I can’t recall exactly who proposed it on the Glen-L forum, but the idea of a workbench had been on my mind since we bought this house several years ago. Our garage has plenty of storage. We inherited some rather tattered but still functional cabinets on the south wall, where the nose of the vehicles are. These are typical particle board, “maple” vinyl veneer, and assembled with the weakest of staples. I also had installed six ceiling-mounted hanging racks, to replace the attic space storage we had at our old house. (Our old house had 8′ ceilings, and thus in the garage attic I had about 6′ of vertical space; our new one has 10′ ceilings (which is great), but the house isn’t any taller, and so only a 4′ height (max) is available, and one of the AC blower units takes up most of that space, but I digress). Bottom line is that most of our space in the garage is for storage of stuff (some seasonal), and I know from experience that any horizontal surface will soon be covered with more stuff.
And this is one of the main reasons why I didn’t yet have a functional workbench in the garage. For individual projects, I would drag out a 6′ plastic folding table from Lowe’s. Two years ago, I made a great purchase and got a Keter Folding Table Workbench (with clamps) from Amazon – 1000lb capacity, collapses to 21″ x 33″ x 6″ – leans up right against the wall. But while this has been a key acquisition, especially when I was building my daughter’s loft for her bedroom, it wouldn’t be enough for boat construction.
The idea is simple enough. For laying out the frames and assembling them, you need a flat workspace. Most of the suggestions are to draw them all out on a piece of plywood, and then that piece of plywood becomes your transom. I’ve seen photos with the rough transom installed with the baseline and centerline from the plans still visible (and not centered on the craft, mind you).
Clamping a full 4×8 sheet of plywood to my Keter Folding Table is probably out of the question – too much overhang, not enough support, and probably too low in height to work comfortably. So I needed a new solution.
Last week, I went to Home Depot (they had better plywood selection) and got a full sheet (49″ x 97″) of 3/4″ MDO (medium density overlay) – that’s typically called sign-painters board, for the thin paper was smooth and perfect for taking paint (it used to be darker and thicker, but that might have been in the Midwest). I also got a sheet of what’s now called 23/32nds which isn’t quite 3/4″ thick (there used to just be 3/4″, but I guess I’m a crotchety old man now), AC Ply, but it wasn’t Doug-Fir, it was something called “Radiata Pine”. I had to have those ripped to 24″ widths (x 8′ long) to get them in the SUV.
Later, I went to Lowe’s (not too far from Home Depot, but they’re both about equidistant to the homestead) for 15 2x6s. I was going to get 8′ lengths, but they were a full dollar more than the 92-5/8″ studs. When I checked Home Depot, they were almost out of 2×6’s, if you can believe that). A few eyebolts, two turnbuckles, and later eight 4″ rolling casters (I wish I had these – they were a lot cheaper than Lowe’s). I thought 3″ might do the trick, but they only had 7 in stock, so I deferred and went beefier.
Saturday, I started assembly, with Amazon music on my Bose QC 35 headphones. Normally I’d wear regular ear protection, capable of reducing sound by 30 decibels or so, but these Bose did great cancelling out the power tools, while also getting to listen to music. They may get a bit dustier, but they’re more comfortable and in theory I’m amortizing the cost with each wear (they’re already great on long flights).
I first started by evening-off the MDO by trimming the 25″ wide section to 24″. I could have had Home Depot do it, but they allow for 3 free cuts, and then they start charging. I just needed it 24″ to get in the car, and some relatively quick work with my Porter Cable 20v MAX cordless circular saw, things were aligned properly.
With a rough design already in mind I seemed to cruise through the construction. I first assembled the 2×6 studs as rails on the back of the 3/4 AC plywood, with the difference between the 92-5/8″ studs to the 96″ ply a perfect overhang for clamps. I tried to leave 2″ of space on all sides. Once those 2×6 rails were secured to the first 3/4″ x 2′ x 8′ sheet, I did the same to the second sheet. I was building these in parallel, one on my saw horses and one on my bench.
This was a good start. I then affixed the MDO sheets to the AC Ply, and screwed about 20 screws in from the bottom, so none would penetrate the MDO top. Here was my first mistake of the day. Somehow (probably from me last year) a 1-5/8″ screw found its way into my box of 1-1/4″ screws. I didn’t judge the subtle difference until it went through. I backed it out, replaced it with one of the correct length, and continued. I mean, the table will likely get beat up with marks, epoxy, etc. on it, but I was hoping to start off without error.
I added some more framing, and these were getting very heavy, but also were very sturdy. I tend to overbuild things, and once I figured out how to move these things (carefully), they would hold up without issue. Although I was really going through the 2×6’s, which frankly were a bit wet still.
I then started calculating the leg length. I was targeting a work surface about 36″ high. The thickness of the combined tops were about 1-1/2″, and the 4″ casters were 5″ inches with the mount calculated in. So that meant a height of 29-1/2″. I cut eight lengths, tried to match them a bit, as my circular saw was leaving the final inch or so a bit “proud” with every cut (there’s an excuse for a radial arm saw if I ever heard one.) At this point I focused on Table 1, figuring I would repeat everything for Table 2, but I was running out of daylight.
After mounting each firmly inside the 2×6 perimeter, I then put a 14″ piece of 2×6 between them, hammering it in to secure them as square as possible and to reinforce from any bowing.
Once the legs were done, I placed a cross-piece to host the casters, and then added the 2×6 bottom rails. Finally I grabbed some leftover 1/2″ plywood from my daughter’s loft project that I had saved, and built a bottom shelf. It was dark by then – 6:30 PM here this time of year, and I was doing some dangerous night-time ripping. I called it a night about 7:15 PM with once completed table.
Sunday morning I started early, and repeated the steps of the previous day. I had some bad luck, as the legs for Table 2 were a but cupped and warped. I wasn’t sure if they were like that yesterday when I cut them, or if that happened once cut and sitting overnight loose (and not stacked). I had to use a bit more force, and more clamping to get the lets as square as possible. The good news is that the table is level and sturdy. The bad news is that the legs and bottom rails form a slight parallelogram, almost 3/4″ off square. I also had several screw heads snap – not sure if it was the batch or particularly difficult SPF on the 2x6s – maybe there were some hidden knots in there. Even the scrap plywood for the bottom shelves were off, and this is where I had to make actual parallelogram pieces to fit correctly, and I still ended up with a 1″ gap. Since I’ll probably use the shelves for timbers, the gap shouldn’t be an issue, but that bit of imperfection will bother me on occasion.
After finishing Table 2 I packed up for a spell and took in some football games. I came back out at 3:00 PM, and worked on the “joining” of the two tables. The goal of this was to have two 2×8 work surfaces, which could be attached together to make a 4×8 surface, or a 2×16 if needed. I used some eye lag screws and two turnbuckles. The installation went pretty smoothly, and then I was done. I don’t believe I’ll paint or stain the workbench. It may be disassembled in a few years when the project is over.
My leftovers are 1 full (can return) and 1 half length (can’t return) of 2×6. I have a larger inventory of screws, since I had to buy more of 1-1/4″, 1-5/8″, and 2-1/2″. I also had to buy a new #2 Phillips driver head, but I don’t think it was very high quality (either that or I’m using too much force with my impact driver) as it’s worn a bit.
After putting the tables away for the time being, I then spent another hour assembling my new band saw, but that’s just getting it on the stand – I still have to configure everything, and I’m waiting for a rolling stand that I have on order.
My plan is to use this wonderful new work surface later this week to get a materials list for my frames, starting with frames 4 and 5. Haven’t decided yet if I’m going to