Finally investing in a "real" work bench

Pretty excited to have a real work bench counter space instead of just using the bed of my truck. Figured it was well worth the investment now that I’m out in my garage a lot using my lowrider to generate some cash. Next I plan to add an electrical outlet or two and pegboard above to hang tools. And just got confirmation my prusa mini that I ordered back in February just shipped, now I’ll have a spot to assemble and use it.

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Looks awesome.

If you have a printer, you can have a lot of fun making a tool wall by just hanging plywood or painted osb. You can print mounts for stuff and just hang them up anywhere with screws. Much stronger than pegboard and you can really fit the stuff in.

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I’d double think the pegboard.

If you’re using your garage to make sawdust, then no matter how hard you try, that dust ends up on everything that’s not in a cabinet or a drawer.

I still have a bunch of open shelves in the new shop. I’ve been slowly trying to replace all of them with cabinets or drawers.

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The more I think about it you’re definitely right. I’ll probably go the route @jeffeb3 suggested, I always forget I can just design something and print it out, I’m still new to this stuff.

You can design something and cnc it out too!

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I don’t mind dusty tools, but it is do nice to just reach up and grab a tool that I need. I hate drawers. Maybe I just never had enough. The worst is when you open the right drawer and the tool you need isn’t there. You can still have missing tools on a wall, but it is easier to notice.

A leaf blower twice a year clears the dust off of my tool walls in the shop.

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Just to be explicit about it, you should do whatever makes you happy. I like sharing my optimizations, but you shouldn’t internalize my OCD. :). I almost enjoy shop projects more than “products” that come out of my shop. So my preferences may be a bit odd.

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So… You have OCD, but not enough to put tools back? :slight_smile:

I’ll be honest. It took me quite some time to get in the habit of cleaning up. I’m still not quite there, but I at least clean up after big projects. Most of my hand tools fit in drawers and most of my larger tools live in either the case or bag they came in. I think I only have 2 or 3 larger hand tools that live outside of a case at some point. Eventually those will be in a base cabinet.

I think part of my problem is having the wood shop on one part of the shop and automotive on the other. It never fails that the automotive stuff ends up with some type of oil residue on them and then when the sawdust hits them it turns to glue. Most jobs both start and stop with me having to wipe down some of the tools I’m using… once in the beginning to wipe off dust, and then once in the end to try to wipe off oils.

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If it was rational, it wouldn’t be a disorder. :slight_smile:

I try to think that things aren’t “done” until you’ve cleaned up, but it is annoying, and not terribly rewarding or fun.

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And I’m always in such a hurry show off the project. Then who wnt to go back and clean😴

The bench looks great, did you buy the top or make it? It looks like a bunch of laminated 2x4s butcherblock style.

I’m a big fan of cabinets and drawers as opposed to open. I work in my garage where we still sometimes park cars, there’s a project car and I’ll do woodwork, and metal work stuff. Dust and metal bits get in everything so dust collection and faces on storage make my clean up a lot faster and easier. I can vacuum/sweep most of it then like jeff leaf blow out the rest (with a mask on).

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I purchased it at lowes.
Nice garage! Is that a mk2?
I need to do a lot of organizing in my garage but I’m similar where I work on my car in the same space so working one balancing that out.

I’ve got a detached garage… went to go for a motorcycle ride one day and luckily looked in my helmet before I slammed it on my head… there was a nest of baby mice in it. After that it was all metal cabinets! And wifi mouse traps… those things are awesome.

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Yep long project mk2 (91) gti. I like having lots of projects going this one was definitely more than I can chew. No car experience no welding experience what can go wrong ! Bought the car with a 3mo old daughter and now she’s 5 and a little guy chasing her is 2. 4yrs deep on this project but it’s essentially down to frame rebuild at this point and I’m finally seeing light on it.

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@Basstone18 what’s the truck in the signature? I’m a recovering car lover too, looks like a non usdm landcruiser pickup? Or something unusual for usa. Love it though.


It’s a '85 Suzuki sj410k. Not many in continental US, this one came from Hawaii.

Very cool. I thought maybe sidekick but I’ve not seen the pickup version before. You must have seen the new non north America sidekick then. The rest of the world gets way better options in the small utility truck world, no fair :rofl:

“And wifi mouse traps…”
Do the mice have netflix to distract them? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Nah. Built-in camera with slow-mo capture.

I get a notification on my phone when a trap needs emptying…
I designed my own with an ESP3266 and obviously should have patented it since they showed up in the big box stores a few years later.

Of course now we have neighbors with cats and I never use the traps anyways :slight_smile: