Recommendations for build table?

[WDfrmTN]

Like the title says...
Any advice...especially pics...would be welcomed. Have some ideas of my own, just wanna make sure I ain't headin' down a bad road! :wink:

 

[Kayak Jack]

A solution that has worked for me is to start with a 4' X 8' sheet of 1/2" plywood, rip it into two pieces of 2' X 8'. It can then be rigged into a table of either 4' X 8' or 2' X 16', according to your needs.

Other touches:
1. I screwed/glued a stiffener onto each piece. Center a 6' long 2"X2" along the bottom.

2. To fasten the table tops together, I use two, 18" chunks of 1" X 2". With the table in a 4'X8" configuration, I drilled through the table top and slats, and bolted the slat across the bottom of the joint. A carriage bolt, flat washer, and a wing nut works nicely here. In the 2'X16' configuration, lay your pre-drilled slats across the top of the joint, and mark where to drill. (This saves having four holes in each slat instead of only two.)

3. At Home Depot/Lowes/Menard's/Wal-Mart/etc. get at least four, metal/plastic saw horses of the same height. I suppose that 5 or 6 horses would be nice, but four seemed to be sufficient for me. This height should be a working height for you - where you have to neither bend over, nor raise your elbows to work. What some call "ergonomic", I just call "geezer comfortable".

4. Enclose this work bench in a 25'X40' pole barn. Said facility should: have a concrete floor, be insulated and both heated and air conditioned, have a stocked wet bar in one corner, have a lounge in the loft, be equipped with copious lighting, and be on the delivery route of a good pizza joint.

 

[jdupre']

I like Jack's design. I suggest you also leave the edges of the ply exposed so you can clamp the boat parts to the tabletop with 1" spring clamps. I found that REAL handy. A centerline down the center end to end and side to side helps too.

Joey

 

[tx river rat]

Well I guess always have to be different , I took one full sheet of ply,4+8 framed it with 2+4an the attached a 2ft+8ft strip lined up with one side. That gave me a full sheet to lay out boats that are sectioned and a 16 ft table to build on. I also built a couple stands that sit on the table to level the boat and raise it if I need too.
Ron

 

[Jimmy W]

I like Jack's design and the table is close to what I did, but that concrete floor would make your feet and back hurt after a while. It will probably be OK after you get a good layer of sawdust and shavings down there to cushion it.

 

[oldsparkey]

Well I am the odd guy out as far as working tables or benches go.

Mine is a couple sheets of 4 x 8 plywood cut down to 38 inches wide by 8 feet and held together with a couple of strips of wood ( under there butt joint with large "C" Clamps ) and placed on some old foot lockers , a drop leaf table and assorted other things the wife has filled my work shop with.

This way I have her stuff out of the way and put to use.

They are level and sort of solid and that is all I need. Use to use saw horses till she needed a place to store stuff. As in making our boats .... Improvising at times works really well. :wink: I pay more attention to building the boats then to what they are built on.....As long as it is flat and at a comfortable height , that is all I need.

I remember reading about one person who used cardboard boxes to hold a folding ( extension ) ladders with some plywood on it as the working surface.

Chuck.
So far the boats I have made aren't half bad and they even float. :lol:

 

[WDfrmTN]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Kayak Jack]

I built my first two boats on the floor. W-A-Y too uncomfortable now.

 

[WDfrmTN]

I built my first two boats on the floor. W-A-Y too uncomfortable now.

Two sawhorses and a sheet of OSB

 

[WDfrmTN]

Well I am the odd guy out as far as working tables or benches go.

Mine is a couple sheets of 4 x 8 plywood cut down to 38 inches wide by 8 feet and held together with a couple of strips of wood ( under there butt joint with large "C" Clamps ) and placed on some old foot lockers , a drop leaf table and assorted other things the wife has filled my work shop with.

This way I have her stuff out of the way and put to use.

They are level and sort of solid and that is all I need. Use to use saw horses till she needed a place to store stuff. As in making our boats .... Improvising at times works really well. :wink: I pay more attention to building the boats then to what they are built on.....As long as it is flat and at a comfortable height , that is all I need.

I remember reading about one person who used cardboard boxes to hold a folding ( extension ) ladders with some plywood on it as the working surface.

Chuck.
So far the boats I have made aren't half bad and they even float. :lol:

My ideas seem to be a blend of yours & Jack's. Been eyeing an old dresser that was left in the barn. If it's solid enough, I can add a top and use the drawers for storage. Seems to be about the right height, but I can trim the legs if need be.

 

[Riverrat1969]

I built a table in my yard, when I built a 19'8" sea kayak. I dug holes, and put salt treated 2X4's in vertically for legs, and poured concrete around them. Whenthe concrete cured, I used a chalk line and level to mark the legs, and cut them even with a chainsaw. Then, I built the table perimeter and cross pieces with 2X4's, and used 3/8" exterior plywood (2-1/2 sheets of 4' X 8') to make a 4' X 20' long table. When finished, I painted the plywood with exterior latex house paint.

 

[Kayak Jack]

I built a table in my yard, <SNIP>

What's your location, RiverRat1969? I'm in Michigan, and it's 21 degrees outside - that's Fahrenheit, not Centigrade. My basement is about as cool as I wanna get this time of year. In the summer, it gets hot and rainy.

 

[Bellybuster]

just one thing to add....
Don't forget the height of the boat on the table when you figure out your table height. What may be perfect working on flat peices can quickly become too high when the boat gets 3D

 

[oldsparkey]

Uncle John sent me this about the work tables..........

I use hollow and solid core doors for work tables. Picked them up at salvage, I think it was around $5 for a hollow core and $10 for a solid core. Picked up the doors for less than the cost of a sheet of plywood. The hollow cores are light, easy to move around and stable to work on. My main work table is a solid core on pedestals, you could body slam an elephant! Two doors end to end are just over 13’, but I’ve built 16’ boats on less. Just had some ‘boat’ hanging over the ends of the table. Three doors would give you a 19’ if you needed the extra length.

This is a person who makes ( designs ) wood boats and then offers the plans and kits to us for our enjoyment.

Chuck.

 

[oldsparkey]

Uncle John sent me this about the work tables..........

I use hollow and solid core doors for work tables. Picked them up at salvage, I think it was around $5 for a hollow core and $10 for a solid core. Picked up the doors for less than the cost of a sheet of plywood. The hollow cores are light, easy to move around and stable to work on. My main work table is a solid core on pedestals, you could body slam an elephant! Two doors end to end are just over 13’, but I’ve built 16’ boats on less. Just had some ‘boat’ hanging over the ends of the table. Three doors would give you a 19’ if you needed the extra length.

This is a person who makes ( designs ) wood boats and then offers the plans and kits to us for our enjoyment. http://www.unclejohns.com/

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

His ideas on doors are good. I had a desk made of a door, with 1" water pipe for legs, screwed into floor flanges on the bottom side of the door.

 

[WDfrmTN]

Accidentally came up with some table parts. Someone had left an old upright piano in a house that's now falling in. Nephew and I grabbed the harp for scrap - but the wood frame is "Gi-normous!" (ever see "Elf"?) solid timbers. They'll make some sturdy parts, if I don't save them for something else.

 

[seedtick]

check the key tops, if they're ivory, they may be worth more than the scrap value of the harp

 

[WDfrmTN]

Keyboard was pretty much overlooked. It may still be in the old house. The piano was already apart in about six pieces when we found it.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Oughta make a musical canoe, Bill. We would hear you like a steam calliope, coming round the bend. Get together with Piper San on his "Heel'nd Pipes", and you two could make enough noise to be a river quartet! Folks would be diving for cover for miles around.