Work bench / tool chest combo

[Elsinore13]

I wanted to build a work bench for the home shop for gun and motorcycle projects and after kicking around a few ideas for way too long I just decided to simplify things. I had an area that will allow for 9 1/2 ft of bench so I had a local cabinet door shop lay up a 2 inch thick 24 inch deep maple butcher block top. Soaked it for a week with multiple coats of tung oil.

The easy way out for this setup was to pick up two US General 42” wide, 22” deep tool chests to act as bases. This would also give me one dedicated box for gun stuff and one for motorcycle specific tools and equipment.

Since I was going to use two of them as a base, in order to be able to roll it around to where I wanted it I was going to have to ditch the fixed casters and replace with all swivels. Locking casters would all be on the fronts. Northern Tool is where they came from. It also helped to lower the working height a little which was good.

The tops of the boxes have a raised lip/ about 5/8”. I tossed the stale gasoline smelling Chi com rubber mats off of the tops and laid down a piece of felt followed by a sheet of 5/8” cabinet grade plywood. These would later be screwed to the bottom of the worksurface and would secure everything into position when set in place.

After locating and drilling for a vise to be mounted, with one hole being countersunk into the underside I attached the plywood to the underside with the countersunk bolt in place.

Top was set in place

6 1/2” wide Wilton/ Snap On vise I traded some damaged appliances for was mounted. Copper jaws included in trade

Ready to rock.

My PPG rep hooked me up with a few rugs and a couple of barstools

 

[ForrestT]

Nice work. Love it.


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[Flat Thunder Channel]

I never thought of or seen this style of tool box / bench configuration. It is a nice concept! Now that it is all complete it is time to get it dirty working on stuff!

 

[Moosefire]

That would be a good addition to a gun room!

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[Elsinore13]

That would be a good addition to a gun room!

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@moosefire

I had gun stuff scattered all over. I have most all of the parts and tools here along with a lot off the cleaning supplies.

 

[Crabman]

Elsinore,

Really nice setup, congrats on the fruit of your labor.

Bruce

 

[M635_Guy]

That reminds me of the desk/workbench I built for my son when he turned 13

He's beat the ever-living daylights out of it (which was encouraged)

 

[Moosefire]

@moosefire



I had gun stuff scattered all over. I have most all of the parts and tools here along with a lot off the cleaning supplies.

Wow. Nice setup. Is that a can on the upper in the second pic??? Would love to see more of that. I dont have anywhere near that much extra gun stuff, but I surely do have it everywhere! I need to get cleaned up and organized

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[Junkdrawer Dog]

Izzat a Maico engine on the floor in first pic? What size?

 

[Elsinore13]

That reminds me of the desk/workbench I built for my son when he turned 13

He's beat the ever-living daylights out of it (which was encouraged)

@M635guy

M 635 as in... this one we refinished for a good customer?

 

[Elsinore13]

Izzat a Maico engine on the floor in first pic? What size?

Good eye! 1976 AW250, got a little wet during one of the floods.

 

[Elsinore13]

Wow. Nice setup. Is that a can on the upper in the second pic??? Would love to see more of that. I dont have anywhere near that much extra gun stuff, but I surely do have it everywhere! I need to get cleaned up and organized

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No, that would be a prototype float tube built by ZM Weapons back around 1980. He butchered up a new set of Fox Air shocks from his dirt bike to build it and one other. A friend had the other. Being a vintage dirt bike nut and an AR15 fan , I “needed” it...lol. One day I’ll build me an Elsinore AR.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

Good eye! 1976 AW250, got a little wet during one of the floods.

I rode Pentons back in the day. 100cc Berkshire, 125cc 6 Days, 175cc Jackpiner and finally a KTM 175 GS. Anything with radial finning on the cylinder or head catches my eye.

 

[M635_Guy]

@M635guy

M 635 as in... this one we refinished for a good customer?

Yes. That's a US model (was called an M6 here) - mine's a Euro

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

And by the way, Adolph Weil was a true badass!

 

[Aileron]

I did sort of the same two months ago.I removed my 8'6 bench made from base cabinets and I took two hf 44" boxes and removed the castors.I used 3/8's plate threaded them for leveling legs. installed 1/2' swivel levelers and sat the boxes side by side, then leveled. I cheated and put a 8' home depot bench over them.Fits over both with 1.5" clearance between legs. I did have to trim the bottom bench support to get the cabinets to set in from the bench front. cabinets are the 22' deep ones. My garage floor isnt level so I needed to make everything adjustable for level. If my floor would have been level, i would have a Master craft box cabinet from Menard's in its place. I thought I could get rid of my over tall 26' wide craftsman and condense it all into the 2 -44's along with the drawers that were in the base cabinets. I added a craftsman 30" wide standup cabinet in the place where the 26 sat. For some strange reason the 26 is still half full and the 44's are close to full along with the cabinet. Not sure what happened!

 

[Paul_The_Builder]

Looks great! Well done!

 

[cderalow]

I have forever debated doing something similar in my garage recess where I’ve got 9’6” and some change to work with. But I’ve always thought the 20” in the middle would be too narrow to be useful for me.


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[Elsinore13]

I have forever debated doing something similar in my garage recess where I’ve got 9’6” and some change to work with. But I’ve always thought the 20” in the middle would be too narrow to be useful for me.


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The Harbor Freight 44 inch cabinets are only 42 inches. They're including the handles in the overall length. Your 9' 6" would leave you 30 inches between the cabinets if you didn't leave any overhang. Or you could always use a 42 and a 26.

 

[mcmlvif100]

Built something similar a few years ago. Craftsman cabinets bought on sale and an 11 ft. slab of bowling alley. One additional thing that I did was add a turnbuckle on a 45 degree angle between the bottom middle of the bench top and an eye bolt in the wall that the bench rests against. It's just enough to keep the bench tight against the wall and resist any lifting of the top, for example, when I use the vise which I've added since this picture was taken.