Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)
I took a week of vacation while the wife and daughter went on a girls trip. I was trying to figure out how to use my time, so I decided to completely remove my old shelf workbench and build my version of a real workbench. But, I challenged myself to stick to a few criteria. I had to do it for less that $100, it needed to have a solid wood top and I had to finish in a week. I allow myself to use any scrap wood laying around the shop. It took a week and about $100 in wood and parts, but I built a sturdy bench with bench dog vice and mini workbench. I do not know why I set this challenge other than to see if I could so something.These are my new workbenches; Dr. Evil and Mini-me. Dr. Evil was a challenge to say within budget with the price of wood these days. I spent about $70 on wood, $8 on two 3/4” dowels and about $12 on hardware and vice parts. Both made out of spruce top and Douglas fir base. The legs are 4×4s and the rails are made of spruce. I had some spruce left over from an old coffee table that was flooded and warped. I spent a day jointing and planning that wood for this project. The top is laminated spruce 2z3s. I would like to have gone with 2×4s but those put my over my challenge goal. The legs are joined via a combination of pocket screws and dowels. The dowels were a challenge. The top is attached with some simple L brackets. I wanted to be able to replace the top in the future if needed.I build the vice with a 3/4” threaded rod, two fender washers, a couple of cotter pins and a nut. It works amazingly well. I figured it was just going to be something I would do for now and order a nicer vice later, but I used it for another project this weekend and it worked so well, I will not be replacing it anytime soon.During this project I had a lot of scraps and waiting around time, so I built a wooden mallet. I also refinished my little 7oz hammer I call little hickory. All-in-all, it was a great vacation.