The Shop Table - Phase 1

This is a project I've been wanting to do for awhile now. I've been needing another work surface and more storage and this will provide both. I have a relatively small shop that occupies one bay in our garage (approx. 12' x 24') and storage has always been an issue. This table will provide storage for 3 bench tools: the oscillating spindle sander, Jet wet sharpener and mortising machine. It will also have 3 medium sized drawers and a top that measures about 30"x77". It, like most of the large things in my shop, will also have casters.



This is a picture of the shop in its current state...messy. The big plan is build and/or redo portions of the shop to accommodate more storage and more usable horizontal surfaces. I say usable because most of the horizontal surfaces I have now are covered with things that need a home.






Here is the old 'shop table' that is about to be retired. It's actually an old office table that got re-purposed about 8 years ago. Believe it or not, this used to be my workbench. I built my new super-deluxe workbench about 2 years ago and this became a shop table. It's worked well for a long time, but it's become somewhat unstable and offers very little storage.




This is the prepped white ash pieces for the shop table. I bought the rough lumber about a year ago for cheap. It's no. 2 common. I wouldn't necessarily use this for fine furniture, but it'll work well for the shop. It has been thickness planed to 3/4" and cut to finished widths for this project. I like to cut and prep all the lumber for the whole project before I really get started. The final lengths will be cut to fit as I go. Based on my plans, I know all the lengths. However, I've found it's sometimes better to wait on some dimensions before committing with a cut.


I will try to post the plans as soon as I can figure out how to convert them to pdf. That way, those who want to play at home can do so.