Workbench I - The Beginning

This all began with my wanting to get ducks.  I already have 5 chickens, but I thought, hey, why not 2 ducks as well?

But then of course, that means I’m going to need a new coop, that can house both chickens and ducks.  My poor chickens have needed an upgrade for a while, so this is a good reason to do it.

And that means, of course, I’m going to need a lot of pallets.  And to get all those pallets ready for building, well, that means I’m going to need a proper work area.  And a proper area needs a workbench.  And thus, I’ve arrived.

I already have a base made of really heavy metal, so really all I need is the top.  The base was my Dad’s and had some old mdf top on it which was all swollen and crumbling, and I figured that if I’m going to get a new one, I might as well do it right.

So I started investigating and eventually came across roubo bench designs, like a proper carpenter’s bench with built-in vices and whatnot, and that got me properly excited.  It’s not going to be a proper roubo, but inspired by one.

This was the impetus I needed to get sorting out my back patio.  Most of it was piled high with boxes and baskets that Mum left behind and it took me about 2 days to get through half of it.  But that was enough to make room for the bench base.

After much sketching and changing and thinking, I finally trotted off to Bunnings and bought 6 lengths of structural pine - 90 x 45mm x 2.4m.  For some reason, Bunnings keep this particular size on a mezzanine floor down the back of the trade section, which means each piece has to be carried down stairs to load on your trolley.  Luckily, when I went, 2 nice blokes were there buying timber too, so they helped me pass it all down, over the edge of the balcony, and down onto my trolley.

I managed to fold down the back seat of my Outback as well as put the passenger seat right back, and that way, I fit it all in.  Woot!  I picked up some pva glue, clamps and a very cool long sash clamp thing.  I really wanted a 90mm t-bar slash clamp, which was on the Bunnings website, but after visiting 3 different stores and nobody having them, I gave up and bought this one instead.  I actually really like it.

So here it all is:

The wood is all in really poor shape.  I know it’s only structural grade pine, but I had the feeling that lots of people had already been through and picked out all the best bits.  So even though I went through every piece, what I ended up with is still pretty twisted, bowed and knotty.  Oh well.  I keep telling myself, it’s only a workbench and not fine furniture.