JB Custom Designs

Looking for input. I’m just about done with my new workbenches / outfeed & assembly tables for my R4512. I still need to wrap the tops in walnut. Trying to decide on adding dog holes or T-tracks or both to the tops. I plan to / hope to add at least 1 vice to these as well. There are 2 - 2’x8’ workbenches that have been butted up to each other to give me a full 4’x8’ surface. So the back side / back workbench is the same drawer and cabinet configuration as what’s shown on the front. I wanted a large work surface, but also the ability to push them up against the wall if I ever decided I wanted to change to configuration in the garage and pull my car in. The tops are 3/4” ply and 3/4” melamine laminated together and attached underneath to the torsion box sub-top.⁣
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Any thoughts or input on dog holes vs T-track vs both? Right now, I’m leaning towards putting the T-track in first (that way I can finish wrapping the tops), and then doing dog holes later if I find I really need / want them.⁣
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Small moments of pride recently seeing my daughter use 2 things that I made for her (her workbench and her step-stool / chair). She has a container of toy tools nearby too, and every time she gets them out she tells me she’s making a “daddy bed” (probably copying me because I made her an “Ellie bed”). @ Freeland, Michigan

I finished these convertible chairs / stepping-stools / desks (if your legs are short enough) for my 2-year-old daughter the other day. She picked out the colors (from a limited palette) and she already used one of them as a stepping-stool last night to help stir the noodles in some cheap mac-n-cheese. ⁣The story behind these is that my wife had one when she was a kid (we still have it actually), and she wanted to refinish here for our daughter. But due to some interference from our cats, it was just easier for me to make them new.
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@ Freeland, Michigan

I have to share these pictures of my daughter because I just can’t get enough of them. Since she was born I’ve lost a lot of shop time, but I wouldn’t change anything; every second with her is priceless. One of her first distinguishable words was “tools” because my wife would bring her into the garage to see me tinkering. I hope so much that I can share what I do with her as she gets older and that she’ll get something out of it that she can use later in her life.⁣
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@ Freeland, Michigan

The other day I scored an incredible deal on a pile of black walnut ($200 for ~115 BF). Almost every piece in that pile is 12”+ wide. Also got to spend some time talking with an elderly gentleman who has to step away from woodworking due to age and health concerns. It was very interesting talking with him about the projects he’s built for his family, milling lumber from his own property, using different tools from different eras, etc.

Yesterday we had a small neighborhood gathering at our house for a bonfire and a movie projected on the garage door. Some of the neighbor girls brought over a couple Barbies to play with my daughter with. So today, to balance that out, I built my daughter a work bench. She has some plastic tools to play with for now and she was pretty excited when I brought it in and showed it to her. It was a pretty fun and easy build. Used half-lap joints for most of the base and then some screws to cap it off. Ignore the odd pocket hole or two in the pictures (all the wood was scrap from other projects). Just kinda winged it on plans too.⁣
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@ Freeland, Michigan