Benchtops & Shelving

In Jim Weir wrote:
Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might
work?

I'm not making 747s, fellers, nor am I building spars. The worst I
might want to do is bend up a 4" x 6" bracket out of 5052H32 and drill
it with a Harbor Freight benchtop drill press.

The imported drill press may be a POS and undeserving of a nice bench
but it is still heavy and will hurt when it lands on your foot. Even my
substantially built lumber and plywood benches shift around more than I
would like during small forming tasks (yeah, I could bolt them down but
my small shop needs to be readily reconfigurable).

Out of curiosity, how long did your lumber workbenches last before they
rotted out?

8^)

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
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Del Rawlins wrote:

Even my
substantially built lumber and plywood benches shift around more than I
would like during small forming tasks (yeah, I could bolt them down but
my small shop needs to be readily reconfigurable).

I had the same problem with my main woodworking bench, which has a maple
"butcher block" top and rock maple legs. I took care of it for the most part
by building a removable cabinet for my small power tools that fits on the leg
stretchers. This only covers half the stretcher area, so I added a shelf on
the other half. Two loaded machinist's tool boxes on the shelf keep the bench
down pretty well.

If you don't have enough heavy stuff to do the job, a few bags of sand would
work just as well.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.