So the wife wanted a garden/potting bench...

[charlz]

Charlz - What you've done is wrong. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! Now you've gone and done it. Spouse saw the picture of the potting table on my pc screen and went bezerk over it. Her quote "Oh - that would be easy to build. I want one!" (With a couple of extra features like a waste trap and wheels, naturally.)

yeah - sure, but 'easy' just ain't in the plans. Now I'll have another project on my list. Only problem - her's gets pushed up to the top.

I will tell you though, you and son did a very nice job. Well done!

Hehehehe yeah I had been putting this off for a while so finally bumped it to the top of 'the list'

One thing I didn't think about initially was I could have left a couple of the top boards loose so you could pop them out when actually potting and the excess potting soil could fall into a catch bucket below. Maybe off to one side so you still have plenty of work surface when removed. The boards are nailed and glued though so....... gonna stay the way it is

 

[charlz]

Looks good. I have used this stuff (urethane spar varnish).. I have done some cedar benches with it, over a year ago, and they look as good as the day it was put on. Has been out in the weather of course.

Thanks for the recommendation! I may go that route, some of the other wood preservatives etc. say their 'clear' does not protect against UV which is what grays the wood. I should be able to get away with less than a quart so that will help keep the cost down.

 

[Beltzington]

Nice job and thanks for the link to the plans. Sorry no help on your finish question, I have yet to find a product I am happy with for my wood decks.

Question for you? What is the finished height of the working surface and is your wife happy with it?

 

[charlz]

Nice job and thanks for the link to the plans. Sorry no help on your finish question, I have yet to find a product I am happy with for my wood decks.

Question for you? What is the finished height of the working surface and is your wife happy with it?

The finished height is 32.5 inches.... I went with the lengths for front and rear legs given in the plans. The width I narrowed down to fit in front of a 4' raised bed which is where she wanted to put it. I just finished it so she hasn't had much of a chance to use it but she is more than happy so far.

 

[flamom]

Pat yourself and son on the back for a job well done! Looks great!

 

[Ford850]

I have a similar one I built for my wife about 15 years ago (?) and it still gets used a lot. I left mine weather to a nice gray color then occasionally spray some clear wood preservative (whatever is on sale or I have on a shelf) on it. Not the varnish type, but the simple thin stuff. Works for me, and keeps the rustic look too.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Charlz, I'm waist deep into building one of these now. The plans on their site are quite lacking, so a lot of the features are of my own. I did go ahead and cut all of the dado joints - 6 each per leg per their drawing. Just going by their abbreviated plans, I ended up making two right hand legs :-( Oh well - I needed the practice on making dado's. Naturally, I did scrap that extra piece and cut a left and a right leg.

I didn't have any lumber laying around to repurpose, so mine's all new from Home Depot. Lumber prices are out of sight! Mine's is being built with all 2 x 6's except for the 4x4 legs. As was mentioned, and my after thoughts as well, the top should have been some sort of slick material. I laid my top work surface out with the boards running front to back to help with the cleanup, but I may end up later covering it with something. Suggestions welcome.

I am adding a 1x 10 top shelf, and adding wheels on one end to making moving it easier. I'll have some sort of handle bars on the opposite end.so I can just tilt it and roll it around. The older one gets the more they're inclined to add wheels to just about everything

I'll post a picture when I'm done.

 

[troutsqueezer]

I also had an order placed for a potting bench, even though we already have a nice one in our greenhouse. This one was to be used for display purposes for a garden tour at our house earlier this year. Now, I would not have picked this color nor put a couple of birdhouses on it but then again, I'm a man. It had to have a metal top she said, preferably galvanized with a "swirly" look - your typical galvanized sheet metal - just like one she saw in a magazine. I picked up a piece of aluminum sheeting since I could not find a piece of galvanized metal that large and using my angle grinder with a flap disk mounted on it, I went back and forth over one side to give it a nifty "swirly" effect. She loved it.

 

[/pine]

sweet!
We have something very similar with an incorporated laundry tub and spray/hose attachment...
Use it more for cleaning and processing vegetables and cleaning fish etc. than potting though...

 

[senecak19]

Motivating build my friend. Just so happened I came across a ton of pressure treated scrap lumber from someone tearing down a deck. A quick rummage through my scrap steel and I came across this metal rack. Put the two together and ... voila.



Thanks for the idea! Since I build a lot of stuff out of scrap metal, I do a lot of grinding and cleaning. This thing is priceless outside. Keeps my shop that much cleaner.