Newb in SW Wake County.

davesc2

New User
Dave
I thought I wasn't a total and complete newb until I read through a post about a less-newb-than-I building a stand for his fish tank and I realized I don't even have the basic WW vocabulary to really follow what folks in there were talking about.

Anyway, always wanted to get into woodworking but just never had the time, money, space but now I do. I've already done some super basic projects. I added some uprights with some pulleys to my kids' playset so they can haul stuff up to their 'fortress' and then made a little shelf unit for the modem, router and cordless phone in the closet.

My current want-to-builds are a new reloading bench and a work table that holds my portable table saw and miter saw (chop saw) and be able to flip the miter saw over for a flat work surface. The work table is a pretty lofty venture for me at this point but have to set goals, right?
 

SteveHall

Steve
Corporate Member
Welcome Dave, there are lots of NCWWers in SW Wake County. Hopefully soon a lot more of us will be meeting at the monthly lunch and you can meet more of US in person.
 
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Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Welcome to the forum, if you have any question please do not hesitate to reach out. All here will help you move forward in your woodworking journey.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Welcome Dave,
We are glad you found us and hope you find inspiration and a resource to learn something new - I know I did when I found NCWW!
 

MGT

New User
Mike
I thought I wasn't a total and complete newb until I read through a post about a less-newb-than-I building a stand for his fish tank and I realized I don't even have the basic WW vocabulary to really follow what folks in there were talking about.

Anyway, always wanted to get into woodworking but just never had the time, money, space but now I do. I've already done some super basic projects. I added some uprights with some pulleys to my kids' playset so they can haul stuff up to their 'fortress' and then made a little shelf unit for the modem, router and cordless phone in the closet.

My current want-to-builds are a new reloading bench and a work table that holds my portable table saw and miter saw (chop saw) and be able to flip the miter saw over for a flat work surface. The work table is a pretty lofty venture for me at this point but have to set goals, right?
Welcome Dave. I would make the reloading bench top priority. ;) Hope I can still find some primers when I get back to the states.
 

Berta

Berta
Corporate Member
I thought I wasn't a total and complete newb until I read through a post about a less-newb-than-I building a stand for his fish tank and I realized I don't even have the basic WW vocabulary to really follow what folks in there were talking about.

Anyway, always wanted to get into woodworking but just never had the time, money, space but now I do. I've already done some super basic projects. I added some uprights with some pulleys to my kids' playset so they can haul stuff up to their 'fortress' and then made a little shelf unit for the modem, router and cordless phone in the closet.

My current want-to-builds are a new reloading bench and a work table that holds my portable table saw and miter saw (chop saw) and be able to flip the miter saw over for a flat work surface. The work table is a pretty lofty venture for me at this point but have to set goals, right?
My husband reloads. A Lot. His reloading shop is NOT in my wood shop.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Some tips on bench design if you haven't already considered them.
Fasten securely to a wall.
An outside masonry wall is best. An interior wall transmits the bumping throughout the house.
Bench height in relation to your arm movement is critical. Determine where the downstroke would be most comfortable because that part gives the most resistance. Measure where the bottom of the press would be from that that position. Your arm should have a slight bend at the elbow at the bottom of the stroke. My bench is 41" off the floor but I have long arms and a medium height.
My first few benches were either too high or too low to be comfortable for the long term.
The bench top doesn't need to be but so deep because you'll be handling small open bins of very small objects. Mine is 21" deep with a 7" deep storage cabinet at the back giving me 14" depth. I've never needed more than that for a working space. Sorting and other processing occurs on another nearby work surface that doesn't need to be so stout.
 

davesc2

New User
Dave
Some tips on bench design if you haven't already considered them.
Fasten securely to a wall.
An outside masonry wall is best. An interior wall transmits the bumping throughout the house.
Bench height in relation to your arm movement is critical. Determine where the downstroke would be most comfortable because that part gives the most resistance. Measure where the bottom of the press would be from that that position. Your arm should have a slight bend at the elbow at the bottom of the stroke. My bench is 41" off the floor but I have long arms and a medium height.
My first few benches were either too high or too low to be comfortable for the long term.
The bench top doesn't need to be but so deep because you'll be handling small open bins of very small objects. Mine is 21" deep with a 7" deep storage cabinet at the back giving me 14" depth. I've never needed more than that for a working space. Sorting and other processing occurs on another nearby work surface that doesn't need to be so stout.
A gentleman from Pittsboro whom I met on one of the NC firearm forums was kind enough to build me a reloading bench (I did pay him) so I have a template of sorts already here, the problem is it's the perfect size to do all of my firearm tinkering so then the reloading part became an 'add-on' that has only been added on a few times since the conversion. My issue is that while I have a good sized single car garage as my workshop it is getting smaller since now it's a triple duty space (storage/firearm work area/wood-working area).

As I see it, I want to do 3 workbenches.
1. Woodworking bench that will hold my portable table saw providing outfeed space, miter saw that can either hinge down or just remove and store underneath and maybe some drawers or shelves but at least storage for other WW tools (drill press, router, circle saw, etc). I want this table movable so I can stow it under some storage shelves I also plan to put up instead of the poly shelves I have now that frankly waste a lot of space.

2. Bench for reloading, both single stage and progressive. I use the Lee bench plate so I can switch presses. Need enough workspace for everything I need while reloading. Here's the kicker, since my current workbench is already attached to the wall I was thinking if I can devise a removable but sturdy connection setup I can stow the reloading bench when not in use which means the actual reloading bench itself can be relatively small since I can use the attached workbench for workspace.

3. As you said a case prep table doesn't need to be as sturdy and while I could use my current workbench I want to keep that space as free of any sort of metal shavings as possible. The work/prep bench I want to be able to store things like tumbler, prep tools, etc in and also be able to move this out of the way like the other two.

I've been spending a lot of time on youtube looking at different workbenches so I have some ideas. I think I'm getting to the point of saturation and I just need to sit down and draw something up and start cutting.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
I just remeasured. The top is closer to 22" deep by 49" wide. The back shelves have sliding (bypassing) 1/8" Masonite doors not shown.

1    bench - 2.jpg
the bench work area. I've found this compact and quite useful.

1    bench - 1.jpg
The under cabinet. It needs to be sturdily built. The 1/4" back was glued and stapled on. This adds to the rigidity.
 

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