Thread: Made a new bench... Anyone need some firewood?

Up until now I've been working on a wooden bench that my father REbuilt about 30 years ago. I say rebuilt because before then, his bench was a lot bigger & sturdier but he decided to downscale.

Anyhoo, this rebuilt bench consisted of a softwood frame with a 4 piece hardwood top which, over the years, had become... let's say, less than adequate. The 3" vice that was mounted to the bench had become useless because every time I put any pressure on it the piece of the benchtop it was mounted to would simply lift off.

SO, a few months ago, I bought a used trailer with plans to rebuild it (that thread's coming very soon). It had 27mm shs H bars welded onto the front & back which I had decided not to use on the new trailer as well as 32mm round tube rope bars which I thought were overkill.

(GET TO THE POINT)

With all this leftover steel I thought "I wonder if there's enough to make a new bench frame?" So, I did some measurements & some calculations & this is what I came up with:

After I welded up the frame I bought
a piece of 250mm x 6mm x 2M flat bar
a sheet of 1800mm x 900mm x 6mm MDF
a sheet of 1800mm x 900mm x 12mm MDF
& a sheet of 0.55mm gal.

I then cut the 6mm MDF sheet to the shape of the surrounding shelving & wall studs so that it would sit flush & have no gaps around it. I then transferred this shape to the 12mm MDF & cut it out, leaving the 6mm MDF sheet short along the long (front) edge, & then glued the two pieces together.

Then came the fun part. After placing the top in position, I slid the flat bar underneath into the gap created by the 6mm MDF, lined it up with the edges & tacked it in place. I then cut it down to length.

Then came the gal sheet. After laying the inverted top onto it I marked the shape & then marked again 50mm from the edges, cut it out on this mark, folded the two long edges & glued it in place. After leaving it to dry overnight I then proceeded to fold in the back edges & glued & clamped the excess to the bottom surface.

The next day I placed the top in position & folded, & glued the side edges.

Oh, this is the old bench:

I glued down the front edge yesterday &, after leaving it to dry overnight, here's the finished product: