Work bench advice

[spudulike]

Just measured my vice and it is a smidge over 1m, I am 6'2"  and made my bench relatively high and it has never caused me back pain and know a lower one in height would.

Kitchen worktops make a good workbench, pretty solid and resilient.

I have placed magnetic tool holders round mine and are useful for tools, bars, chains and stop some parts rolling off the top.

I didn't bother with chairs, standing up is good for you and shifting two stone is testimony to that! 

[Boggle4137]

Next pay day i was planning on getting some of those magnetic tool holders. I used hooks on some mdf on my old bench and they can be annoying.

 

Another idea i was thinking about is a tool cleaning box/area. Basically an mdf cube with the front panel removed, you then put the part to be cleaned in the cube and using an air nozzle you can blast away without covering your work area in crap. It also had a fold down piece of perspex for eye protection. Dont know if this is over kill for me as i only get occasional use from my saw so it wont be getting minging daily.

[jmac]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I made my own bench, thought it makes an interesting contrast to @aspenarb ‘s tidiness wise!

Where's the wine holder mick?

[htb]

1 minute ago, jmac said:

Where's the wine holder mick?

It's his other hand from the one taking the picture, never let's it go till its empty

[Mick Dempsey]

On the end of my right arm, watching Antiques Roadshow.

[drinksloe]

I recently bought a long length of worktop for my kennels from wickes for 25 quid, had a mark on it.

But u can buy a 2m length for £30, if ur itching to get on u can also buy kitchen units of the shelf, again cheapest i found was wickes, about 50ish quid depending on sizes/ design.

 

Instead of a tool cleaning area, just stick on old sink in, will do the same job even if u never plumb it up. Usually find plenty at local coup/dump or of plumbers

U could very easily hill billy plumb it, a tank/bucket filld with rain water and gravity fed into the sink tap, be rubbish pressure but enough to rinse stuff off clean paint brushes.

Personally iwouldn't have a workshop with out a sink, once u've had 1 u never go back.

 

Just be careful if u plumb it into house water as can be a pig for freezing

 

Mick is there a reason why ur worktop is raised up on 2x2s?

[roys]

I have in the past made benches out of 4x4 posts with 4x2 or 6x2 timber (whatever was surplus at the time) between them to frame them up.

For the top I have used kitchen work tops or fire blank doors, been lucky in the past by going to the back of builders merchants and finding a bashed one that has been rejected, asked inside and they are usually happy for you to remove it.

This is my current one which isn't home made?I quite like my most used tools on a board at the back of the bench, with a screw or bracket for each tool, I hate peg boards though, but every one is different.

[Billhook]

Perhaps a vertical wooden blockboard or similar in front of the work bench so that you can shadow mark your tools and when they are not there it shouts at you.

 

I once did some work for an old surgeon friend of my father.  He was in his eighties at the time and every tool was laid out on the wall in front of him in the same way as his surgical implements were in the operating theatre.

He could reach out and find the tool he needed without looking but this was combined with the discipline of meticulously returning all the tools to their place.     In surgery you did not want to leave any tools inside the patient!

My biggest problem, which I gave never really resolved, is putting down a tool or machinery part, being distracted and then spending the next hour looking for it.  If I could have added up all the time I spend looking for things...............

The surgeon used to frustrate me a bit as I was young and wanted to do things quickly and he spent ages putting tools back and tidying up.  But he was far quicker than me in the end!

[drinksloe]

Just had a look at 1 of my benches (have to admit been a while since i seen the work top) i made it with modern chip board flooring, quite like it, harder and smoother than OSB, and comes 600 wide.

If u step up to 22m thick its pretty strong.

 

Aye i done somethin similar in mty last workshop, have seen it with the lines round it and quite liked it.

Didn't have the patience so just wrote the tools above the nail/screw/steeple.

Not quite got my new ones organised yet, inherited a load of old metal filing cabinets which are quite handy as big tool chests

[CDMR]

I you have a local wood recycling project nearby they often have kitchen worktops or site hoarding which are 25mm hardwood ply which are great for worktops. My local one does a full sheet of 1" hardwood ply for £25.

 

You can find whether there is one near you here. http://www.communitywoodrecycling.org.uk/stores/