So, after years and years of using my original work bench that came with wooden planks with gaps between I decided to redo the surface. I was able to find a nice butcher block slab of wood for cheap on Facebook marketplace. I also bolted the table to the concrete wall so it won't rock when I crank on the vice. I also fixed the power strips to the sides so they aren't floating around my floor.
Haha yeah. Time to burn it lolol. It's a really good height. Super nice proportions. The only issue with it was that screws and dust would fall through the cracks between planks onto my welders underneath. Probably not good for the machines! Very happy with it now. It almost looks like someone who knows what they were doing put it together. But that can't be right...
Welcome home Zap. Feels good to be back at the bench huh? Find yourself a piece of thin stainless for a section of that bench. Keeps your wax much cleaner when you can zing a razor blade across it. I've got a spare commercial fridge door stashed in the attic. If you make it here, it's yours! Bring beer!
Good to be home for sure. I have a laundry list of projects to get done. Wax comes off wood pretty easily. Just get an ice scraper for a car windshield or similar tool and it comes right off. You just need to wait until it is cold so it shatters when hit. If I make it there were doing shots. That's a hell of a drive!
I had wax splatters on my drywall near my bench... Found out if ya hit it lightly with a heat gun, it wipes off cleanly with a paper towel. Wax really makes an awful mess... and if you track it in the house, OMFG! It gets everywhere.
Dampen a white cotton towel, fold it in half and place it over the wax. Press an iron set on “high” over the towel for 10 seconds. The heat will draw the wax out of the carpet and into the towel. Repeat until the wax is gone (you may have to hold the iron in place for up to 30 seconds). Practice your GoogleFoo!
Nip the end off that woodscrew sticking out on the left of the 3rd photo. Those thngs are vicious. Nice bench.
LOL, I just figured I know what would happen with me! Grab at something heavy under the bench and not stop until the brain had finally got the message I'd stripped a huge lump of flesh off.
Every bench needs it's daily allotment of sacrificial blood! This way it gets it when you least expect it. Nice looking bench, I'm a taller guy so every bench I make is 4" taller than normal Perfect height!
Yes same here Bob, this table is about 4 feet tall. Very comfortable height. I'll have to measure the dimensions at some point. It's the perfect design. I'll nip the screws off. It nearly scalped me when I was drilling the concrete. I may need to drill a few more concrete holes for more braces to hold the table on the vice side.
One other addition I made to my bench quite a few years ago that could be worth considering is a "dapping plate." It is just a 3/4" thick 8X12" piece of hot-rolled steel that I set into the bench top so that it is level with the rest of the bench. I very often want to hammer on things to rivet them, shape them, or flatten them. the plate is just the thing for that purpose. The best spot to put it would be centered over the right-hand bench leg. The direct support to the concrete floor would minimize its tendency to vibrate. It is nice to have the front edge of the plate in line with the front edge of the bench so you can bend stuff 90 degrees on that leading edge. Use a couple of recessed wood screws to keep it from "walking" out of its recess. With use burrs will be raise and the top gets a little rough all easily corrected with an angle grinder. Nice looking maple bench top by the way. Every time you use it you will thank yourself! Denis
Funny you mentioned that, but that's exactly what I have exactly in that spot! 1/2" thick by 12 by 12 hot rolled steel plate. On the right side in front of the grinder. It hangs over by 1.5 inches. I use the over hang to attach a welding clamp and then weld on top of the plate. Sometimes I hammer things on the plate but usually for hammering I use the vice or anvil on the back of the vice. You can actually see the plate in the far right hand corner of the picture propped up against the welder. The rail road track is going to be an anvil at some point when I muster up the motivation to grind it for a few hours. The block feels very dense and heavy but I wonder how it's going to hold up to years of abuse. I don't think maple is as tough as oak or some other dense wood species.
Only a half inch, huh? I sure hope you don’t have to replace it in ten or fifteen years! ;-) Sounds like a great addition. For welding I can see the overhang makes it so much more useful. Denis
