Resurfacing vintage pine/steel workbench

View attachment 111556 No we don’t care about authenticity with this one. The whole 7’ x 3.5’ bench is a one-off shop-made thing anyway so we’re doing what we need to do to make it useful again. The old yellow-pine-plank top is in tough shape, oily, holed, and beat-up on top so we opted for the easy way out and got a piece of Home Depot “best” 3/4” plywood and had them cut it to size, and it’ll be fastened on top of the old wood with a couple dozen flat-top wood screws. I gave them clearly written dimensions and they screwed it up, cutting off 1” too much on the long side. I didn’t measure it before I left the store because I saw the panel saw operator measure it off twice in both directions. But he still screwed up, no idea why. If he just wanted to p-ss me off he failed because I’m just too busy to take it back, we’ll use as is and make the shorted side the back of the bench where it won’t matter. I’ll post an “after” photo later, the helper in pic returns tomorrow to finish it. We’re also adding a plywood shelf on top of the lower support frame where we’ll store some heavy stuff, at least 1/2 ton-worth that we have to store anyway. That’ll keep the bench from moving around during use. We’re going to mount a large vise on one corner and due to the way we use those, they have to be on a pretty well-anchored platform.

 

Almost looks like it has been through a fire. Now, I would refinish that top, add shelves, and sell this for big bucks as a kitchen island. Too good to be use for its intended purpose ..... LOL

 

Thanks Brad, we’ll certainly be thinking of your suggestion whenever we’re cooking things up on our island/workbench.

 

How about fitting a 1" thick, tall, backstop to that side? Maybe 2" proud of the top?

 

I needed a piece of glass cut to fit an old storm window and the glass shop I used to go to has closed, and Home Depot doesn't do it anymore (at least not at my local store), so I went to Lowes and they cut it for me. I've cut glass myself with the hand-help cutters, but they have the big table that makes it easy so I figured why screw with it? When I got it home I couldn't understand why it fit so strangely in the frame; I flipped it and tried different ways to put it in. Finally I measured the piece of glass and found it was 1/4 wider at the top than the bottom - so their cutting table wasn't square! I ended up using it since it wasn't worth the trip to return it. Taught me the same lesson - measure it yourself before they wrap it up.

 

Ain't no one can do nuttin' no mo.

 

Maybe will, first going to try a small steel bin rack or two that need something to sit on, as u can see from the background, I can never get enough bin racks.

 

Ok!
Who can!!!!

 

You always need one more space to stash junk than you actually have. It's a Rule. I wouldn't be messing with that bench either. I'd clean it up and Craigslist it and sell it for a few hundred more than you have in it.(LOL)

 

Progress, not done but gettin’ there. Think we’ll paint the plywood forest green ‘cause we’ve got dozens of cans of that color spray paint bought for a project that ended early. Bottom shelf will hold many large gears and pulley wheels whose 1/2 ton total weight will hold the bench in place when we’re exerting force on various workpieces on the bench and in the vise. Bench is about 7’ x 3.5’, “shop-made” primarily of welded steel. The pallet it is on will go away when we get it in place.

 

Pic before paint is completely dry. Took one man to apply the spray paint and another (me) reviving plugged-up 15+ year-old cans by cleaning plugged nozzles with spray carb cleaner. Next we’ll mount the vise on one corner. Bare plywood soaks up huge amounts of paint, but selectively according to the grain. A more careful plan would have included priming the bare wood first.

 

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm................
I assumed you would prime that............

 

Ha!!!!!
The wood did though!

 

My BS “excuse” is that I don’t have the xtra day for the primer coat to dry, but we all know what haste makes...

 

...speeding tickets?

 

Progress: Mounted a nice Wilton 1780 vise on the bench. This is an 8” (jaw width) vise weighing about 100 lbs. I got it years ago at a Militaria show for $100. As I recall, in unused condition. New they are $800. I used grade 5 capscrews that were a bit too long so I used spacers over the nuts. I made a circular plate for underneath so the vise would be very securely fastened, and I was able to tighten the nuts very tight without damaging the wood noticeably.

 

OH MY!!!!! TIS' the season for NEAT NEW AVATARS!!!! WAY TO GO SPRING!!!!! At least, THIS is the first I've seen of it!!