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Kevin M. Brown asked:




For an avid do it yourself fan, something which you just cannot do without is a garage work bench. It provides the right kind of surface for cutting, routing, sanding, assembly and other projects. You can build one yourself and save on the cost of having it built by a professional. If you were wondering how to build this, all that you have to do is to get good plans which provide the required information.

A Garage work bench speeds up time spent on projects around the home and also increases safety. Though a simple project, it is always best to depend on plans which show you how to build one.

Materials

A garage bench can be designed in the available space with two sheets of plywood and five 12 foot lengths of 2 X 4 lumbers. You would have to recalculate the lumber requirement after the length of the table is determined. This will enable you to design one or two open shelves under the right side of the structure.

Location

One of the first steps to be taken is to find out how to choose the location of your garage work bench. This is based on space and on the availability of light and electricity. This will also determine its length and width.

Wood

When planning how to build this furniture, choosing the right kind of wood is also very important. Professional heavy duty benches are usually made of beech. Dried and damped beech wood is both elastic and hard enough for daily use. If you have decided to build a garage bench on your own, you have to make sure that the wood used is dry and laminated for the bench top.

For standard or lighter constructions, birch wood is normally used. Though it is less durable compared to beech, birch wood is quite hard and also light weight.

Thickness

Let us now see how to determine the thickness of the furniture. High end garage work benches like Sjobergs or Ulmia make the top up to four inches thick. This not only allows a solid fit, but also provides adequate solidity to the structure for daily use.

Steps

Plans on how to build this garage furniture would require you to first decide upon its height. Let us now see how to determine this. It should be a comfortable height for you and would depend on your own height. You should also have a method for holding the work in place at a convenient position and height so that both your hands are free to use on the tools.

The next step is to install the metal brackets into wall studs. The top of the brackets should be placed right below the snap line on the wall. Holes should be pre-drilled for the bolts. Heavy duty bolts and electric drills should be used to install the brackets. Detailed instructions on these as well as other necessary steps on how to build a garage work bench can be got from good plans.

Protection

It is best to sand the table top and legs of the furniture to prevent getting splinters off the unfinished surfaces. Once the work of building the work bench is over, it can be painted, stained or coated with paint or clear varnishes.

You can build your garage work bench in a very short time during a weekend. All that you require is a good plan which provides you detailed instructions and diagrams on how to build it. You can also save some money in the bargain.

Daniel asked:


Hey,

I’m taking woodworking this year at my school. After about the first five weeks (where we learn about safety, using the power tools, etc.) we choose a project to build for the remainder of the year. I’ll have about three hours a week to work on whatever I build.

That being said, what are some good ideas for a project. Past students built tables, benches, and maybe cabinets.

10 points to the best idea (or perhaps the funniest if they all suck)

myssa_alyssa asked:


The Station Bench

I was twelve when I really started learning about time. I spent a week during my summer vacation building a bench with an older boy named Tony. The bench now sits near the train station in my hometown. Whenever I return, I drive to the station to watch weary commuters collared by time sit on the bench and observe life passing by.
Tony was my grandparents’ neighbor. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was more interested in spending time with Tony than in spending time with my grandparents. Tony had a real talent for woodworking, and he had a set of tools that looked ancient yet perfectly at home in his young hands.
The bench we built was made entirely from an old moss-covered walnut log we found behind Tony’s woodshed. We spent the last three days of my vacation scrambling to complete the bench. Countless times I told Tony and my grandfather, who would pop in to check our progress, that we didn’t have to finish right away. But my grandfather would have none of that. He grew up in an era in which time and resources were precious and counted in lives and lost opportunities, not in days, hours, or minutes. In this respect, Tony and my grandfather were alike. Tony seemed wise beyond his years, as if he held answers and secrets deep within him.
We had no plans, no pictures to go by. Tony envisioned the bench and then went to work.
“Let’s mill the log into planks, Jess,” Tony commanded. “We’ll rip the boards to width and cut them to length.”
I learned a new language and how to see the uniqueness within common objects.
We planed planks into smooth rails and elegant slats. We cut joints that were tight and strong. I like to think now that Tony and I were joined that week, not only by the common goal of finishing the bench, but also by something much stronger than any joint cut with a saw or chisel.
Parched and tired, we took periodic breaks.
“Jess, go fetch a couple pops from da ‘frigerator,” Tony would bark.
We’d sip the cold, fizzy liquid and yell like kids at neighbors and passing cars. Occasionally the summer air was punctuated by roaring motorcycles.
“Whooooo, boy, Jess” he’d yell at me. “That’s the motorsickle fer me.”
We finished the bench and it sat in my grandparents’ garage for some time. They eventually donated it to the town. Tony, I learned, had joined the army. Only recently did I learn why he never returned to claim the bench.
Today, I tell my son about Tony and how we built the bench. I show him Tony’s tools, which I now have, with handles worn dark and hard from the hands of a boy who ran out of time. And together we search old woodsheds for another moss-covered black walnut log with a secret buried within.

1. In what ways were Tony and the narrator’s grandfather alike? (1 point)
They were both skilled woodworkers.
They understood how valuable time is.
They were both from military families.
They both liked motocycles.
2. What is a valid prediction one might make about the narrator? (1 point)
He will try to find Tony.
He will take the bench home with him.
He will move back to his hometown.
He will build another bench.
3. When Tony said, “That’s the motorsickle fer me,” he meant that was the motorcycle he (1 point)
once had.
now owns.
wants to own.
can’t have.
4. What is the theme of this passage? (1 point)
Time can always be recaptured.
Time is something precious.
People measure time differently.
Time moves faster as people get older.
5. Which of the following BEST summarize why the narrator visited the train station to look at the bench? (1 point)
The station helped the narrator think about his childhood.
The bench reminded the narrator of his grandparents.
The station was once an important place in the narrator’s life.
The bench represented a significant part of the narrator’s life.
6. What does the narrator mean when he says the commuters are “collared by time”? (1 point)
They have many trains to ride.
They have no sense of time.
They have schedules they must keep to.
The have missed the last train home.
7. What does the narrator mean when he states, “He grew up in an era in which time and resources were precious and counted in lives and lost opportunities…?” (1 point)
He grew up during very tough times.
He learned to tell time in a different manner.
He doesn’t know how to keep track of time.
He lost many relatives when he was a child.
8. What did you learn about Tony from the way he talked to Jess?
(1 point)
Tony was very respectful and considerate.
Tony was not sure of himself or what he was doing.
Tony considered himself in charge.
Tony thought of Jess as his equal in the project.
9. What kind of relationship did the narrator have with Tony? (1 point)
They were cousins.
They were strangers.
They were enemies.
They were friends.
10. What does the narrator mean when he says that his “grandfather would have none of that”?
(1 point)
His grandfather did not want to help build the bench.
His grandfather did not want to hear talk of not finishing the bench.
His grandfather did not like Tony’s design ideas.
His grandfather did not like Tony’s ordering his grandson around.
11. Which of the following is not a run-on sentence? (1 point)
He went home, he was not feeling well.
She ran two miles she was training for the next track meet.
She got a job because she needed extra money.
They won the prize they got the highest score.
12. Which is the best way to combine these sentences?

It is almost over. We will try to get in. (1 point)
It is almost over, we will try to get in.
It is almost over while we will try to get in.
It is almost over whereas we will try to get in.
Although it is almost over, we will try to get in.
13. In the following compound sentence, where is a comma needed?

I would ride my bike but it has a flat tire. (1 point)
after would
after has
after but
after bike
Think about the events in the passage and the actions of the characters. For 14 list an an example of a cause, for 15 list an example of the effect from the cause of 14 to display your knowledge of cause-and-effect relationships.
List a cause for 16 and its effect for 17 as well.
14. List a cause.
(2 points)

15. List the effect of your cause from 14. (2 points)

16. List a cause. (2 points)

17. 15. List the effect of your cause from 16.
(2 points)

Tim A. Davis asked:




Would you think you need shooting bench plans to build a shooting bench? My friends and I use to go on a sand pit on the weekends to practice shooting. We used my bench for years, I didn’t mind to. But one day the old bench just collapsed and we had to consider getting a new one. So we started shopping around but quickly discovered that they were anything but cheap.

The bad part is there was a friendly competition the following weekend and we really did not want to miss that. But since we all agreed that buying a new one was more that we want to spend, my friend Bob suddenly had a great idea, which was to build one.

One of my friends is a paramedic, the other is an accountant, Bob works as engineer and I am a carpenter so we figure Bob and I were going to do it during the week. I had some wood to spare so I did not mind to put that in, and the other guys were going to buy the legs and the necessary hardware.

I went to Bob’s house on Monday night, actually it was a bad night to come up with a plan because it was Monday night football, and we tried to draw something. I went back on Tuesday night and we could not agree on the same idea to build the bench. On Wednesday night, I was back and after doing multiple drawings, we realised it was eleven o’clock already.

On Thursday, by the way our competition was on Saturday and we still did not have a bench, a light bulb suddenly went on in my head. I had bought a plan kit on the internet that has plans for anything you can possibly imagine. So I went to my computer and logged into it, wondering if there was some shooting bench plans and yes, there they were. I printed them all out and brought them to Bob’s place after work.

We found one that we both like and right away we started cutting and putting it together. The next day we putted the legs and there it was, our bran new bench, ready for the week end. That was a close call. I think without the plans we would had gone to a store to buy a new one and spend hundred of dollars.

My other two friends were amazed to see the finished shooting bench and were wondering how we got it done. We had a pretty good laugh saying that it took us all week working like crazy on it every night to get it done on time.