Workbench after 3 years!! (Lots of PICS)
Alberto on Toronto, Canada
>This story started 3 years ago when my daugther was born. I quickly realized that power tools and sleeping babies were not a good combination :)
At the same time I was fed up with trying to work on a wobbly table and started to get an itch about hand tools. So the plan was that I would build a workbench to start learning to work on the quiet side of the craft.
Well, it didn't quite turn out that way; with other projects in between and no much time to work on the workbench, it took me this 3 years to complete it. Now my daugther doesn't mind the noise anymore but I think the workbench still will make working in my basement much more enjoyable. Here are some pics with descriptions:
Here's a view from the front; the size of the top is; 32x71, the thickness of the core is 2 1/2 inches and the skirt is 5 1/2 inches.
The whole bench is drilled like a swiss cheese to accept round bench dogs (I left a part of the top without holes too). Here's a view from above:
The vises are from Lee Valley, the twin is set up at maximum capacity and the front is the large one that they sell that I've painted black to match the decor :) Here are detailed pics:
The legs are 3 1/2 inch and I used home made leveling feet made out of hockey pucks and carriage bolts. I got the idea for those from an article on Woodcentral. As a bonus, they allow me to tweek the bench height. They work great! Here's a detail view:
All in all I'm quite happy about how it turnet out. Some day (hopefully before my daugther goes to college) I'll make some draweres for it and put it on wheels. Rigth know, I'll just enjoy it the way it is. Ok, last pic :)
So, now as Roman will surely say, the important part is not the bench but what comes out of it so I'll try keep learning the craft (specially with focus on getting some hand tool skills).
Thanks for looking!!
Alberto//
