show me your work bench and i will show you mine LOL

moparmat2000 said

Wow that looks slick. I love the cabinets over the bench too. The varnished wood looks great. Have you ever thought about putting some speed parts decals on the wood and varnishing over them, would that work? Im not a wood worker so i dunno. Is it just me or do the wooden ones look so much warmer and inviting than my steel one.

I did mine from steel for 3 reasons. 1 i suck at wood working projects, 2 the steel in my area of the country is cheaper than wood, and 3 im a pretty good welder.

Can mine look warm and inviting to stay and wrench? I want my shop to have an old feel to it, or does it just have to age on its own to get its own unique patina?

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Nothing beats wood for a warm look, but it's more maintenance intensive than steel, no doubt. I used marine spar polyurethane for a few reasons:

1. It's really, really tough stuff.

2. It's fuel, alchohol and carb cleaner resistant.

3. It lays on really thick.

4. It looks absolutely great.

5. After a few years (3 or 4) when it gets really beat up, all you have to do is scuff the surface with 120 grit and lay on a few more coats and it's good as new.

You can apply poly over stickers, no problem BUT.... it makes the bench look cluttered and it's harder to find that e-clip or retainer ring you just dropped. :)

Here's another work bench I did years ago that is now my reloading bench, it's a mix of wood and metal. Before and after pics...