Monday, July 19, 2010

Apartment Sized Workbench Tutorial.....My Hope !

Researching The Workbench

I have been up and down the net until I finally reached the end of the net. Who would believe it ?
Along the way I found some very interesting Benches. So many great ideas ! There is such a wealth of info out there, it's incredible !

I was looking for a small Workbench that would allow me to work in a space of 8' x 8 1/2' . I
figure a 48" length would suit my needs for now. The width I don't know yet. I doubt I will be
building any large projects right away. I don't want the Bench to be a permanent fixture in my
Dining Room. When I have guests I would like to use it as Dining space. Making the Bench so it
knocks down easily and can be put aside or under a Bed would also be nice.

While I was searching the net, an anonymous viewer to my Blog suggested I look at a nice Workbench built by Tim Williams ( Asheville Woodworking School ). It's on the Blog of Chris
Schwartz at http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/ under Workbenches and under
the title " The Joinery Bench". That is a fantastic small Bench ! However, I need a Bench that
is a bit more versatile.

Also on the Chris Schwartz Blog is a Bench made by Ken Woodruff under the title "A Blog for
the Shopless", and the Blog is at http://roughwood.kennethwoodruff.com. This Bench folds
and fits under a Bed.

It was not enough, I needed more !!! I found more ! On the Chris Schwartz Blog. It gave me a
lot of direction and soon the wheels in my head were turning. After a few days more I came
across this Blog by David Pruett at http://foldingrule.blogspot.com/. David's Bench is a
Modified New-Fangled Workbench. I like a lot of the ideas and I think they will work for my
needs. David's Bench was inspired by a Bench built by John White of Fine Woodworking
Magazine. John called it "The New Fangled Workbench".

Finally I ended up at http://logancabinetshoppe.weebly. com/blog.html. This is the Blog of
Bob Rozaieski who also had some great ideas and suggestions.

I will most likely use a little bit of everyones Bench ideas and design to suit my own needs. As
it should be, I suppose. I have some wood kicking around. Some given or donated and the rest
I plan to buy at Big Box, making it easy to get going on this project.

My hope is to show this as an easy build that anyone may accomplish.

So next I have to work on some designs. I'm not very computer savvy yet, so the designs will
be hand drawn for now.

Happy Trails,
- Joe

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