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Just finished up this potting bench for my daughter. The frame is poplar painted with 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of an exterior acrylic latex. The bench top is white oak finished with tung oil. Both the top and the bottom shelf are removable with 1/4-20" stainless steel hex bolts to make maintenance easier.
Here's a potting bench I built for us a couple of years ago. This one is all white oak. From a cost-of-materials standpoint, this was about the same as the new one. However, I bought a cheap grade (2C) of white oak for about $2.50/bf that required careful planning of the cut list to avoid knots, wanes, and checking. Also, the natural finish requires a lot more maintenance than paint.
@davidlsparks that is simply beautiful. Well done!
@davidlsparks Those are great colors. Where did you hide the bolts?
@kbob My daughter picked the paint color (though I did suggest she go with a shade of green).
There are small blocks of wood attached to the inside of side rails and stretchers with dowels. I drilled 5/16" clearance holes into them, then drilled and tapped the underside of the bench top and the bottom shelf for the bolts. I was concerned that the threads in the poplar might wear out over time, so I applied CA glue to the threads to reinforce them.
@davidlsparks
At first glance I read Plotting Bench, and I thought, I can use one of those.
@bitsnpieces Better that than "Plodding Bench".
Are you up to adopting some 'children' so you can make more potting benches?
@davidlsparks that's beautiful! So what is the stainless insert for? If you take the lid off is it just open to underneath or is there a screen or something? Is it really a piece of kitchen equipment or is this a special potting bench thing?
@eugeneparnell It is just a standard hotel pan to hold soil mixes. I designed it so you can have multiple pans with different mixes depending on what you're planting up. The cover helps to keep pests and weed seeds out.
@davidlsparks very nice work! I'm also curious about the steel pan.
@sarahatlee Thanks!
Just in case my other reply doesn't make it to your server:
It is a standard hotel pan to hold soil mixes. I designed it so you can have multiple pans with different mixes depending on what you're planting up. The cover helps to keep pests and weed seeds out.
@davidlsparks great idea.