Salvaged wood for a workbench?

[steven c newman]

Can't go out and buy the wood, so a dumpster dive or two was in order. Now, IF I can load some of this photos270992270993270994270995270996Yep, I was working outside, on the back patio. About six hours of a Sunday afternoon. Just some old pine. Length is around 51", Width is just under 15", and height is about 34" Thanks to them big feet. Tool well came from an old foot board and the 2x10 parts were from a waterbed's frame. Store bought item for this project was a $7 (yikes!!) box of 2" screws from Lowes. WallyWorld didn't have any of them. Could have save about $4 if they did. Vise will wait awhile, have to save up for one.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks good for salvaged wood. I almost bought a lot of reclaimed douglas fir from an old barn removal. There was too much extra for me to store.

I have seen some benches that use pipe clamps to make a vise or two.

jtk

[Andrew Kertesz]

There is an article in a recent "American Woodworker" on making 3 different vise types using pipe clamps.

[steven c newman]

used a pipe clamp to make a leg vise for a bench in the old Pole Barn Shop. Bench was just too heavy to move to the new shop. 271023 Dang thing weighed over 300 pounds! Would have been a little too much to try to get down into a cellar...

Lowes has a few vises for a wood working bench, about $20 or so. Just add some wood for the faces. Saving me pennies for one now...

[Chris Hachet]

Can't go out and buy the wood, so a dumpster dive or two was in order. Now, IF I can load some of this photos270992270993270994270995270996Yep, I was working outside, on the back patio. About six hours of a Sunday afternoon. Just some old pine. Length is around 51", Width is just under 15", and height is about 34" Thanks to them big feet. Tool well came from an old foot board and the 2x10 parts were from a waterbed's frame. Store bought item for this project was a $7 (yikes!!) box of 2" screws from Lowes. WallyWorld didn't have any of them. Could have save about $4 if they did. Vise will wait awhile, have to save up for one.Your in the same financial shoes that I am, NICE bench, can't wait to see it next weekend.

[Chris Hachet]

There is an article in a recent "American Woodworker" on making 3 different vise types using pipe clamps.I'd like to check that out....

[steven c newman]

Some of the other views of this build. Legs were ripped down from a 2x10, left a 1" wide strip and saw marks on a face of each leg. Clamped the remains of the plank to the saw bench as a planing stop, and sat each leg on edge.271049Grabbed a #6c plane and got rid of the saw marks on the legs271050271051And had Gosemmer shavings floating in the backyard. Also, until the bench had legs to stand on, a "work bench" made of a step ladder was used to hold the top271052And then slid things around as the legs got put together. Legs needed a stretcher between them, so271053 a notch was cut, and a stretcher made from the leftovers for ripping the 2x10 for legs. That screw head is a planning stop, needed to remove saw marks from the stretchers, too. Screwed and glued. Bench is now down in the Dungeon Shop271054so I decided to try out a jig271055271056Seems to be a nice, stable bench....

Mr. Mathews: I would trade, but, I don't have anything I built small enough to ship out. Thanks for the offer,anyway....

[Chris Hachet]

Thanks for the additional photographs, looks like it will be a real work horse.

[steven c newman]

One thing I have found out, those waterbed frame boards are NOT the same as construction 2xs, seems they used a better grade of pine for the frames.

Very few knots even. Very little warp,too. Might be worth looking at a little closer? What knots there were, were very tight.

the 2x4 was a might chewed up, but the chewed up parts are not a big deal, this is, afterall, a WORK bench.

[Jim Koepke]

One thing I have found out, those waterbed frame boards are NOT the same as construction 2xs, seems they used a better grade of pine for the frames.

The frame was likely made by a furniture company. The probably used #1 or clear pine.

Most furniture buyers do not want to see rough cut 2X4s in the frame they are paying some big bucks to take home.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

100% Salvaged wood except for the soft maple that I used for the vice chops and the apron. That tree was felled and milled locally so I feel OK about that.http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2583/4103275307_f30a5080da_b.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice Rob.

jtk

[Chris Hachet]

Rob-your bench is a huge inspiration, l am getting ready to build my first "nice bench"....

[Edward Mitton]

Very nice bench, Rob!!
Most of my shop furniture is made from dumpster-dove material, and it is all very servicable. The price was certainly right!
I have quite a bit of wood from waterbed frames. I was surprised to find that the waterbed I used for many years, and have since relegated to the wood stock pile, is made of cedar. The first time I made a cut into it, I got that distinct cedar aroma.

[Tom Vanzant]

Ed, same thing with a very dusty 2x8x96 from my FIL. It's cedar. I may rip a couple of strips and CC into short lengths for stocking-stuffers.

[steven c newman]

Moved to the new bench was my planning jig. Used to be on the other bench. Space it was on will now be a place to set up my old Craftsman "T" railed lathe. Seems to be a bench for small power tools needed to help make wood working toys, er tools, work better, AND a bench to actually DO some wood working on. Right now, there are about 8(Yep, went and counted them, too) hand planes risiding on the new bench. Between the wide big feet on the bench, and that jig, using a plane is now a LOT better to do. Me LIKEY!

[steven c newman]

Here is a thought. How about a chisel "caddy" I could install on the back apron of the new bench? Would be enough to hold the herd of chisels I have. It would have to be removable, just in case of a large glue-up were to be done on the bench. Maybe a couple 1xs, to sandwich some spacers? Would I need to cover the entire length of the chisels, or just let it hang out a bit? Attaching it would be a "hook" of some sort. maybe a screw or two to "fix" the caddy in place? Hmmm, another trip to the dumpsters in the future.....

[Jim Matthews]

FWW 21OCT11 Published Greg Brunk's portable workbench tool caddy (http://www.finewoodworking.com/workshop/tip/portable-workbench-tool-caddy.aspx).

It has a series of slots to hold things like chisels.
It's got a pair of braces, as seen on single bookshelves in hallways,
and uses a pair of pegs to fix it to existing dogholes.

If your dog hole spacing is uniform, you could move it anywhere you like on your bench.

I started this way, but ended up making it permanent to my far left corner (I'm right handed).
It covers 8x10" and is never in the way. I keep my essential marking knife, squares, pencils,
screwdrivers and smaller hammers there. Chisels don't come out in my damp shop, unless to chop.

They stay in a drawer, instead.

I like the idea of a removable tray, but it never came off my bench.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for posting the link Jim.

Even though it needs a sign up to view the article enough was on the preview page to understand not only the concept, but the reasoning.

Darn if that reasoning doesn't now have me reconsidering my idea to have a tool well along the back of my bench. It never hit me that would make the bench limited in its ability to be used on all sides. A central well doesn't seem to be for me. Maybe a detachable tool tray... ?

jtk

[Tom Vanzant]

Jim, my bench (Lervad carver's bench) came with a detachable tool tray that could be mounted on the left end or along the rear edge. After I widened the top, the tray sits happily on an adjacent table. Derek has a wall-hung tray that I may look into...

[Jim Matthews]

My bench is deeper front to back than most, and likely shorter, left to right. (55x33 inches).
I can effectively clamp on three of the four faces, but only use the front and right hand side.

The upper left corner (where the tool caddy is mounted) is mostly beyond my reach, so nothing gets in my way.
I haven't knocked anything off, since I mounted it permanently.

I've got plenty of "real estate" to the right of my permanent tool caddy.
If I had to remove it, there are only four screws holding it in place.

No tool well in my benchtop. I would like one, but then I would just pile more on top instead of putting things away.

[steven c newman]

Bench now has a crochet installed and I will try to figure out how to take a USABLE set of photos of it. Do have a few blurry things,271688271689271690New camera-ooski, and trying to figure it out will take awhile. Lag screws go through the apron and then through the leg. No bandsaw to shape the crochet, just some big chisel work, and a lot of hand plane work. Seems to work quite nicely.

[steven c newman]

Ok, first off, a better look at the Crochet272046Really very simple. Will hold up to 6/4 stock, though. And the newest addition to the bench. Took the leg vise off the old bench out at the old shop. Letting the pole barn's owner use the rest. Leg vise needed a little trimming down, due to the new bench's big feet272047272048Wood was split off from an old barn beam. Drilled a hole in the leg for the pipe part of the vise272049272050and slid the pipe through. Added the other part of the pipe clamp, AFTER running the screw all the way in. Added that chunk of old 2x4 as a spacer, for now. 272051272054Top of the "chop" was just a hair or so proud, so a junior jack planed down some end grain until flush with the bench top. That big gray tub is to hold shavings until I can haul it up to the compost pile. The wide board in it is a planning stop, that I can place on the bench's top, and face plane stock. Still working on the bench...272058About an hour or so to install the vise. Had to keep running up and down the basement stairs, getting items I needed.

[Rob Luter]

Thanks. It's surprising what you can do with scrap 2x6 framing lumber, a couple discarded butcher block tops, and a quart of Titebond. Thanks to Christopher Schwarz for the inspiration.