I used other people's shops my whole life till just a couple of months ago, when I finally got my own. I'm tall, and I hate hurting my back by stooping over. I built this bench with a kitchen countertop and s**** 2 and 3 inch square tubing. It's 46 inches tall, which is just right for me. To keep the open concept on the bench, I built seperate stands for my vice and grinder. The vice is mounted to an old dump truck brake drum, the grinder to an old wheel. I like both setup this way, as I can move either outside for truly dirty work, so I don't mess up the inside of the shop too much with grinding and such.
Here is mine, not this uncluttered anymore. Empty horizontal spaces tend to become filled with vertical piles of **** around here. I have added some of the required signage and old license plates on the wall since this picture was taken. Size was set by the amount of s**** lumber I found under the deck when I moved in. Height set to a comfortable stand-up working height for me. Top is an old fold up banquet table I found in the attic with the metal legs removed (Permanently) and an edge cut off to use as a back splash. Cabinet for power tools was $30 at Wal-Mart; Chest of drawers was “removed” from one of my kid’s rooms. Paint and screws cost about $20. Also had enough lumber left to build a small vise and grinder bench next to the stairs. I still want to add more lighting for nighttime use (what do you all use?) and paint the walls something other than baby blue. Now please excuse me while I get back to the Turbo-Tax program before the wife sees me goofing off.
I've also used an off-cut of kitchen worktop for a bench, though I carved a tiki to act as one of the legs. I'm sure my time would've been better served doing something constructive.....
The Jalopy Journal
