Paulk Compact Workbench

It's been quite a while since I posted but it's also been quite some time (over a year) since I've actually had a shop! Now that I have one, I haven't wasted any time getting into it. Aside from a few repairs and some painting, my first real project is this Compact Workbench from Ron Paulk.

I bought the plans for this bench quite some time ago - while we were living in Hanover, NH. I had a small space in the basement that might have been used for a shop, so I thought this bench would be good. However, I didn't end up using the space as a shop so I didn't build it.

Now that we live in Lebanon, NH and I have a real shop, I decided that now was the time. The materials for this bench cost about $200 but I have some nice plywood scraps left over that can be used for some other project.

As usual, I spent most of my time setting up the cuts to break down the plywood into manageable sizes. I didn't take any photos of that, but suffice it to say that there's lots of measuring, checking, measuring and clamping before the 30 second cuts take place.

This photo lets you see the internal structure. Making those cutouts not only makes it easy to store tools in the table but significantly lightens the bench, too, which is handy when you work alone as much as I do.

This bench is a little darker in this shot because I coated the whole thing in water based polyurethane before I put the top on. That is, I coated the inside. I'm not sure that's 100% necessary, but since the heat and moisture in the shop could vary quite a bit, I thought it was worth doing.

Here's the top before I sanded and poly-ed it. You can still see the guide lines I used to drill all the holes. Those holes are for clamps and jigs. Stay tuned because I have lots of ideas for jigs that'll make this bench even handier.

Here's the final product. I'll have it on saw horses for now but a mobile base is in the near future.

I had a great time making this. It allowed me to really settle into my shop and showed me what my priorities need to be in terms of what I need to build next to tailor the shop to how I like to work.

Update:
I got a couple clamps. this should explain why I built a bench full of holes!