Workbench countertop from T&G flooring
 

I just finished clearing out a workarea alongside my parked cars in the
garage, (there's an area about 20 x 12 open space parallel to the parking
area), with four overhead cabinets and three commercial (metal) workbenchs
lined up end to end. For appearance and convenience, I'm planning on adding
a countertop to the three workbenches to make everything look more like one
unit. I have enough left-over flooring (unfinished t&g Brazilian Cherry) to
do the entire top and my plan is to just glue everything up, miter the
corners and perhaps rout out a small depression each side to keep anything
from rolling off, and securing it as one long countertop to each of the
three workbenches. When done, it would look a little like a miniature
one-piece bowling alley covering all three workbenches.

I've never seen anyone do anything like this, but surely using t&g flooring
for this isn't a new idea. It doesn't look like a difficult task. Have I
overlooked something, and are there some hidden reasons why this shouldn't
be done?

Regards --

"World Traveler" wrote in
link.net:

I just finished clearing out a workarea alongside my parked cars in
the garage, (there's an area about 20 x 12 open space parallel to the
parking area), with four overhead cabinets and three commercial
(metal) workbenchs lined up end to end. For appearance and
convenience, I'm planning on adding a countertop to the three
workbenches to make everything look more like one unit. I have enough
left-over flooring (unfinished t&g Brazilian Cherry) to do the entire
top and my plan is to just glue everything up, miter the corners and
perhaps rout out a small depression each side to keep anything from
rolling off, and securing it as one long countertop to each of the
three workbenches. When done, it would look a little like a miniature
one-piece bowling alley covering all three workbenches.

I've never seen anyone do anything like this, but surely using t&g
flooring for this isn't a new idea. It doesn't look like a difficult
task. Have I overlooked something, and are there some hidden reasons
why this shouldn't be done?


The use of flooring is OK with me. Linking all of the benches together,
however, reduces the flexibility of arrangement that meets MY needs. Which
change from project to project, and vary with tools coming and going.

Jewelry boxes. Entertainment centers. Beds. Clock cases. Bathroom
vanities. Mirrors. Kitchen pantry cabinets. Mantels. Bowls. Art display
cases. Tools & handles. A lot of stuff gets done, and takes different
setups. Try not to limit your possibilities.

Patriarch

World Traveler wrote:
I just finished clearing out a workarea alongside my parked cars in the
garage, (there's an area about 20 x 12 open space parallel to the parking
area), with four overhead cabinets and three commercial (metal) workbenchs
lined up end to end. For appearance and convenience, I'm planning on adding
a countertop to the three workbenches to make everything look more like one
unit. I have enough left-over flooring (unfinished t&g Brazilian Cherry) to
do the entire top and my plan is to just glue everything up, miter the
corners and perhaps rout out a small depression each side to keep anything
from rolling off, and securing it as one long countertop to each of the
three workbenches. When done, it would look a little like a miniature
one-piece bowling alley covering all three workbenches.

I've never seen anyone do anything like this, but surely using t&g flooring
for this isn't a new idea. It doesn't look like a difficult task. Have I
overlooked something, and are there some hidden reasons why this shouldn't
be done?

Regards --


My brother did something similar when he built his work
shop. The only thing different was that he used
recycled flooring he got out of a job he did. It looked
and worked great.

Bill Gill

"World Traveler" wrote in message
link.net...

(snip)

I've never seen anyone do anything like this, but surely using t&g
flooring for this isn't a new idea. It doesn't look like a difficult
task. Have I overlooked something, and are there some hidden reasons why
this shouldn't be done?

That's the way I built my bench 35 years ago. It still looks great and has
served me well. Here is a link with photos.

http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/bench.html

Ken Vaughn
Visit My Workshop: http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/

Thanks for all of the replies and ideas. I'm going ahead with the
project -- and with regard to the comment about the workbench lineup, I have
an adjacent woodshop that will provide the flexibility for various projects.
I appreciate your advice. Regards --