New tooling station

[Colt W Knight]

My brother is working at a cemetery complex this month, and he became friends with the monument maker there. He brought me this big 3.5"×17"×40" marble/granite stone a few days ago. I decided to build a table around it. 

I built the table 2x5 feet and the top is 34" from the ground. I had to add the diagonal braces to steady up the table. That chunk of rock weighs a lot. 

 

 

I still need to figure out where everything will go on the pegboard, add a power strip, and make a tool rack for all my stamps. 

[JLSleather]

2' deep seems quite popular, but I actually like mine nearly twice that.  I like a couple feet (at least 18") for tooling in front of me, and about that again for tools.

Having said that.. my bench is falling apart. Trying to put off replacing it until I find out if I'm getting re-located.

I do like the rock set in like that ..

 

[Colt W Knight]

 

2' deep seems quite popular, but I actually like mine nearly twice that.  I like a couple feet (at least 18") for tooling in front of me, and about that again for tools.

Having said that.. my bench is falling apart. Trying to put off replacing it until I find out if I'm getting re-located.

I do like the rock set in like that ..

 

You probably tool a lot bigger stuff and have a lot more tools than I do. I am relatively new to leather work, so I am sure I will revise my bench once I get a better idea what I need/want. I already don't like the diagonal braces. I will probably try moving them to give me more leg room. 

[JLSleather]

I try not to have stuff just to have it.. so if I don't need it, I lilely don't have it

As a rule, benches requiring braces can be done by angling the brace BACK and down from that front edge.  Course, I'm only 5'10", so I can get away with that mostly.

 

[brmax]

Hey that looks like it will work out great, seems to make good sense set in there to. u lucky dog!

Maybe just sawzal on the bottom side of the 2x6 and tap them braces off the legs for re-positioning 1 board up that way that old part will still be used for granite support. Its late, just a thought.

The granite wow, good score there

Floyd

[stu925]

Local stone cutter here gouged me $50 for a 13"x19"x 1.25" piece of granite so if you got a piece that big for free you got a hell of a deal.  The bench looks great, the inset granite is a great idea, I may have to consider that when I build my next bench. 

 

Stu

[Colt W Knight]

I have been keeping my stamps in a spray can lid since I started leather working. Decided the new bench needed a nice tool rack.

This piece of knotted black walnut has been laying around my shop since 2009. I dressed up the sides with some burl walnut veneer, and made a base with a chunk of butternut burl I had laying around. The butter nut was so warped and crooked,  I could only get a few small straight pieces from it.

 

[Horseshoe]

That is a nice set-up!

[Chief Filipino]

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo jealous! 

[CaptQuirk]

I'm jealous too... I'm working in less space than your bench takes up. I'm still trying to figure out why we went the tiny home route. Anyways, with the wife working nights, I can't do much during the day. No tooling, no rivets, no swearing when I stab myself again. I am so ready to get a rent a shed and move into it. And the first thing I do, is get the biggest, brightest shop light I can afford, and build a work bench with room for tools and materials and a coffee cup

So... Granite, huh? Hmmm...

[Tugadude]

Smart the way you angled it.  I've seen lots of flat ones where you basically have to be looking down on them to find anything.

nice setup!

[bikermutt07]

On Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 5:58 AM, stu925 said:

Local stone cutter here gouged me $50 for a 13"x19"x 1.25" piece of granite so if you got a piece that big for free you got a hell of a deal.  The bench looks great, the inset granite is a great idea, I may have to consider that when I build my next bench. 

 

Stu

Did he clean up the edges for you?

[msdeluca]

I went down to the local granite countertop fabricator to find that he had a pile of sink cut outs (approx. 33" x 20" x 1 1/4") stacked up behind his shop that he was more than happy to give me as many as I could carry off for free.  I took two and polyurethane glued them together (rough side to rough side).  The resulting 2 1/2 thick slab seems more than adequate to the job.  I mostly use a smaller 1 1/4" thick piece though.  Just wanted to add this for those looking for some free granite.

I do like the way you recessed your stone into the table.

[bikermutt07]

I work in a granite shop. Anyone in the Arklatex feel free to contact me. I got some free ones in the back yard.

I posted a thread about it, but nobody replied.

[Colt W Knight]

23 hours ago, Tugadude said:

Smart the way you angled it.  I've seen lots of flat ones where you basically have to be looking down on them to find anything.

nice setup!

Thanks yall. 

Yeah, I wanted to be able to find all my stamps while sitting and tooling. I can't tell you how much time I spent fiddling with that spray can paint lid looking for tools. 

[CaptQuirk]

I feel your pain Colt. All my tools are stuffed into the starter kit box from RealLeather. All my leather is stuffed into another box, and my dyes are stuffed into yet another small box. I have about a 2'x3' section of table to work on. I am so ready to get a workshop shed!

[stu925]

On 9/1/2016 at 3:59 PM, bikermutt07 said:

Did he clean up the edges for you?

I wish.  Basically it's a chunk of counter top that they didn't use.  Oh well he's about the only game in town unfortunately.

[Colt W Knight]

I started with a granite sink cutout. Those sharp edges sucked! The thin material broke eventually. I ordered a surface plate stone off amazon and it was great. My brother saw that, and said hey, you need anymore of this? I said he'll yeah, I'd like a big chunk so my longer work pieceso could fit on it without falling over the side. 2 days later, he brought me that huge chunk of granite. 

[plinkercases]

I was looking in Tandy at a second granite and decided not to go fro it yet and then drove 15 feet from their unit to back of a granite counter shop and got 4 large thick pieces of different dimensions (square to long rectangle good for belts) out of their dumpster for free...with permission. If you have a shop near you go in and explain what you are up to and ask to see their dumpster.

[bikermutt07]

1 hour ago, stu925 said:

I wish.  Basically it's a chunk of counter top that they didn't use.  Oh well he's about the only game in town unfortunately.

Well, that's pretty crappy. Granite goes for 40 sqft. Around here, but nobody would charge that for a scrap piece unless they cleaned up and polished the edges. Granite is very physical work (even on small pieces). I could see him charging that for a decent square or rectangle piece that he made presentable. Guess he was a jerk.

1 hour ago, stu925 said:

I wish.  Basically it's a chunk of counter top that they didn't use.  Oh well he's about the only game in town unfortunately.

How big was the piece?

[silverwingit]

On 8/22/2016 at 8:26 PM, JLSleather said:

2' deep seems quite popular, but I actually like mine nearly twice that.  I like a couple feet (at least 18") for tooling in front of me, and about that again for tools....

Methinks it's the total mass of whatever piece of rock you're pounding on. A piece twice as large area-wise but half as thick will yield the same inertial resistance.

Michelle

[JLSleather]

Well, not so much the rock, as teh table. The rock he has is fine -- I just like about that much MORE table on the other side of the stone (where he has that vertical thingie).  And a table at least 4 feet wide is nice, too... so belts don't hang over the edge - makes 'em tougher to tool 

 

[Colt W Knight]

I don't want my table deeper than 2' so I can reach everything while sitting in my chair. 

Edited September 3, 2016 by Colt W Knight

[cowboycolonel]

for those who might not have broken the code yet, here's the real gouge.  Everyplace has a tombstone supplier, even if there's no readily available counter-top dealer.  Now and again the engraver will make a mistake, and when he does, that piece of stone becomes an ideal tooling block.  So what if you have to make do with one two inches thick and eighteen by eighteen while you wait for something bigger.  The price will be right in the long run.