New workbench

[bentpushrod]

Just about finished up with my new workbench. It's a 2x4 laminate, have a couple things left, but pretty much done.

 

[archirelic]

Good looking bench. Did you document your build...? If you did, you should make a build thread!

 

[bentpushrod]

Thank you, no I didn't document it. I did take a few pics at different stages. My shop burned down this summer, so now trying to do stuff out of my garage. Can't do much without a bench, so glad to finally be wrapping this up.

 

[shocksandstrutz]

did you rip your 2x's down with a table saw or run them through a planer a few times to take the rounded edge off?

 

[bentpushrod]

I ran them through a planer, don't have a table saw.

 

[Highlux]

Take some orange or brown stain and hit a couple board on the side that doesnt have any color. Blend it in. I see nice pattern then 6 or so white in a row. As a hardwood floor guy that drives me nuts. Looks awesome though. I have a big one I was working on in the basement. Its a beast. Need to plane it flat and top is done. Had the idea I was gonna bench plane it by hand. lol. Carpenters were tough back in the day.

 

[bentpushrod]

Thanks Highlux, I'm not a wood guy, when I was gluing this up, I was trying to alternate boards to get a pattern. I did four separate glue ups, then glued all four together. Problem I ran into was I ran out of good boards with color. Most of the boards had terrible twist in them. I don't think it will be pretty for long. I will be rebuilding the dana 60 from my '94 F350 soon on it.

Everybody loves carnage pictures right? Here's a shot of my shop that burned down this summer.

 

[Kevin54]

Thanks Highlux, I'm not a wood guy, when I was gluing this up, I was trying to alternate boards to get a pattern. I did four separate glue ups, then glued all four together. Problem I ran into was I ran out of good boards with color. Most of the boards had terrible twist in them. I don't think it will be pretty for long. I will be rebuilding the dana 60 from my '94 F350 soon on it.

Everybody loves carnage pictures right? Here's a shot of my shop that burned down this summer.

Bent....welcome to Garage Journal. Yes sir, you are correct, WE LIKE PICS!!!

We also like the rest of the story that goes with the pics

WHat happened? And are you adequately covered as far as insurance to replace it? I hope so. Sorry to hear about your loss. It looks like it was a good size garage.

 

[bentpushrod]

Thanks for the welcome Kevin, I've been here since '07 just started posting a little. I live in a very small town of 130 people or so. The shop is in the next town over where I grew up, 10 miles away, about the same size town. The shop was built in two sections. The front where the fire started was '30 x '40 and fully finished. The rear was '30 x ' 50 and unfinished, I just used as cold storage.

Fire department thinks it started in the electrical panel. I did not have insurance, stupid me. The '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee shell you see belonged to my mother, and she did have insurance on that. Boat in the back melted away. '88 Grand Wagoneer in back is pretty much toast. My best guess, I lost around 30k in tools etc.

I've been on GJ a lot since the fire, looking for deals, and people's opinions on tools. I've purchased a pile of new SK tools among others to replace what I lost. Also would have never found the HF 44 top and bottom boxes if not for GJ. I had to order them, since the closest HF is 400 miles away. My old box was a vintage Herbrand that was in my Grandfathers Ford dealership, that loss really hurts.

Here's a couple pre fire pics from happier times.

 

[Kevin54]

Thanks for the welcome Kevin, I've been here since '07 just started posting a little. I live in a very small town of 130 people or so. The shop is in the next town over where I grew up, 10 miles away, about the same size town. The shop was built in two sections. The front where the fire started was '30 x '40 and fully finished. The rear was '30 x ' 50 and unfinished, I just used as cold storage.

Fire department thinks it started in the electrical panel. I did not have insurance, stupid me. The '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee shell you see belonged to my mother, and she did have insurance on that. Boat in the back melted away. '88 Grand Wagoneer in back is pretty much toast. My best guess, I lost around 30k in tools etc.

I've been on GJ a lot since the fire, looking for deals, and people's opinions on tools. I've purchased a pile of new SK tools among others to replace what I lost. Also would have never found the HF 44 top and bottom boxes if not for GJ. I had to order them, since the closest HF is 400 miles away. My old box was a vintage Herbrand that was in my Grandfathers Ford dealership, that loss really hurts.

Here's a couple pre fire pics from happier times.

Wow Bent....that's a real bummer about not having insurance. That's a loss that you'll never recoup.

Did you get another garage built, or what are the vehicles and bench in now? And do you plan on rebuilding where you had the fire, or building something closer to home? Hopefully you can find some good deals on things to ease the pain of losing everything.

And make sure you get some insurance this go around We had our insurance agent come out to our house a few months ago. He wanted us to come in for a sit down discussion to go over insurance needs. I insisted that he come out to the house. He finally did, and thanked me for insisting as he had no idea what different machines were, and just like a lot of my machinist tools that I had when I was in tool & die, the cost of a what someone would think is a block of steel with a few holes will run a few hundred dollars. So he took pictures of the mechanics tools, tool boxes, mill, lathe, and then the inside of the garage in general. Our policy worth went up by quite a few thousand dollars. IIRC, I think he increased the insurance on the garage like $30-$40,000. All in all, it only increased our premium by $250/year give or take a few dollars.

So make sure that is one of the first things you do when you get things back in order.

 

[GroverDill]

The bench is awesome
The fire is terribly sad
The projects look cool as hell

edit
bentpushrod is the coolest screen name I have seen in a while.

 

[bentpushrod]

My '72 Jeep Commando is the only vehicle besides my daily drivers. It's at my house in my garage. Same with the bench. No plans to rebuild at this time, can't afford it, hopefully I can in a few years. And I do have insurance at home.

Thanks GroverDill. I see you're in Rathdrum, I lived in Newport, WA from '99-'03 not far from you.

 

[bentpushrod]

Just a quick update, I finished this bench a week or so ago. S here's another pic.

 

[67carl]

How about some more details? Wood species, what size planer and how did you get it flat all the way across the surface, etc... Looks good!

Also nice block grinder!

 

[bentpushrod]

I'm not much of a woodworker, think the species is Spruce, Pine or Fir. Bought the 2x4's at Menards. I planed the boards with a steel city planer, I think it's a 13" machine, I'd have to go look to be sure.

I glued and screwed four sections, then ran each section through the planer. Then glued all four together in one shot. I ran into a problem, I moved the tabletop before it dried, and the center sagged leaving it concave.

I then screwed a long 2x4 to each side to support a sled for a router. I then ran the router back and forth several times until it was flat. The next one I will not try to glue all the sections together at once.

And thanks for the compliment. I had a very old Black & Decker bench grinder in the shop that burned down, discovered the block grinders here on GJ, so had to buy one. Now If I could only find a Craftsman 150 drill press I'd be very happy. I had a 150 that was my grandfathers that was lost in the fire.

 

[dbabicky]

Thanks for the welcome Kevin, I've been here since '07 just started posting a little. I live in a very small town of 130 people or so. The shop is in the next town over where I grew up, 10 miles away, about the same size town. The shop was built in two sections. The front where the fire started was '30 x '40 and fully finished. The rear was '30 x ' 50 and unfinished, I just used as cold storage.

Fire department thinks it started in the electrical panel. I did not have insurance, stupid me. The '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee shell you see belonged to my mother, and she did have insurance on that. Boat in the back melted away. '88 Grand Wagoneer in back is pretty much toast. My best guess, I lost around 30k in tools etc.

I've been on GJ a lot since the fire, looking for deals, and people's opinions on tools. I've purchased a pile of new SK tools among others to replace what I lost. Also would have never found the HF 44 top and bottom boxes if not for GJ. I had to order them, since the closest HF is 400 miles away. My old box was a vintage Herbrand that was in my Grandfathers Ford dealership, that loss really hurts.

Here's a couple pre fire pics from happier times.

I've been building Jeeps for 25 yrs. I NEED that Commando!! If you ever want to sell it, let me know. I'm serious. Cool as hell!!

 

[bentpushrod]

Thanks Dbabicky! Funny you mention the Commando, I've been toying with the idea of selling it. Not sure yet though. It has a 472 Caddy running on straight propane, TH400, twin sticked Dana 20. It is currently on the stock dana 44 rear and Dana 30 front. I did have a custom front ford 9" and a rear ford 9" that was going to go in it. But lost those in the fire. With the caddy and the 36" Iroks, scared to hit the skinny pedal very hard with those axles.

 

[bentpushrod]

Here's another shot of the Commando for you.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Bentpushrod,
Very sorry to read about your loss - especially the family handed-down things. Must be a heartbreaker..on one hand. On the other? It's just things. People count more and I trust no one was hurt?

The bench is very very nice. How is the top attached to the base? I've had very good luck with Minwaxes water based polyurethane, specifically the satin. Dries FAST, and is easy to get a quality finish in a day.

 

[bentpushrod]

Thanks for the kind words Dan, yes the important thing is nobody got hurt. And I've been replacing things I have lost. I try to look at the upside, it's fun buying new tools! The top is attached to the base with some L brackets, pretty simple, as I don't have the skill to do some of the fancy woodworking joints.

 

[Ray Kelly]

Sweet workbench!! I'll bet that Jeep and the snowplow sure is nice to have where you are.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks for the kind words Dan, yes the important thing is nobody got hurt. And I've been replacing things I have lost. I try to look at the upside, it's fun buying new tools! The top is attached to the base with some L brackets, pretty simple, as I don't have the skill to do some of the fancy woodworking joints.

Thanks for the info. Makes me feel better to know there's not some uber sophisticated joinery going on under there. I'd love to build something similar though I don't do too much heavy work on my bench so maybe the 1-1/2" thickness 2x2's would give me would be thick enough(?)

 

[MillerMav]

I'm digging the bench and am so sorry for your loss of family heirlooms. My dad had my grandfathers drill press for many years which I loved to use then when my parents split up we didn't speak for a while and I found out he chucked in a dumpster at work. It broke my heart.

Either way I am interested to see how this table holds up. From what I have read on these boards pine 2x4's are too soft to hold up well but after looking at your previous shop and projects; if you can make it work so can I.