Conference 7.286::home_work

    I can't help you with a free-standing workbench, but here's what
    I did to build a workbench:
    
    For a top, I ripped a sheet of 3/4" plywood the long way, then glued
    and screwed the two pieces together to make a 1.5"x2'x8' top.  For
    support, I attached two 4x4's to the basement wall in a corner (a
    2' length of 4x4 on one wall, and an 8' length of 4x4 on the ajoining
    wall) with 3/4" diameter Star (brand name) "Tamp-ins".  I bolted
    the top to the 4x4's, bolted a 4x4 along the front edge for stiffening,
    and put a single 4x4 leg under the unsupported corner.  To finish
    it off I put a piece of 1/4" tempered Masonite on top, and put some
    1x3 strips along the edge to cover the plywood endgrain.  Solid?
    Indeed!
    
    Height of the bench is important.  Whatever bench you build, build
    it for YOUR height, not just what the plans may say.  For a
    machinist's bench (me being primarily a metalworker) the proper
    height is such that the top of the vise jaws are at elbow level
    when you're standing straight with upper arm at your side and
    forearm out parallel to the floor.   That proportion is supposed
    to be the best arrangement for accurate and comfortable filing
    of work held in the vise jaws.  For me (6'3") and the particular
    vise I have, that gave a bench height of 39", and now that I've
    used the setup for a while I think perhaps 40" would have been
    better.  An inch difference can make all the difference to your
    lower back.  However, the height you need depends entirely on
    your particular build.  Also on what you're doing.  The idea is,
    you can work most easily when the thing you're working on is at
    about elbow level so you neither need to bend over nor raise your
    arms.
    
    Steve
    

    I have several different plans from past issues of Popular Mechanics,
    Fine Woodworking, or whatever mag. published them. Will be happy
    to photocopy said plans for you and send them along, but why don't
    you tell me your requirements as to vises, etc, before I copy
    everything. I think the set I have from Stanley is the closest to
    your needs with the 3/4" ply construction. I had built their junior
    size of this for my son and it was a super bench, very strong, light
    enough to move but strong enough to put some force on when working.
    Send mail direct to me and I will get them off to you.
    
    Vic Hamburger

    re: .1:  "...with 3/4" diameter Star (brand name) "Tamp-ins"
    
    Could you supply a description of these?  Can't seem to find 'em.
    
    __Rich

    Tamp-ins are lead collars surrounding tapered, internally threaded
    metal inserts.  The 3/4" ones I used are 3/4" in diameter (surprise!)
    and about 1" long.  You drill a 3/4" diamter hole 1" deep in the
    cement, then stick in a tamp-in and with a special tool flog the
    end of the lead shield with a few vigorous hammer blows to expand
    it out against the concrete, locking the threaded metal insert in
    place.  The 3/4" diameter tamp-ins take 3/8" diameter bolts.  Smaller
    sizes are also available.
    
    Steve

    With the good weather on the way, I'm thinking about building an
    outdoor play "thing" for the kids (two boys, 3.5 and 7). Probably
    some kind of fortress, with a deck atop and a closed in area below.
    
    Anybody out there have favorite plans, pictures, ideas, etc?

    or plans for a swing set etc......built using redwood for the main
    support structure......

Plans?  what are they?  they take away the challenge!  8-)

When I built my wooden swing, I simply went to a swing shop and got one of
their catalogs.  Then, by simply using the rungs as a measuring stick (12"
spacing), I built a virtual duplicate of a $450 swing for around $75.  I
could have done it cheaper, but I didn't feel like driving out to Spags to
save $10 on the hardware.

btw - I later noticed most of the child swings have the rungs at around 10"
rather than 12", but at least now I don't have to worry about them ourgrowing 
it.

-mark

	"The Family Handyman" had an article on them a couple of
	months ago, maybe Dec or Jan....

Frank

I have a set of worktables that I would like to install drawers under.  
Not being terribly handy, I was wondering if anybody makes pre-fab 
drawers that I could buy and fasten in place. (That's about my level.) 
Does anybody know of such a thing? 
					>>>==>PStJTT

Used office furniture places sometimes have these around - there's a 
place in worcester on shrewsbury street (forget the name) that was 
good for that a few years ago

    Yep, such things exists.  I've seen them in catalogs.  DRI Industries
    for one, I think.  (Sorry - don't know their address.  Isn't there
    a note about them 'way back at the beginning of this file somewhere?)

    I know of two places that sell them: Brookstone (probably have to
    order them through the catalog) and Trendlines (the tool outlet).
    I don't know where you are located, but you can find both of these
    stores in Nashua, NH (as well as other locations).
    
    	Willy

    you may want something a little more professional than this, but
    it has worked for many workbenches and its cheap, so...
    
    keep your eyes open and find someone that's throwing away an old
    dresser.  take it home, cut off the top, and screw the rest into
    the bottom of your bench.
    
    it's not pretty, but it works!

    I am renovating my kitchen.  In a few weeks I will have a poor quality 
    but still servicable drawer cabinet that you may have.  The cabinet
    is about 18" wide, 24" deep and 35" high.  It has four drawers.
    I live in Cambridge.  It is yours for the taking.  Any takers?

    bd

    While we're on the subject of drawers, you know the thin solid wood
    that's used for the bottoms?  It's not ply, and I haven't been able
    to find a source for a piece to replace a bottom that's missing.
    
    Without having measured, I'd guess the stuff is maybe 3/16 or so.
    Any ideas?
    
    Pete

    RE: .6
    
    How about 1/4" veneer [or finish] plywood available at most lumber
    yards? This is the stuff that is usually used for soffits and such.
    I've used it myself for drawer bottoms quite successfully.
    
    Regards,
    Charlie

RE: .6

I used 1/4" hardboard(?) (I think that's what is was called). It's very
smooth on one side and kinda rough on the other. I think it's also used
for things like peg-board. And it makes great sliding doors for small
cabinet-like things.

Jay

Re: .5 
	Thank-you, that's very kind, but I have a lot of drawers to 
install, and I'd like them to match.  It looks like I'm going to have to 
bite down hard and build 'em from scratch.

Re: .8
	I think what you described is known as "masonite."

					>>>==>PStJTT

    I have pegboard on the walls of a portion of my shop and would like
    to use it to hang some tools etc on. I know that various hangers
    that insert into the holes in the pegboard are available, but I
    have had no luck finding them. Has anyone seen a vendor that has
    a good supply of them?
    
    /Kevin

    Where are you located?  Spag's (Shrewsbury MA) has tons of this stuff!

    
    	Mabey I asked the wrong person at SPAGS, but they told me they
    	didn't carry it!! BTW anywhere East of Worcester and West of
    	128 is OK with me.
    
    /Kevin

    Spags has them right near the cabinet hardware/hinges.
    
    Make sure you get hooks which are the right size for the pegboard
    holes.  I bought hooks which were too small.  Everytime I remove
    something off a hook, the hook falls on my basement floor.  So then
    I have to go fishing around for it in about 3 inches of sawdust.

    Usually a spider gets to it and carries it off before I can find
    it.

In the hardware department on the ilse parallel to the main isle
where the screwdrivers and tape measures are located.  Between the 
mollie screws and the cabinate hardware display a coulpe of feet
from the end of the isle towards the rear of the store about three
to four feet off the floor.  I have vivid nightmares about that
place!

Bill G.

    RE: .4
    
    That's right!  Right between the plastic anchors and the grinding
    oil/naval jelly!  If you can't find it after all this, go to the
    fishing tackle counter.  They probably have some there too.

Re .3

<     Make sure you get hooks which are the right size for the pegboard
<     holes.  I bought hooks which were too small.  Everytime I remove
<     something off a hook, the hook falls on my basement floor.  So then
<     I have to go fishing around for it in about 3 inches of sawdust.

<     Usually a spider gets to it and carries it off before I can find it.

Obviously you haven't been keeping up on common shop procedures.
Dave Barry wrote a piece designed to alleviate your problems. In it he tells
how to build a (high tech) board specifically designed for killing spiders.

Dave

        I'm interested in buying or building a workbench for my basement.
        
        I looked for this topic, and all I found was topic 179, about
        building, which is one option.
        
        However, I'm just lazy enough to be interested in buying a kit
        with most or all of the parts for a good quality bench (since you
        almost need the bench to build the bench). 
        
        I've seen kits at Lechmere and Sears, but I wasn't impressed with
        the quality (lots of thin sheetmetal and molded plastic, little or
        no real wood).  I've inquired at a few local lumberyards, but they
        don't seem to have a bench kit (although they are more than
        willing to sell me raw lumber to build one). 
        
        Can anyone point me to a source for a quality workbench kit?  I'd
        prefer a mostly-wood bench, with shelves and/or drawers for
        storage. 
        
        I'm in southern NH (Amherst), so something in the area would be
        most appreciated.
        
        Tom

    It depends on what you want to use the bench for. If you just need
    a solid, stable wood workbench. Sommerville Lumber has a decent
    one quite cheap. It is all wood, all 2x6 except the shelf which
    is 1x6. The boards all come pre-cut and pre-drilled for the included
    screws which are the nice phillips head, extruded thread variety.
    Granted the quality of the wood is nothing to write home about
    but it cost me, on sale, less than just the 2x6s would have cost
    to buy separately. I think that the kits are available from other
    lumber yards 'cause I've seen what looks to be the same thing
    else where, the "backsplash" has some silly charts on it and
    the name of the lumber yard.
    
    Alan

    Trendlines /Woodworkers Warehouse has a kit you can buy.  There
    is also a book advertised in Fine Woodworking/Fine Homebuilding
    which is all about building workbenches.
    
    Then again, if you want (and are in the area of Hudson NH) you can
    come take a look at the one I built.  I have usually found that
    most kits don't have the features I want; so I have to build it
    from scratch.  They are not hard to build.
    
    - Mark

There's at least one long note in DELNI::TOOLS about workbenches

Paul

    The Trendlines Woodworkers Store in Nashua is a good idea. There
    is also a Tool Warehouse store on 101A in Nashua that may sell
    benches.
    
    Finally, you could just build a frame out of 2 x 4 and cover it
    with 1" plywood as a top. If you really wanted to get fancy, you
    could buy a butcher block top at the Door Store in Cambridge or
    the Butcher Block store on 101A in Nashua. The butcher block top
    would cost you about $ 200 for a good sized bench top.
    
    Best of Luck.
    

    
    	I don't know if you have a store called Home Depot in your
    	 area or not, but here in the Atlanta area they sell wooden
    	 workbench kits.
    
    	The kit is all 2x6's, including the work surface, so you don't
    	 get a completely flat top.  All the h/w is included, and I
    	 think they were about $35-45.  The legs were 2x6, and had a
    	 brace going from front to back about 6" of floor level.  It
    	 also had a shelf the whole width at this level.  It was a 
    	 pretty nice unit.
    
    
    					-Rich
    

    An undrilled solid core door(butcher block w/laminate covering)
    makes a fine bench top and often can be found a lumber yards in
    the damaged section. I bought one to make my bench top cost $45
    and is rock solid and is easy to drill for bench dogs.
    
    -j
    

    >>    < Note 1730.6 by NEXUS::GORTMAKER "the Gort" >

    >>	    and is rock solid and is easy to drill for bench dogs.
						       ^^^^^ ^^^^

    
    	Eh?  I'm not sure I understand..... (or am I just too tired
    	 tonight??)
    
    
    				-Rich
    

    A bench dog is a pice of wood or metal inserted into the bench to
    hold one end of a piece of wood.  The other end has pressure from
    a matching 'dog' in a vise.  Let me try a picture...
    
              +----------+
   workpiece  |          |
              |----+     |
                   |     |
                   |     |
                   |     |
                   |     |
           bench   |     |  bench
                   |     |
                   |     |
                   +-----+

    
    	Thanks.  I'd never heard of that before, but it sounds like
    	 a pretty neat idea.  I'll have to remember it when I get my
    	 bench set up right.
    
    
    				-Rich
    

    Just had another thought...jogged by the bench dogs,
    
    You might try to pick up some (all?) of the woodwright series by
    Roy Underhill.  There are three of them at the moment:
    
    	"The Woodwright's Shop"
    	"The Woodwright's Companion"
    	"The Woodwright's Workshop"
    
    (I think I got all the names right.)  They are put out by the
    University of North Carolina Press.  You should be able to order
    any of them from your local bookstore.
    
    Roy Underhill is the master woodwright at Colonial Williamsburg,
    and if you ever get a chance to catch his show on PBS, you will
    probably find it interesting; most everything is done with 17th,
    18th, and 19th century hand tools (and simple "power" tools).  There
    are probably some good ideas from workbenches in them.  (So far,
    I haven't had the chance to get the books; I plan to have a talk
    with Santa about that :-)
    
    - Mark

If you want literature on benches, The Taunton Press (Publishers of Fine 
Woodworking) recently came out with a whole book on workbenches.

Paul

    
    You can also check out Channel Hardware these items. I saw a good
    supply of them at the Chelmsford store (take the Route 110 exit
    off of Rt 495-the store is located in a Mall on the left side of
    the road just south of Rt 495).
    

>        You can also check out Channel Hardware these items. I saw a good
>    supply of them at the Chelmsford store (take the Route 110 exit
>    off of Rt 495-the store is located in a Mall on the left side of
>    the road just south of Rt 495).

    Are you sure it's on the RIGHT side of the road just NORTH of 495?

      I second .10's recommendation about the PBS series.  I haven't
    read his books but the guy is incredible!  He is on either Weds
    or Thurs night on PBS from N.H. (channel 11?) as well as Sundays.
    It amazes me how much he can do and how fast he can do it with hand
    tools.  His idea of a power tool is one that is powered by the operator
    like a foot operated mechanism.  Someday, I hope to be able to work
    as fast with my power tools as he does with hand tools.
    
    -Jim
    

    $#^$%#^$%!@#$!%# The local station here in the springs dosent carry
    the show it used to be a favorite.
    re.? Thanks for the picture.
    
    -j
    

    I built mine out of free oak pallets over 15 years ago.  It's larger,
    stonger, and much cheaper (as well as at least as functional) as
    a kit-built unit.
    
    Lotsa places will have signs up "free pallets", and they're usually
    good wood.
    
    Pete

    
    
    Hello everyone,
    
    I was hoping someone could help me out on this.
    
    I'm want to buy my husband a nice work bench for Christmas, one
    which possibly has a peg board, but have no idea of where to look.
    I live in So. NH and was hoping to go looking sometime this weekend.
    
    Also, any certain brands I should look for or avoid?  
    
    I don't know anything about work benches, so any help would be greatly
    appreciated!!!
                  
    Thanks!
    
    And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!
    
    Denise

    Denise,
    
    Can you be more specific about how it would be used and how much you're
    willing to spend.  A good quality woodworking bench can cost several
    hundred (or more) $$$, while a basic workbench kit from Somerville
    Lumber might cost $50.
    
    Woodworking benches (they definitely don't have pegboard) are available
    from Shopsmith in Chelmsford, MA,and  Woodworkers Warehouse (all over
    eastern MA and southern NH).
    
    Basic workbenches are available from Grossman's, Somerville Lumber, and
    Sears (and probably many other places).
    
    Bob

    
    
    re:  .1
    
    He'd be using it for all kinds of odd work such as fixing broken
    materials, maybe using it for some wood work........oh I don't know!
    I'm not even supposed to know he wants one!  
    
    I'd like a peg board so he can hang his tools and odd chains, etc.
    
    He may use it to tune up his chain saw.  He'd use it for fixing
    any removable part on the house.  If he had one, he'd find things
    to work on/fix on the table.  He's always puttering around the house.
    
    I'd like to keep the cost close to $300.
    
    Thanks for your reply!
    
    Denise
    
                                                                         

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    Fine WoodWorking Magazine also publishes books written by the staff and
    contribuitors about specific topics.  Tauton Press I believe. Check the
    middle of any of the magazines for a tear out card.
    
    I recently bought their book about work benches.  The author spent one
    year traveling about the United States and a bit of Europe interviewing
    people about their workbenches.  It starts off with some history of the
    workbench as a tool, how it evolved in Europe, and how when imported to
    the U.S. it underwent still more change.  
    
    Included are many color photos of benchs ranging from cabinet grade
    materials with hand cut mortise and tennon joints and turned wooden
    screws for the vise, to split logs resting on a fence, to the B&D
    Workmate.  At the end of the book are blue prints for the "standard"
    European workbench as well as several other styles.  Most of the other
    benches covered in detail in the book also have drawings of the neato
    details of the benches in the chapters where discussed.
    
    The perfect work bench performs the tasks of the particular user.  Some
    of the people carve, make chairs with round parts, do a lot of
    veneering, make musical instruments, metal working, or a variety of
    things.  The benches have been tweaked to better cope with the
    particular ideosychrocies of the job at hand most often.
    
    The main point is to design and build a work bench which can assist
    you in your tasks and also be confortable for your particular body
    build.
    
    The part I finally figured out, which I knew all along but just had not
    realized, is that a work bench is not a table top against a wall. 
    It is a freestanding table which allows the worker to move around it to
    get to all sides of the project at hand.  A table top against the wall
    is a place which collects clay pots with dead plants and other stuff
    "temporaraily" until it is completely covered so that when you deciede
    to use it, you can't without out finding a place for all the other
    stuff first.
    
    Cost is about $25.

Any such thing as a modular (single) drawer unit, which one could
put together to fill arbitrary size spaces?

I have a concrete shelf in my basement laundry room where we would like
to install countertop. Hate to waste the 8" or so from the top of the
concrete to where the counter needs to go, and one would need something 
to support the counter any way... modular drawers would seem to be 
a decent application for such things, and other applications like kneewalls
mentioned earlier.  cross section
                                                |
                                                |                         
                             countertop        ||                         
                            ___________________++                         
                            +-+-----------------+                         
                            o-||  drawer        |                         
  ------+                     +++---------------+                         
        |                       |               |                         
  washer|                       |               |                         
        |                       |   concrete    |                         
        |                       |               |                         
        |                       |               |                         
        |                       |               |                         
        |                       |               |                         
        |                       |               |                         
        |                       |               |                         
  ------+-----------------------+---------------+                         
       cross section

Top view would be an "L" approx 16' x 8' so I would
string the single drawers togther side by side (spacers
maybe) and then put prefab countertop on.
    
	anyone seen such a thing?
        ideas and suggestions?

    Check the closet organizer section of Builder's Square.  They have
    modular storage units for closets and the drawers might be sold
    separately.
    
    
    Bonnie

Thanks, found some....turns out they are a common item in most cabinet
catalogs..they are called kneedrawers...cost ranges from 75$ each for
unfinished pine to 150$ delux hardwood....I need so many that the cost
will be more than I want to spend...I figure I can make the whole lot
for perhaps 50$ in lumber and guides so I guess I'll DIY...

once again the "easier softer way" looses....