Duker
Well-known member
Welcome to my Workbench build thread. I thought I would start a separate thread from my Garage Projects posts as this will be picture heavy over time and it would also be a way to document the process and to get comments and ideas as work through the build process.
This thread is also a small tribute to GJ member – Steevo whose original project spawned mine and many other imitations of his workbench. If you are considering a project like this and have not checked out his thread I would highly recommend reading all three threads of his build. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then you will be in workbench heaven ( a virtual “testosterone” overload ) as many folks have posted their versions of Steevo’s bench within the thread.
I have taken Steevo’s concept and have added my own little twists and ideas to the build. The Workbench or what I have come to call it workstations will be a series of workbenches and built in storage in various forms.
NOTE: Before I catch to much grief…. I will preface upfront that I have spent way too much money and have gone way overboard with the building of my benches. My only defense is that it has been a way for me to psychologically get through some family issues. I have a child with special needs that has needed some very expensive specialized care. The unexpected costs and the probability that these costs could go on for years forced me to postpone building my workshop indefinitely. I had been planning and saving for this for years, so as I stated before in my garage projects thread facing both stress and disappointment; I decided to take the pile of lemons now tossed in my lap and make one huge *** margarita in an effort to give me something else to focus on and thus the birth of the workbench build. Taking some of my planned budget for the workshop I splurged on the workbenches and steel for the storage units.
So onto the build….
Stage one was the building of an original Steevo style bench but using two HF 56” cabinets instead of the 44” cabinets. Eventually there will be two sections of these benches. I chose the 56” cabinets because when I measured the various drawer heights I found the 56” better suited in my case for storing items like my collection of hand planes and other assorted woodworking tools.
Here is the frame after being primer-ed:
After painting:
Dropping the first cabinet into the frame with my engine hoist.
Placing it close to its final parking spot. You will notice the Blue walls have been painted gray to better go with my new paint scheme for the garage. As I moved some cabinets or tools I would paint a section at a time. The reason for the color change is that I am colorblind to some colors and my wife would remark (quite often) about how dark the color blue I picked for the walls were so I decided to change to a Red, Black & Gray scheme since I could see those colors and it would make the boss happier. My apologies to the diehard Ford guys!
Next on the list was a corner cabinet. I was trying to think of how I could utilize some of the dead space of the corner so I came up with a corner cabinet design using the HF 7 drawer side chest. While the design does give you additional storage it eats up a total of 38” inches on both side so the jury is still out on whether the additional storage is worth the loss of wall space. For me, I am going to build and upper cabinet to hold a flat screen tv so proportionally it should look good.
Here is the beginning of framing for the 7 drawer chest.
Here is the completed cabinet after priming:
The completed corner cabinet:
This thread is also a small tribute to GJ member – Steevo whose original project spawned mine and many other imitations of his workbench. If you are considering a project like this and have not checked out his thread I would highly recommend reading all three threads of his build. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then you will be in workbench heaven ( a virtual “testosterone” overload ) as many folks have posted their versions of Steevo’s bench within the thread.
I have taken Steevo’s concept and have added my own little twists and ideas to the build. The Workbench or what I have come to call it workstations will be a series of workbenches and built in storage in various forms.
NOTE: Before I catch to much grief…. I will preface upfront that I have spent way too much money and have gone way overboard with the building of my benches. My only defense is that it has been a way for me to psychologically get through some family issues. I have a child with special needs that has needed some very expensive specialized care. The unexpected costs and the probability that these costs could go on for years forced me to postpone building my workshop indefinitely. I had been planning and saving for this for years, so as I stated before in my garage projects thread facing both stress and disappointment; I decided to take the pile of lemons now tossed in my lap and make one huge *** margarita in an effort to give me something else to focus on and thus the birth of the workbench build. Taking some of my planned budget for the workshop I splurged on the workbenches and steel for the storage units.
So onto the build….
Stage one was the building of an original Steevo style bench but using two HF 56” cabinets instead of the 44” cabinets. Eventually there will be two sections of these benches. I chose the 56” cabinets because when I measured the various drawer heights I found the 56” better suited in my case for storing items like my collection of hand planes and other assorted woodworking tools.
Here is the frame after being primer-ed:
After painting:
Dropping the first cabinet into the frame with my engine hoist.
Placing it close to its final parking spot. You will notice the Blue walls have been painted gray to better go with my new paint scheme for the garage. As I moved some cabinets or tools I would paint a section at a time. The reason for the color change is that I am colorblind to some colors and my wife would remark (quite often) about how dark the color blue I picked for the walls were so I decided to change to a Red, Black & Gray scheme since I could see those colors and it would make the boss happier. My apologies to the diehard Ford guys!
Next on the list was a corner cabinet. I was trying to think of how I could utilize some of the dead space of the corner so I came up with a corner cabinet design using the HF 7 drawer side chest. While the design does give you additional storage it eats up a total of 38” inches on both side so the jury is still out on whether the additional storage is worth the loss of wall space. For me, I am going to build and upper cabinet to hold a flat screen tv so proportionally it should look good.
Here is the beginning of framing for the 7 drawer chest.
Here is the completed cabinet after priming:
The completed corner cabinet:
