes and ground off all the surface corrosion. Again, my welds are a work in progress.




Next up was a set of adjustable feet. I reached into the pile of stuff that came with the '57 RAS and found these four feet. I screwed three nuts onto each shaft and then ran a bead down each side to lock the nuts to the base.




I also added two casters on one side to make the stand easier to move around.




After drilling four holes in the top plate to mount the grinder, it was time to bang the table and collar down onto the column. A few taps with the rawhide hammer and...

D'oh!




My welds into the cast iron weren't as deep as I'd thought. Also, I know cast is very hard to weld to if you don't preheat it (I didn't). I took the tabletop back to the welding bench and added some thicker, deeper beads around the collar and along the joint. I also put bolts through two holes along the central spine and snugged them together.

Here it is, mostly done, with the grinder bolted down to the plate.



I say mostly done, because I want to mount a small electric motor to the base to operate the column screw. Overkill, for sure, but I already have a motor, pulleys, wire and buttons. Why not? Then, I'll need to blow it apart and paint everything. More to come later this weekend, I hope.

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Here's a shot of the new garage from the second floor of the house. SWMBO and I are cleaning nside this morning, waiting for the sleet and rain to stop before going out the clear the snow later today.

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At least you have a big "shovel" on the front of your truck.

BlueBomber said:

Here's a shot of the new garage from the second floor of the house. SWMBO and I are cleaning nside this morning, waiting for the sleet and rain to stop before going out the clear the snow later today.

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Click to expand...

You built a new garage and the truck has to live outside in the cold and snow?

Nice shot. Maybe take a night photo sometime and post in the thread
“ GJ garages at Night”

captain14 said:

You built a new garage and the truck has to live outside in the cold and snow?

Nice shot. Maybe take a night photo sometime and post in the thread
“ GJ garages at Night”

Click to expand...

If that garage is 25 feet wide and has a man door on the front I'm guessing the overheads are only 7 ft wide, might be tough to get the truck in there with the plow on..?
My shop is 25 feet wide, has 2 - 10 ft doors, my man door is on the side, wish it was 30 feet wide but it came with the house.

captain14 said:

You built a new garage and the truck has to live outside in the cold and snow?

Nice shot. Maybe take a night photo sometime and post in the thread
“ GJ garages at Night”

Click to expand...

Fisherguy said:

If that garage is 25 feet wide and has a man door on the front I'm guessing the overheads are only 7 ft wide, might be tough to get the truck in there with the plow on..?
My shop is 25 feet wide, has 2 - 10 ft doors, my man door is on the side, wish it was 30 feet wide but it came with the house.

Click to expand...

The garage is 32 feet wide across the front and the garage doors are 9 feet square. The truck is outside because even with new garage, all but one bay has a car in it and the last one has the riding mower in it.



Honestly, if I had thought about it a bit harder, I could have made them all fit. The problem is that the non-running Impala is in the end bay of the new garage and that's really the perfect place for the truck to sit. The Malibu is in the lift bay next to the Impala, and I could have put it in the air and parked the truck underneath. However, that would require a hard right or left turn after clearing the doorway, not easy when the snow is deep (but probably doable in this 6-8" storm).

One day, when all my junk is running, I'll pre-position the truck and plow in the far bay for a straight out run down the driveway. As is, at least the truck collects snow in the bed that helps to counterweight the blade hanging off the nose.

Oops, thought that was the first one in your sig, , nice having 2 big shops.
I wish mine was 32 feet wide but I'll make do...

I read that it's worse to have the vehicle inside a heated garage up here where they salt the roads. In the heated garage the salt stays active all the time.

It is true that rust slows down in cold weather. My new garage doesn't have heat yet, so that's not a factor for now. However, working out there in these below freezing temps has me looking at and thinking about a natural gas-fired heater....

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