I need another workbench

[tmuir]

Nice Workbench tmuir!

My wife wants to know if you do kitchens?

That is beautiful wood working!

Rick

My wife has already put her order in I told her to expect a delivery date somewhere between 18 and 24 months. :big:

Its not quiet finished yet, it still needs one (or maybe two) coats of varhish yet and then will need to be left for a week or two for the varnish to really cure but this will give you an idea of the finished product.

And yes I am aware of the spot on the edge I missed with the second coat. :
I was about to give it its third and final coat but noticed a run and tried to sand it back and broke through the skin of the varnish to the tacky underneath so now I need to wait a few days for that to properly set so I can sand that bit back before giving the top coat.

I've decided this bench is too nice to fit the vice to now and luckily have just aquired myself a nice bit of 40mm laminated chipboard that I will fit to my small stainless steel bench and put the vice on that.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Wow
that is one fine piece of furniture . I may have missed your description but what is the top made of ?
With it looking that nice you may actual keep it clear enough to work on . My work benches tend to turn into storage benches.
Tin

 

[tmuir]

It is made of Jarrah.
This is a Eucalyptus tree local to the south west of Western Australia.
I have probably 10 or 20 of them growing in my back yard. (I have a large bush land block)
It is a very hard wearing, durable timber.
Up until recently when they changed to concrete sleepers all the train track sleepers in most of Australia, UK and South Africa were made of Jarrah to it's hard wearing nature.

It is a slow growing hardwood and as such is starting to get pretty expensive due to the fact less old growth forrest is now allowed to be cleared.

My house was made in the 1980s and all the framing and cladding on my house as well as my decking is made of Jarrah plus most of the internal woodwork. No-one could afford to do that now days.

If you would like to know more about it have a look in the wiki here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrah

One other note, if you have ever seen the HMB Endeavour replica that was built using Jarrah below the water line and for a massive Jarrah structure look here.

I remember as a child going to see this been built several times.

 

[shred]

Somebody once told me not to get too nice a bench so I wouldn't be afraid to put holes and drive nails into it.. they were right. I moved that bench elsewhere versus drilling it.

 

[tmuir]

Somebody once told me not to get too nice a bench so I wouldn't be afraid to put holes and drive nails into it.. they were right. I moved that bench elsewhere versus drilling it.

You can just see my smaller stainless steel bench in the left of the picture.
At the moment the top is a large cutting board as the bench came from a butchers shop but that is about to get replaced so that can become my bench for messy work.
I didn't plan on making a bench like this. I just bought the wood and it spoke to me and wouldn't let me stop until it was finished well beyond what it needed to be, but I did enjoy making it as its been ages since I've made anything big in wood but I need it finished now so I can set it in place and set up my mill which is still sitting on the floor.

 

[tmuir]

Finally finished.

Here it is in place and finally with the bench finished I've found my home for my mill, although the mill is not set up yet atleast it is off the floor.

Another shot showing a better view of the bench. Just need to leave it for a week or two for the varnish to cure before I use it. Now to make a new top for my other bench........

I showed my wife it today and now I've been told she wants one to replace our perfectly good pine table in the kitchen. :
That will teach me for making a work bench far beyond what I needed to make.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Wow I would be afraid of getting a scratch on that fine kitchen table LOL
And I thought I was crazy mounting my mini mill on a piece of furniture grade cherry plywood.
All of my engine bases are made from scrap. I have a pair of pine book cases that were built from salvaged packing crates. I semi joke about my packing crate modern design style. My engine display cases are also mostly salvaged lumber.
Tin

 

[tmuir]

I'm sure it won't stay that nice once I start to use it but I enjoyed making it which is what its all about really.

 

[Tin Falcon]

use it enjoy it!!!

 

[sparky961]

My god, that is a beautiful bench...

Maybe you can make a few modifications to it and trade it with your wife as a kitchen table in exchange for some new tooling!

Like most others here, my bench has a rough, stained, drilled, painted, oily, dirty, rather flimsy plywood top.

I've been staring at the few lengths of square tubing I have on the floor here and thinking it's time to weld those into a new bench.

 

[Alphawolf45]

No I wouldnt want a bench that looked like that..Over my wood bench I have hung , plugged in and ready to use 2 electric angle grinders and pair of dremels and couple pnuematic grinders..To stop the angle grinders I press the wheel down into the wood table top to get it to stop before I let go of it..That table of yours would have a lived in look pretty fast if it were mine....That one should go in your house..

 

[Dhow Nunda wallah]

Tony, that's nice work mate!

Suffering serious timber envy here. No E marginata in my yard (though I've salvaged and worked a lot over the years)
Bloody magnificent timber.
For those not familiar with WA timbers, compare with Eucalyptus diversicolor (Karri).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrah

I'd put your bench in the lounge and keep my welding bench out in the workshop.
Mind you, that's a 10mm 304 stainless top, gotta have something to brag about

 

[tmuir]

I don't use this bench to do heavy bashing but I do use it a lot for my more fiddly stuff and jewellery making were a clean bench is more important than a super heavy duty bench.
It also gives great contrasting colours to photograph parts one.

Port block for my current restoration project

 

[alan2525]

Blimey I missed seeing that bench varnished - that's one lovely looking bench top! Personally I worry If I put a scratch on my £35 quid hollow desk top that also works as my workbench! Best Thing I made is a big tray so if I mess up a days work I can go hide it all in one go and have a nice clear space to meditate...

I do have a few benches in the shed too, one an old Emir Beech casting table that I pinched from a school, the other a welding bench with a bit of 3/8" cold rolled plate on top - too dirty and cold to work on those though, especially during the british summer!

 

[tmuir]

I've been using the bench a bit, mainly for light work and assembly and as the weather is starting to warm up it will probably start seeing a bit more use as I've got some rolling stock I need to assemble and paint and with this bench I've finally got a space big enough to do it.

 

[bentprop]

That bench is far too nice to work on Tony!.
I use one of those self healing cutting mats on my bench,mainly to provide a nice even surface.That would be ideal to keep your bench in good nick.
For brazing and welding,I use an old folding ironing board,a steel one,of course.They can be picked up at garage sales for a couple of bucks.Folds up and takes very little space when not in use.
Hans.

 

[tmuir]

That bench is far too nice to work on Tony!.
I use one of those self healing cutting mats on my bench,mainly to provide a nice even surface.That would be ideal to keep your bench in good nick.
For brazing and welding,I use an old folding ironing board,a steel one,of course.They can be picked up at garage sales for a couple of bucks.Folds up and takes very little space when not in use.
Hans.

I actually found my small cutting mat the other day and have taken it into the workshop to use on the bench.
I still haven't made myself a brazing harth, at the moment when I need to do some annealing or brazing I drag out my firebricks I store under my other workbench and make myself a little harth in the middle of the floor of my workshop.

I've taken a brea from building fittings for my workshop for a little bit. I spent a year building the workshop and now I went to spend some time making stuff in it but will have to get back to finishing my second bench (This one won't be pretty) and getting some more power points put in. I put 12 in but of course need some more or in places where I didn't put them as I've shuffled some gear from my original plan.
I don't think a workshop is ever finished, it just keeps evolving.

 

[Bogstandard]

Tony,

I don't think a workshop is ever finished, it just keeps evolving.

Never a truer word said.

John

 

[lazylathe]

Where do i place my order??
I need one to fit a Myford ML7 on! ;D

Fantastic work bench!!

Andrew