Work Benches

[david tremaine]

Acting on a tip from a friend, (Bart Templeman, a local woodworker who has his shop in East Central,) I went to check out a demolition salvage yard near Earthworks yesterday.

A couple of old guys are running the business, still doing demos every day in their 70's. They bring materials back and sell them out of their yard for dirt cheap. I'd include the name and address, but I don't know either. If you're interested, PM me.

Materials I saw there pertinent to this conversation: (all lumber had nails that needed to be pulled)
- good, straight 2x4's, 6'-8' long, $.50/ea
- good looking 2x8's, 10's, 12's, in lengths more like 16', at $2-$5/ea
- plastic-laminate particle board, looked like 5/8-3/4" thick, sheets maybe 4'x6' at $3 or $5 ea
- a couple of big, beat up moving dollies (hunk of plywood with casters bolted on bottom) for $10 a piece
- T8 fluorescent light bays $10/ea, with bulbs. Some had frosted covers, some were open bulb with the plastic grids that narrow the viewing angle to reduce glare
- 4 or 5 sheets of 5/8-3/4 OSB in good condition, I think he said $5/ea
- There was a big stack of used plywood, probably 5/8, full and partial sheets, that he said would be available in a couple weeks at $3/partial and $5/full sheets. A little rough around the edges, but very reusable for something like shelving.

I'm going to go back with cash on Monday and load up on stuff that might be useful for benches. I figure $40 could buy enough materials to try some different workbench ideas out. I can bring a chop saw and a drill on Weds, and a circular saw to rip the laminate to benchtop size. Anybody interested in having a go at this?

Browsing through pictures of wooden workbenches on Google, I found this design, which has SvenBob's idea for useful shelf underneath, but looks like it has enough benchtop overhang that a person could still sit at it on a stool . Also, the overhang makes it easy to clamp something to the bench from any side. Only thing I don't see here is a way to prevent lateral sway, which could be achieved with some plywood triangles inserted strategically between legs and benchtop, or some steel brackets in same location.

Another thing I like about this design is the clean look, with the 1x2 trim around the edge. Seems to me that by painting the trim edge and the bench structure, and by planing & painting/staining any lumber that goes into the structure, we could achieve a clean, bright, professional look (which, after seeing this guy's workshop, I am totally into)



We'd need something good and thick for the benchtop to be strong enough for this style. If we could glue a sheet of laminate-particle board and a sheet of osb together, or build a benchtop base out of 2x12's and screw/glue a sheet of laminate/pb down on top...

Svenbob, what if we put some square holes in the benchtop, that footposts for a pegboard/whiteboard/protective sidewalls could be dropped into?


Anybody else seen bench designs you like for Spokane Create?