Bench Fixed<\/i><\/p>\n
I can’t believe it. I fixed my workbench.<\/p>\n
A while back, not having a drill press, I decided to try to drill downward through a horizontal two-by-six with a vertical two-by-six under it, and you can imagine how well that worked out. I messed up one of the two-by-sixes supporting the front of my bench. So today I replaced it.<\/p>\n
Making the story sadder, I took apart some .38 Super bullets before I started, because I was trying to clear reloading junk off the bench. And it turned out bullets that are a week old are harder to pull than fresh bullets, because I had to beat the daylights out of my bench to get these out. And I noticed I was splintering the top surface. So I had to replace ANOTHER two-by-six. Memo to self: from now, put something on the bench top when using the bullet puller.<\/p>\n
It gets worse. When I removed the first two-by-six from the top of the bench, I had to deal with glued dovetails. And the two-by-six behind it split while I was working on it. So I ended up having to replace three two-by-sixes, two of which required a lot of routing.<\/p>\n
It took me at least an hour and a half to create two tongues and one groove. I still don’t have my nice new Christmas router set up, so I used my crappy Sears job. But it worked.<\/p>\n
I still have to drill a couple of holes, saw off a long two-by-six, and reinstall my vise and reloading press. But that stuff is quick and easy.<\/p>\n
I gave up and bought a standing drill press. I couldn’t take it any more. About twice a week I get hit in the face with a job that a drill press would do in about two minutes, yet which is nearly impossible with any other tool and my limited skills.<\/p>\n
The garage is still a nightmare. I had to quit before I dropped in a pool of sweat and sawdust.<\/p>\n