| More Woodworking Projects Page last updated October 31, 2006 |
| The Watchmaker's Bench: The first major project I built on my workbench was a watchmaker's bench upon which I could practice my watch repair hobby. I looked at many pictures in my watch repair manuals as well as online, and decided that all benches available commercially today were either too flimsy and could not withstand repeated dis-assembly and re-assembly or were too expensive (in actual price as well as in shipping). So I built myself one. I used figured maple for the drawer faces and spacers and plain rock maple for the drawer slides. I used regular exterior grade plywood for the rest of the frame and installed adjustable shelf supports in the left-hand cabinet. I finished the entire bench with Minwax Colonial Maple stain and three coats of semi-gloss polyurethane. Six months later (June 2006), this is what I had made. The empty cabinet on the left didn't stay empty for long. I installed two 1/4" plywood shelves, which now hold all my watch repair reference books, boxes of crystals and other paraphernalia. The gallon jugs of ultrasonic watch cleaning and rinsing solution sit on the bottom. It works. Usage is in full swing. |
 |
|