I found a scrap wood palette beside the garage and brought it inside over the winter. I hate to throw away good pieces and so surprised my wife and daughter with a potting bench to manage their plants. At two years old, the little one couldn’t reach, so I made a small box for her to stand on from other scrap, and placed the bench next to a raised brick area near the side door so she would be able to help her Mom. Funny how much fun a two year old can have just by digging in dirt.
Plans for this type of project are readily found on the Internet; however, I had to make the bench fit into the area between the water outlet and edge of the patio so modified as I was going along. The final project ended up 36” wide, 26” deep (front to back) with work surface 33” high. The back is 48” tall with a piece across the top. The cut out holds the spray nozzle while still on the hose. The palette was grey on one side and tan on opposite because of moisture or sun, but the boards were in decent condition.
The majority of the work was taking apart the palette, and I broke the first few boards prying them apart; I finally used a Ryobi P510 reciprocating saw and just cut the nails. Oddly, the grey side of the palette seemed to splinter much easier than the tan side; I’m guessing because it has been weathered? To cut and edge the boards, Ryobi’s P523 jig saw and P501 circular saw did the trick. Final assembly was done with Ryobi’s P208B drill/ driver (small but mighty) and P237 ¼” impact driver (150 foot pounds of torque…that’s just crazy strong).
I found a scrap wood palette beside the garage and brought it inside over the winter. I hate to throw away good pieces and so surprised my wife and daughter with a potting bench to manage their plants. At two years old, the little one couldn’t reach, so I made a small box for her to stand on from other scrap, and placed the bench next to a raised brick area near the side door so she would be able to help her Mom. Funny how much fun a two year old can have just by digging in dirt. Plans for this type of project are readily found on the Internet; however, I had to make the bench fit into the area between the water outlet and edge of the patio so modified as I was going along. The final project ended up 36” wide, 26” deep (front to back) with work surface 33” high. The back is 48” tall with a piece across the top. The cut out holds the spray nozzle while still on the hose. The palette was grey on one side and tan on opposite because of moisture or sun, but the boards were in decent condition. The majority of the work was taking apart the palette, and I broke the first few boards prying them apart; I finally used a Ryobi P510 reciprocating saw and just cut the nails. Oddly, the grey side of the palette seemed to splinter much easier than the tan side; I’m guessing because it has been weathered? To cut and edge the boards, Ryobi’s P523 jig saw and P501 circular saw did the trick. Final assembly was done with Ryobi’s P208B drill/ driver (small but mighty) and P237 ¼” impact driver (150 foot pounds of torque…that’s just crazy strong).
