Doing all of this maintenance on my car recently highlighted that I need a nice worktop/work table. I’ve been using my kid’s play work bench which has been surprisingly useful but it’s also built for a 4 year old. I needed something built for an adult.

A few years back my dad and I bought a couple of Simpson StrongTies workbench kits. We were going to build some workbenches over a weekend but somehow that never came to pass — I think we went golfing instead. Fortunately, my mom still had the kit in her garage and let me have it.

It comes with all of the hardware; I just needed to buy the wood.

So I brought my apprentice with me:

Using the subaru as a truck:

Then, ironically, used the kid’s workbench to make the cuts:

Pics of all of the cut pieces:

I assembled it under close supervision: My apprentice inspecting the fine craftsmanship:

After that I made pretty rapid progress:

I got super cocky after making rapid progress and cut the leg space for the lower shelf in the wrong orientation: It’s not a huge deal because it’s a workbench but I did have to convince myself to not go back to the store and get another piece to fix it.

Build complete!

I made sure to sink the screws below the surface so I would have a flat smooth work surface.

One of the best features of this workbench is the ability to move it around. I want to be able to move it around my carport, down the driveway, onto my back patio…generally just be able to easily move it to where I want to work. I found some cheap casters on Amazon:

Casters on Amazon

Here they are installed: Then I put a couple coats of polyurethane since I plan on using this for various projects that will probably include using cleaners/solvents/oil. Now I have a work table to finish my projects without hunching over my kids workbench or some of our patio furniture.