The honorary Grandma Reinhart workbench

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Here's a project I've been occupying myself with at a leisurely pace for the past few weeks. This workbench turned out to be quite an edifice, exceeding my expectations for mass and rigidity. The undercarriage is made of select-grade two-by-fours joined with eight Simpson Strong-Tie framing brackets and about a zillion #8 Phillips wafer-head screws. The black composite feet are designed for four-by-four uprights, but they work with the bench legs fine (although the aesthetics are slightly disappointing.

The work surface accounts for the bench being named after late Grandma Reinhart, the grandmother of a coworker who allowed me to salvage some doors and fixtures from her run-down farmhouse before it was demolished a few years ago.

I started with an out-of-square  four-panel interior solid wood door and somehow mated it to a 3/4 in. layer of plywood, struggling a bit with two circular saws to make them nearly the exact same size. They're joined with wood glue and a row of #8 wood screws across the width about 3/5 the distance from the left edge. This rigid, massive assembly (2 in. thick) is joined to the undercarriage using 14 #10 wood screws (4 in.), somewhat carelessly countersunk and then backfilled with good old Plastic Wood (the shit is hard to work with skilfully, at least for me). The edges of the work surface are crudely finished out with 2.5 in. furring strips, mitered at the corners. The right surface overhangs the undercarriage an extra 5 or 6 in. to support clamping and maybe a specialized wood vise.

After sanding reasonably smooth with a succession of abrasives down to 220 grit, I put a coat of urethane on the work surface this afternoon. Also cut a bottom shelf that will drop into the bottom part of the frame after installing half- by three-quarter in. pine stops around the inside perimeter. The last phase will involve soaking the thing in successive coats of sealer to protect against the nasty garage environment.

I think this citadel could easily support the full weight of an 8 cylinder, 6 liter diesel engine or one of Rudy's hams, whichever is greater. Experienced woodworkers and builders would, of course, be amused by my pride in this humble piece of craftwork, but I'm fairly impressed with my accomplishment. I troubled over it so diligently because it's what the engineers call an enabling technology, meaning that it gives me a platform for executing projects that will contribute to the utility and aesthetics of my beloved house. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, if you like.