Pallet Wood Bench
Sometimes the universe sends cool stuff my way.
A good friend took delivery of a large machine from Europe. He discarded the packaging timbers in my direction. They were 2400 x 120 x 90mm and some species of pine.
These two projects are a response to this good luck.
Workbench
When talk turns to workbenches it seems that too much testosterone is not enough, after all, size does matter!
But in the real world, backyard workshops can’t fit these oversized monuments to unrequited ego.
I had legs recycled stand from a small lathe. Worktop is 750 x 420 x 90mm. The vice is the only thing that is not recycled and I had to purchase that.
Steel frame and heavy top give it sufficient inertia to make it functional. Dog holes and an auxiliary jaw in the vice make it a particularly versatile work holding tool.
 |
| The front jaw is laminated recycled decking boards with epoxy as a glue. At 100mm high it is probably a little big for the this type of vice but that was the compromise between: making the bench thinner and wasting the wonderful thick timbers or carving away a thin section beneath the centre of the bench. In this case I decided to maintain inertia by leaving the boards as thick as possible. |
 |
| Second hand timber always requires repair work. I drove little wooden pegs into all the nail holes and used a forstner bit to carve badly damaged sections into a shape that I could easily fill. |
 |
| Auxiliary jaws are a lovely idea. They are removable they do not compromise the function of your vice. |
 |
| It takes about half an hour to make the auxiliary jaw and just seconds to fit or remove it. |
 |
| Using dog holes across the bench, this small bench can hold a piece over 600mm long. |
By putting multiple dog holes in the auxiliary jaw it becomes possible to hold lots of varying shapes.
 |
| By using these long arm clamps, you can access the long straight side of the bench which is often useful when routing requires access to a straight edge. |
A Desk
 |
| Here is the rest of the timber from that imported machine. It is now the desk I sit at. It has lots of testosterone and was as much fun to make as it is to sit at. |