I had posted about working down a bunch of hard maple into a bench top 6-8 weeks ago, and forgot to come back to the completed effort.  This turned into a wrestling match; I glued the top into 3 sections so I could handle them only to find they each weighed somewhere near 70#. That, in turn, became a 200# top after they were glued together and a real challenge for one aging guy to deal with. I used a hydraulic lift table to move it from my assembly table over to the workbench legs. To be honest, you can see how homely my bench looked in the first pic...that top is a Grizzly top that has served me well for many years but was now starting to split where the vises are mounted. Anyway, after I sat the new top on the legs, I figured I needed a new cabinet as that was also showing it's age...so I put on together and after mounting the vises and drilling dog holes I got my bench back together. The old top was 1 3/4", the new one 3". I hope this one last at least as long as the last one. In the "no good deed goes unpunished" dept., my wife wondered out to shop (something that never happens) and said" Oh, we ought to have a top for our island made like that".  Ain't gonna happen.......

 

That is one awesome bench, Fred!

 looks like you know what you are doing~!!

 

Nice bench.

Like the drawers

OH ya man!!! Very nice indeed Fred! Heck I'd love to have that first bench pictured in my shop right now! I love the thick top for the new one, that is heaaaavy! What kind of vise is that? You did one heck of a job sir, very nice, the pride of the shop for sure.

Fred,

All I can think is Uffda!

Fred, did you cannabolize any of the parts from the old bench, like the legs?

That is awesome Fred. The weight was the same thing I ran into on that Maple Island I did. It was 41" wide by 52" long by 2" think. That thing was heavy also. I did the three pieces and it still like to have worn me out.

 

I love the new bench though. It should be there a long time. 

Great job on the bench Fred. Looks like it will be around for a very long time.

Courtland, yep the legs are from the old one. The plan was to just do the top, but then I also did the cabinet; leaving only the legs form the first one (and that sliding tray on top of the cabinet).