Floors that have not seen the light of day since before... -hehe!

I wish I could do that stuff with wood. I have a whole bunch of steel cabinetry both base and wall cabinets that came out of a Lab. It is in great shape except a couple pieces of under sink units that have some rust. Nothing that wont clean up with a wire brush and some Rust Bullet. I will have to fab some tops for some of the units. I have some of the real thick coated particlecrud tops that are in good shape to reuse tho.

The lucky man's new toy is here:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=486895

I can't wait to get mine set up.

 

Got the workbenches framed out, waiting for tops and tongue/groove paneling for the sdies.

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/garage/IM001740.JPG

 

"tongue/groove paneling" ??? -They will be way too purdy!

 

Yes, like so:

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/garage/IM001677.JPG

The paneling wasn't too expensive, and I liked it's appearance much more than exposed MDF .

I'm even going to stain it. When I bought stain to rebuild the garden bench, I was a moron and bought four cans instead of one. I barely used 1/2" off the top of the first can, so this works out.

Bench, originally:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/bench/IM001691.JPG

Bench, rebuilt (new oak slats, wirewheeled rusty iron sides, primed, painted, etc):
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/bench/IM001701.JPG

Anyway, that's the color my workbenches will be. The top will be MDF as well, I just haven't decided what surface needs to be on top of that. I have a big sheet of steel that eyeballing it looks like cutting it in half will do the trick, then trim, for a nice steel top. I was trying to think of other, inexpensive but reasonably hard-wearing surfaces I could put on top of the MDF.

 

That old bench looks like I sat in it.

Your workshop looks almost as cluttered as mine does at the moment. I never can seem to get enuf storage space to ease the clutter. Plus I have "help" from the family that just pitch things into my shop area.

I have two tables in the shop that have exposed MDF and they are just painted. Paneling would look much better.

 

Cluttered? Bah.

Before I started this adventure:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/IM001612.JPG

 

and that picture was taken after he had "cleaned it up some", and brought some things my way.

 

Now THAT one looks like my garage and shop, makes me feel right at home...

 

More tongue and groove paneling...
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/garage/IM001742.JPG

I'll make the cabinet openings the correct size with the router. Hopefully today I'll get to finish, then I can install the tops and make the doors. I should have enough oak scraps to make the door frames, then bevel leftover MDF to put in the center. Not because I want to, but because I have it in a pile. Originally I was thinking of expanded/perferated steel inside the door frames, but why spend money.

 

Wish I could do that. I will just have to suffer along with banging 2x4's together. That is the extent of my woodworking skills.

 

More paneling:

Long view:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/garage/IM001744.JPG

Beer/soda fridge cabinet paneled, and part of the shaper cabinet:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/garage/IM001745.JPG

It's very slow going lately.... not getting enough sleep.

 

wow, those cabinets look nice

 

That was my old workbenches, 2x4's left over from the recording studio I built above the garage:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/...ean-small2.jpg

It was "okay" but I made the mistake of making the 18" deep instead of 24" deep, thus limiting their usefulness. I made them narrow so I could in theory pull a car in however I quickly realized that's never going to happen, so because they weren't too useful they ended up being one huge "storage shelf" as you can see in the picture.

What I've done here Torque, is really easy. If you're familiar with the veneer-coated MDF assemble-yourself-furniture I've basically done the same thing, minus the fancy hardware. Instead, I've used 5/16" hardwood dowels.

I bought a doweling jig at Ace Hardware (http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/produ...2-986737dt.jpg) and adjusted it so that the dowels would be dead center across the thickness of the 3/4" MDF. Then I just marked where the dowels should go, attach the jig, and drill holes. After that, I simply hammer in a dowel, slather the edge with glue, and join to the next panel at a right angle, and clamp. I had to go slow mostly because I was using "speed squares" as right angle braces during the clamping, and I only have two so I could only clamp two joints at a time.

Attaching the paneling is just as easy.. cut to fit with a slight overhang into the cabinet door holes (for later adjusting shape with the router), apply glue, slip the tongues into the grooves, then using an electric brad stapler shoot a few 5/8" brads to hold the pieces tightly while the glue dries.

See, really not that hard at all. The hardest thing was figuring out that screws aren't going to work, driven into the edges of MDF as it splits, and what to use instead. Once I arrived at the dowel idea, and predrilling the holes, it's worked out quite well.

Anyway, no progress today, I have a job interview in NYC and I've had yet again, zero sleep. Grrrrr.

 

Thanks for the info! Now get some sleep!!!

 

Sleep, yeah right!

I forget what that word means....