My new work desk!

J. Hoffman

J. Hoffman

Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
1,798
I've been using my basement office for doing my sanding, finish work and other little things because the desk has a chair and is comfortable to sit at for long periods. I decided I needed to build a desk in my garage (ie work shop) so I could do this stuff out there. I had perfect little place next to the window that would fit a nice 2x3' desk. I went looking for a good top for the desk. All of my work benches have 2x6 tops which are very sturdy but not very flat. Stone would be awesome, but way out of my price range. I was really hoping to find a scrap piece of Corian that would fit the area and I could get for $100 or so. I went to the local Home Depot and they had no scraps but would sell me a piece of Corian for $56 a sq/ft; no thanks. I went to the local lumber yard, just hoping that they may have something. The owner said he didn't but gave me the name of stone counter top place in town. I went there, not expecting to find anything in my price range. I met with the owner (very nice guy) and told him what I was looking for. He brought me in the back and showed me about 20 different pieces different stone counter tops. He told me that they consider anything less than 50" to be scrap. He said they keep all the scraps until the new counter tops have been in the house for a month or so and then THEY THROW THEM IN THE DUMPSTER!! He told me they would charge me $10 to cut it to the size I wanted, but I could have the stone for free!! The next day I picked this piece up and started building my new desk. The desk is over built, because the 1" thick top is almost 90 lbs! I think it turned out really nice. One problem is that I would like to attach a vice to the desk, but would also like to be able to move it off the desk if need be. With the corain I could have just drilled holes to bolt the vice down, but now I will need another idea. Not a heavy duty vice, but one for doing finish sanding and stuff. I think I have a total of $25 invested in this desk, and I couldn't be happier:D522567_10150689480117191_632062190_9868917_430106061_n.jpg
 
Sweet! If you work with your vise to the right side of your work space; maybe you could mount a vise on its own small independent removable table/bracket on the workbench fascia on the right side?
 
Cool! Never underestimate the value of calling around town looking for "scraps" of wood, stone, building materials, etc. Much of what we want for knifework is too small for the contracters and suppliers to bother with. They have to pay to have it hauled away. Win-win!
 
Absolutely! Freaking awesome man. That inspires me to go calling around for "scrap". I am working on my welding table doing the same thing, and so far I have $25 in it and am about done finding pieces. I'm going to start a WIP on it.

Again, very cool. I like the "class" it adds to the garage. Lol
 
I found a local counter top fabrication place, and they have pallets of granite that will get crushed up and used as base for driveways. I went to them and they let me take as much as I needed. I have a 4' section that I have not found out what to do with yet, but I took one piece as a surface plate, one good size chunk for a leather tooling base, and gave a giant chunk to a friend. They probably had 30 pallets that were piled chin high of granite that they are tossing out.
 
Good on you for hunting around a bit, your new bench looks fantastic! I work in surplus and used building materials and hear stories every week of reusable materials being sent to the landfill.
 
Mount your vise to a piece of wood, then "C" clamp it to the countertop.
 
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