The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site

My son recently bought a house in Germantown Hills, IL. He requested that I design and build him a custom workbench for his garage.

About 30 years ago, I developed a design for my own workbench. I wanted it to be solid, with bolted construction, so I could move it from house to  house when I moved.  I also made it 2 feet by 8 feet, so I could rip a 4x8 ft sheet of plywood long-ways, to end up with a 1" thick top. Here is a typical example of this workbench design:

I have built 2 of these workbenches, and they have been moved over the years from Illinois, South Carolina, and Georgia.  I dis-assemble them for the move, and let the movers load and move them.

Custom Design for Jacob

He wants the toolbox from his truck to set on the floor, inside the legs of the workbench.  He wants the door to be able to open on the toolbox. He also wants the top of the bench to be at 49 inches. My design is usually 42 inches to the top, but he wants it higher.

I designed his bench in Google Sketchup:

This custom design takes 3 sheets of 1/2" plywood and about 14 2x4's (full 96 inches).

The new workbench is much taller and has a bigger table than my standard design..........

Primer Paint

I use Zinnser's primer to  hide all of the knots in the 2x4's.

Harbor Freight Vise and Grinder

I bought a 6 inch vise for this bench from the store in Champaign, IL.........

I bought a 6 inch bench grinder also:

 Hardware

I bought the hardware from McMaster-Carr for Jacob's bench.  Minimum quantity is 100, which is ok since I will eventually use up the hardware on other projects.

Bench Assembly in My Workshop

Transporting the New Workbench from Fairbury to Germantown Hills

Assembly of the Bench in Germantown Hills

Project Completion

Closing Thoughts

 This new bench is too tall for my liking, but my son is very happy with it.  He uses the truck toolbox as storage space and as a shelf. As long as he is happy with it, I guess I am happy with it.

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