So you’ve been seeing all this stuff I’ve been welding, and you no doubt have said to yourself, “Tom, why on earth do you continue setting random scraps of wood on fire and clamping fifty different things together while you’re welding on your general-purpose work bench? Why?”

You’re smart, smarter than I, actually…until today. It has been rolling around in my brain that I’m really making things harder for myself by working this way. In the beginning when I just started practicing, it was okay. I only needed a little space, and I was just sticking random bits of stuff together, plus I was just starting to get the hang of the machine.

Now, however, it occurs to me that the speed and quality of my work will go up if I have a real work space designed specifically for metal work. I didn’t want to take the time to do that first off, because I was simply too excited to be welding, and I didn’t think it would make *that* much of a difference. I’ve since changed my mind on that. Remember the edge weld photo from the other day? Yeah, that’s actually the way I had that thing clamped up on the bench, and that was the *easy* way of doing it. That box I made took a bunch of weird clamping using pieces of wood and whatnot, and it just occurred to me that I was spending a lot more time setting the work up than I actually was welding it.

So here we are. Something had to be done. It was time to move forward, make some changes, affirm that I’m really getting into this whole deal. I looked to my left, and there sat a steel-framed workbench that my dad had brought over one time a few months ago. It had been left in my folks’ house when they moved in. It was really rather crappy for a wood bench – too small, kinda wobbly, crappy presswood top. But I could change all that, though I. I could pull off that top, mount a steel one to it, stiffen the legs with some braces, and I would have myself a really good starting point for a dedicated metal working bench.

But first! (there’s always that “but first”) First I needed to make the entire area a little more conducive to performing work. There was no readily available electricity in that corner, and no decent lighting. These things had to be addressed first. Well, that and the fact that the workbench had tons of crap piled on it. So I went to work cleaning and prepping the area, and at the end of the evening, I had this:

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It ain’t much to look at, kids, but it’s going to be pretty friggin’ cool once it’s done. It’s going to become the basis from which some seriously kickass work will be accomplished. Stay tuned. Lots more coming on this.