My first woodworking space was the furnace room in our previous house. There was a chest freezer, a water treatment set up, a furnace, a sump pump and a variety of shelves with everything for camping gear to gardening tools. The space was not large or well lit. Having said that, I was glad for the space and made some things that have stood the test of time. I got my first scroll saw while in that shop.
Fifteen years ago we moved here. The space is much larger even though I still share the space with the furnace. I brought from my old shop my work table/bench, if you search work table you can see various blogs on different aspects of building this work table.
I thought I would do a small review because I wanted to show work holding aspects of this bench/table.
The top is 40 inches square and 1 1/2 inch thick plywood. The bench stands on two very stout legs and two heavy duty locking casters. It is very heavy and so quite stable and the casters allow one side to be lifted and the bench to be pushed around.(with some effort). It therefore gives me a slightly flexible work space. The structure is 3/4 plywood boxes with hardwood framing and supports. The bottom section is divided in half with 3/4 ply and the second section is turned 90 degrees from the lower one. This way there is no racking and I have two through storage sections on each level. The 1 1/2 top sits on two inch rails making the top replaceable without affecting the structure of the boxes. This is the second or third top.
To make the bench useful I have added dog holes and Kreg Clamps. The dogs are 3/4 and I have a variety of commercial and homemade. This lets me hold most work pieces for sawing, sanding etc.
On one corner is my "jaw horse" vise. I don't know it the company that made my vise still exists, but there are a number of companies that make this sort of foot activated vise, usually they have their own legs. I like this one that attaches to the bench. It can be removed without much trouble if needed.
When I am working of something smaller I can used this clamp table that aligns via dogs on the bench top.
I don't remember what I was doing that I wanted this separate work top, but I is now available for use.
When I was having particular troubles with my back I made a larger raised version to clamp onto the bench and raise my work height a further 8 inches.
This is high enough for me to sit on a shop stool and hold work close for fine repairs, or carving. I to stand without being too hunched over. Usually I clamp the raised section with C clamps. I like C clamps, they are slow but strong.
For edge planing I set up a system to hold pipe clamps on the raised bench.
Since I have been working on, sanding, painting etc the boards for the patio bench the raised bench has been leaning in the corner of the shop.
Why my thoughts turned to my bench are two fold. I saw an interested video about bench clamping and I am moving into another work shop soon.
Next time I will share the video and talk about the shop.
cheers ianw
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