by GCA Member William Setliff
I’ve read several articles here about tools from Harbor Freight Tools. Certainly, their prices are “right,” though I think we’d all agree the products are uneven in their reliability and quality. That said, two products I have been using for quit a while and have found them to be not only a great value from a cost perspective but also a great value from their usability perspective. Traditionally I’ve built my own workbenches from 2X6’s and ¾” particle board covered with laminate. However, I saw this bench at Harbor Freight and after testing their floor sample for stability, purchased one. I’ve NOT been disappointed – it’s awesome! Sturdy, strong, with four drawers that have enough room to hold all my most frequently used tools. Of course, I had to make a few additions. First, I added a back ledge of oak to make the back of the table flush with the wall and to give me a shelf onto which I could mount tools. Then I took a piece of oak and ripped it to have a slight incline of about ten degrees or so. I cut the strip into individual strips to match the size of the Brownell’s universal ground screwdriver tip set. Then I made a trip to Lowes and purchased, 2 ½” pipe plugs (not caps, which are rounded) and some 2 ½” PVC pipe. I drilled a hole in the bottom of each and used sheetrock screws to mount them to the back of the shelf. You can see them in the photo – I have my screw-together bronze cleaning rods in one and punches in two others. Then I mounted Harbor Freight Tool’s magnetic strips to the wall to hold the remainder of my frequently used tools. Next, I added a Harbor Freight vise with Brownell’s bronze jaw guards. One note – the table comes with pre-drilled holes in two rows through the table top to use with included hardwood pegs for woodworking. I thought about closing these off but decided to keep them. If I do decide to close them off at some point I’ll drill plugs, tape them in place from the bottom of the table and epoxy them in place. In the meantime, to prevent every small part from dropping through the holes I purchased and installed the felt gun-cleaning mat you see on the table. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten where I purchased it. Soft and bright in color it prevents scratches, stops parts from sliding away, makes it easy to find parts, to populate with plastic bins to hold cleaning swatches, another for stock related chemicals, a third for cleaning chemicals, and finally one to hold miscellaneous extra cleaning tools. Also, I have a couple of baking tins that have a raised lip around the edge running all around the edge. I use these to help me keep small parts from getting away from me and for doing any hot-work. An LED hanging bench light above the table rounds out the installation and provides wonderfully bright light so my old eyes can see what I’m doing! So, if you are like me and need to sit down to work, this bench similarly set up might just be the ticket for you as well! Parts list: Harbor Freight Tools 60 inch 4 drawer hardwood work bench $159.99 4 inch swivel vise with anvil $39.99 18 inch magnetic tool strip $4.99 Lowes 1X3X6’ oak $15.08 4’ LED Shop Light (the one I purchased has been replaced t Lowes with this one) $34.98 Brownell’s 4” Bronze vise jaws, 080-020-004WB $26.99 Unknown ~15”X54” orange felt backed gun cleaning mat
Looks good Bill, very nice. I clean up my bench to look like yours after every project. Unfortunately it doesn’t stay that way long. I’ve looked at and contemplated that very same H.F work bench many a time. Maybe now I’ll give it some serious thought and another look see. Thanks.
HAHAHAHA – you noticed I cleaned the bench for the shots of course! Thanks for the comment and I hope you have the same great experience I have had. Thanks!
I’ve used that same bench for years in a similar setup, except I have pegboard behind it and a set of salvaged kitchen cabinets above it.
Jeff
Thanks for the comment Jeff. I didn’t show it in my photo but on the wall to the left of my bench and running about eight feet on that wall I have kitchen cabinets, top and bottom, with a counter top installed in which I keep the “rest of my tools.” Mounted to the nearest-to-my-bench end is my bench grinder and belt sander. Thanks again!
I use that same bench for my reloading setup. Amazingly, its really solid (as you said, HF can be hit or miss, though I generally have had good luck with most of their stuff. My first lathe was one of their mini lathes, and other than issues with using the included drill chuck (why not provide me one with a morse taper for the tail stock, instead of some dorky thing that hangs off the tool holder and try and get it to center – not gonna happen), it worked well for the light stuff/learning I was doing.
Let me put a plug in for Grizzly’s products, I’ve got a mill and lathe from them (i should have bought the electronically controlled variable speed lathe, but thats an easy upgrade (with IMO a better solution), and they have been awesome. Milled 2 glock slides as experiments with no issues.
Thanks Steven – yes, surprising solid! Thanks for the information on the Grizzly products. I have a Harbor Freight lathe & milling machine but I’ve honestly not used them THAT much yet. Thanks.
They are indeed study and well constructed. If you keep watch and have the patience they do go on sale from time to time.
I have made several purchases from Grizzly, they sell maple butcher block laminated benchtop material in different lengths if one is looking for a more flexible solution. I found the pricing to be quite reasonable.
Lastly I have used partial and broken slabs of polished stone countertop as a measuring and markup base similar to the precision granite blocks used in machine shops. Granted they are not perfect but can be a reasonable step up until one can afford or needs something better.
Hi Thomas. Thank you for the response, and I’ll have to check out Grizzly!
I am looking for a bench. I will give it a try thanks to article
Hope it works as well for you as mine continues to do for me. Good luck and thanks for the comment!
This project looks very promising! We just got a Harbor Freight store here in Sioux Falls so I think I will check this out. They also have a flux core welder on sale for just $99 which would be a good addition to fabricate jigs and bench holders for working on guns. But the bench first.
Thanks David! I also got one of those stick welders! Great minds think alike, right? Let me know how the bench works our for you……
I got one of their workbenches and it is a pretty good investment. It fits right where I needed it to fit. The Assembly instructions were very good. Some of the parts are “particle board” and don’t handle screwing into “end grain” very well at all. I would suggest switching to “real” wood for those parts but otherwise, it is a decent investment. It went together very easily and is very solid.
Hi David, and thanks for the post! They must have changed materials somewhere along the line. Mine was all hardwood. I bought a different bench from them that was metal with paceboard bottoms to the drawers and a laminated particle board counter, but I replaced the drawer bottoms with plywood and added a 3/4″ piece of plywood underneath the counter top. Although that worked okay, the metal legs were not steady enough so I sold the thing recently and bought another bench like in my pictures and put my small lathe on top of it. Works well.
For my desktop mill I bought an all-metal welded construction steel 18″ x24″ bench via Amazon.com for a little over $100.00 (I think), bolted it to the floor and it is AWESOME. If anyone is interested I can find out more and post it.
I think I found that orange mat you used or something very similar. Amazon of course. Brand is Drymate and they have a green or orange and two sizes.
Thanks! I had forgotten where I got it. Now I know where to get a replacement when this one wears out. I’ve washed it several times so far over the past year and a half and still going strong. Thank you again!
Hope you found the article helpful.
Nice looking bench, looks pretty sturdy. Do you get a lot of movement or do you have it bolted to the wall?
Thanks Steve. I don’t have it bolted to anything and I get no movement at all. Very sturdy!
Thanks William, I’ll check those benches out.
William great Idea, I took the same Idea and expanded, I went to home depot and got one of their laminate countertops with a back splash and mounted it with a 2X4 at the wall. Lagged everything to the studs and it is as strong as I could ask for. I Reload on it also so I use Inline fabrication bases with quick release butterfly nuts so I can clear the presses off quickly and gunsmith on the bench top.
Cool man – I thought about attaching mine to the wall too but it is so steady I decided I didn’t need to – were I using my Dillon 650 on it I’d be with you completely but i have a separate bench in my garage for reloading. Thanks for the comment!
I bought a workbench out of an old high school wood shop it is 56”x68” square my cousin fabed up a frame and put it on 3” casters. It works great plus I can put in the middle of my shop and work all 4 sides. It still has a wooden vice and has random holes like the bench you have that accept Dow’s for holding thing down. It weighs about 300lbs had to use my tractor to move in my shop… lol but it is rock steady.