Bargain Workbench?

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

stubtoe

Established Member
Joined
20 Aug 2011
Messages
62
Reaction score
0
Location
Cheshire
Hi,

Now I was going to build my own bench but I just couldn't turn down this which I came across on ebay and was just down the road:

d4b78002-5c83-67ba.jpg


d4b78002-5c91-d6a4.jpg


d4b78002-5ca1-d294.jpg


d4b78002-5cb0-ce7b.jpg


Picked it up for less than it would have cost me for the materials to build a basic one out of softwood.

Its from a closed down college so well used and covered in glue, dints and drill holes. It looks like its been previously power sanded on top.

What would be the best way of cleaning up the top surface and what finish could I apply afterwards?

Cheers,

Jonny

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
 
Hi,

Nice bench, You should plane the top flat with your longest plane, then coat it in teak oil to protect it.


Pete
 
Nice find.

How damaged is the top? It may be better to skin it with some 6mm mdf/ply rather than go to the hassle of planing out the dings.

Cheers

Karl

ps - got a bit tied up this week, but am pretty free next week - will ring you early on next week.
 
Karl":3l21p8qo said:
Nice find.

How damaged is the top? It may be better to skin it with some 6mm mdf/ply rather than go to the hassle of planing out the dings.

Cheers

Karl

ps - got a bit tied up this week, but am pretty free next week - will ring you early on next week.

I don't think it is too damaged and a bit of scraping/planing/sanding should probably clear it up nicely. I reckon I could live with most of the dings.

I'm free too most of next week so speak to you then.

Cheers,

Jonny
 
That is gorgeous Jonny! What a find! =D> =D>

There is no doubt that a skin will give you a perfectly flat surface but I think I would flatten it and just use it as it is...

Well done indeed....

Jim
 
Probably one of the best of the commercial benches and the design that I based mine on. You may find that the beech top is around 50mm thick all the way across so with a little cleaning up I reckon you've got a winner...should be dead solid. It was that sort of bench that I did my training on at Shoreditch College, now closed down - Rob
 
Very nice bench, a good acquisition. Should last you well.

:idea: Give it a go over with a metal detector, before you put a plane to it. You never know what lurks beneath the 'patina'. :mrgreen:

Regards
John :)
 
I got my bench from an old school workshop, the only issue was that it had also had an infestation of teenage youths with sharp edged tools at some point. I put an MDF top on it.
 
Back
Top