Season 25 of what's on my bench.

[barad_dur]

Nice work!

[Glusniffer]

They both look great! Glad you were able to squeeze in final bench zen.

[tay666]

Just an hour on Tues, and another on Wed.
Just enough to finish them up and shoot some pics.
Just got the website updates finished. That took a while as I hadn't updated my index page with all my finished kits for 1.5 years.
Going back and making sure I got them all took some time.

[Glusniffer]

So whats next on season 26? I'm looking forward to the prisoner/ghost set.

[tay666]

I want to get back to that as well. I also want to wrap up Zeke and try and get those gargantuas across the finish line as well.

[bucketfoot-al]

[tay666]

For those that don't know, this thread will continue until WF. (end of May)
My seasons don't follow the calendar year, they run from WF until WF.

[tay666]

Not a whole lot of bench stuff happening, but here is a bit of an update to one of my pieces.



I'm about 95% done with this, so this is what is getting attention when I have actual bench time.
Most of my 'hobby' time has been spent photographing kits for sale. Finding boxes to ship those kits. And writing auction listings.
As well as cleaning up my bench a bit, and doing some small infrastructure builds.
Like adding a couple more shelves to the underside of my bench to clear more stuff from the top to give me more room to work.
Now I have a place to hold my oil-painting supplies, and some of the bottles of water I use for refilling my wet pallet.

[bucketfoot-al]

VERY NICE Trevor - I did some studio-arranging myself today (see my thread in the 'Monkey Bars') ... you have a little more room down in your basement, and your "Re-engineering Foo" on your shelves and benches is making me jealous ...

[tay666]

Vyour "Re-engineering Foo" on your shelves and benches is making me jealous ...

The perks of having lumber and power tools on hand.
I keep a certain amount of stock on hand at all times in case I have a need or idea when it isn't convenient for me to go to the lumber yard.
2x2x, 2x4s, 2x6's, 1x3s, 1x4s, and 1x6s. As well as 3 crates of scrap wood from previous projects.
Almost all of this was done with scrap wood. I did have to cut a piece off one of my off-cuts that was too big to go in a crate, but still not a full sized board.

I've been kicking it around in my head for a couple weeks. I am doing more with oils lately. So I have had the container of stuff just sitting on the bench for months now. And I have been looking around at other things taking up space and limiting my actual work area. So, during the day, at work I have been mulling ideas. Then when I get down the basement for other stuff I have been making mental notes about what may or may not work.
Today, I just pulled stuff out and got to work. No tape measure, just holding stuff up where I wanted it and marking it.
Now I have more breathing space.

Though I don't think I will be using it to do much painting in the near future. Still have a lot on my plate, so it's just going to be a bit of painting on the fly to wrap some stuff up. At least for the next few weeks.

[bucketfoot-al]

You know, I have a TON of open space under my bench ... and if I built a shelf like you did ... MASSIVE storage area for all sorts of stuff!!

Lightbulb just went *PING*!!! Running out to the garage to do some measuring ... only question is ... how big to make it ... my bench is pretty high off the ground ... which maximizes the available (currently empty) space ... do you think one big underneath bench ... or something else would work ... recessed a bit of course so I have room for my knees when I sit at the bench ... the wheels turn ...

Thanks Trev!!

[barad_dur]

More Helpful ideas…just another example of why this clubhouse is so great

[tay666]

First thought. Figure out what you want to store there first.
Then customize the space for what you want to use it for. That is how every modification to my work area happens.
Also, don't do it all at once. Once you move a few things you may find your work flow changes, and what you thought you would want, isn't what you actually want now.
I use it for a while and figure out what I would like where, then I make it happen. I am lazy, and like having things within reach, which is why I am so good at organizing.
Also, some things I used to use a lot, I never touch now. So I try to repurpose that storage for what I do actually use.
For example, the one new shelf I did put up today, may be coming back off, as it was added to other storage that I really no longer use. In the 2nd pic, that small red case, and that small blue case haven't been used in years. They are those cheap sets of hobby knives with all the different shaped blades. I have another knife that I love and use all the time. They have been neglected. But, I don't have anything else that will fit in those spaces.
So I may try to put my pastels in that area. I just haven't decided how I want to rework it yet.
The perks of building everything with screws.

[bucketfoot-al]

There's no limit on Model boxes, or tools that I could move down there to free up more display shelf space around the studio ... going out there now to eyeball and think!

[tay666]

Again, spend some time mulling it over.
I have never had luck going with the first thought that came to my head. But that first idea usually puts me on the path to the final destination.

[Glusniffer]

I use screws to. I try to build things in case I need to disassemble them.

[bucketfoot-al]

There are two two by fours running widthwise down the sides of the bench,
so it should be comparatively simple to cut two or three pieces of board to size then screw them into the bottom of the 2x4s on each side, thereby creating a very large and deep drawer underneath the workbench.

This will happen, and I will post photos on my home improvement thread.

[tay666]

Cool!