Any advise on workbench build?

[chuck123wapati]

8 hours ago, Hairic said:

 figure out is what to do with all my mechanic tools that I have that shop right now... running out of room fast lol

My little one room garage is a combo blacksmith, welding, woodworking and auto repair, and whatever else i need room for. Half my time is spent moving crap around.  let your son borrow them they will be gone in a month LOL. my son is now in his 30s and guess what he has to hide his tools from me lol. If i walk by and see one i take it especially anything 1/2" and 9/16" i'll bet i bought a dozen each of those two in his short time as a teen with a truck.

[Sheilajeanne]

Okay, here's a few things I've learned. 

As an older person who's having quite a bit of back and hip pain right now, don't forget your comfort. A comfortable chair, NOT a hard wooden stool will be very helpful with those long tooling and sewing sessions. On casters, of course, so you can zip between work stations!

Let's not forget good lighting. I have a very bright LED tube hanging from the shelf above my tooling/cutting area. Don't know what I'd do without it!

Table height is important too. My work area is made up of repurposed kitchen counters which came with the house. The previous owner had been into sewing in a big way. I soon found the counters were just a little too high for me to work comfortably, so I had my handyman saw a couple of inches off the bottom. 

I hear ya about electrical outlets!! Mine are all down near the baseboards, so I had to plug in a power bar to make the juice accessible. And yes, definitely have them covered - leather dust gets EVERYWHERE, and you don't want it getting in the outlets!

As for storage, I have a big problem with dust in my work area, because there's been a lot of work being done on my home. Fortunately, there's a large closet with sliding doors and shelves in the room, and this is where I store my leather. It protects it from the light, too.

Things I used most frequently are on the shelves over top of the work areas, or in a small plastic tool storage box (3 drawers, it's about 8" x 10") (swivel knives, honing oil and stones, box cutter) or in the topmost drawers of the counter, on either side of the knee hole (cork back rulers, shears, . I also have a plastic 6 drawer storage unit for less frequently used stuff. Yes, I have to hunt for stuff sometimes, but I have a pretty good memory as to what's stored where.

Messy stuff like dyes and other liquids are in plastic boxes inside the counter cupboards.  Stamps are at the back of the tooling area in racks. I am planning to add a pegboard at the back to store things like edgers and chisels.

 

[dans79]

On 3/15/2022 at 5:01 PM, Hairic said:

 Any ways I would love to hear thoughts for what you would do. 

No matter what, make sure the spot where you plan to do your chisel/pricking/punch work is heavily reinforced.  Ideally you want one or more legs in close proximity if possible.

It doesn't matter if its woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking etc, if the pounding area isn't rigid, it will be loud, and a lot of the power you put into strikes will be wasted as the top flexes under the load.    

For example a very popular style woodworking bench  is one that's fitted with a leg vise, and a wagon wheel vise. The benefit of both of these vises, is that when you are going to town with a mallet and chisel you are usually doing it right over, or right next to a leg.
 

[Spyros]

Best thing I did in my shop was the countless powerpoints, all above bench level.  I currently enjoy the ridiculous ratio of 1.5 powerpoints per square metre of workshop

The other thing I did recently was installing a main power switch by the door, I just kill all electricity on my way out.   Helps me sleep better at nights.

[Rocky143]

For the top of your stamping, punching area, ask a terrazzo contractor to quote you a price for making you a terrazzo counter top.

Also, there are plenty of videos about DIY concrete counter tops.

Be aware that stones like granite and basalt are denser than concrete, so if you opt for concrete, you may want it to be a little thicker.

Thickness of the top should be taken into account when calculating height of the table.