This weekend and last were spent mostly in the garage and in the back yard, and we started pushing the limits of our Mazda 3 for its lumber-carrying capabilities.
We started with some 4x4 posts from Lowes that I used for the legs of my work bench. They just barely fit in the car with the trunk closed:
However, it required we move Jacob into the front seat. He was quite happy to accommodate this for the trip home.
Once home, I cut the posts to length and did some notch cuts at the top and about a third of the way down for the 2x4s that would support the top- and shelf-level plywood, respectively. With the notches cut, I had two very eager helpers to clean and chisel out the notches.
With a very basic frame setup and not enough supplies to finish, I waited until this Saturday to continue. First thing Saturday morning, I ran to Lowes again and picked up some 2x4s and a sheet of plywood. Who knew plywood was so expensive? Fifty dollars for this thing, which dwarfs the cost of all other materials. I didn't have any idea how wide the opening was with the rear seats folded down, so I had to simply hope (since I lacked the foresight to check) that it would fit. Only a few quizzical looks from others as I prepared to load this into the car.
But it worked! and with only a couple feet sticking out the back.
Once home, I proceeded to make more notch cuts. I previously was doing so with my new-to-me table saw, but I realized my circular saw would do a much better job (in no small part because I could move that around as I saw fit rather than trying to run a full bench across the table saw).
Not knowing what I was doing, I winged it, first by marking the edges of where the 2x4 would go and cutting two lines (having already set the depth on my saw).
Then it was a half-dozen or so intermediate cuts for every cutout I wanted to do.
And ever so gently, I smashed out the chips with my 5lb sledge.
With my cheapy set of chisels, I cleaned out the notch as best I could. Often, this was good enough, but I wanted these to be as clean and even as reasonable, so I took my circular saw and ran it back and forth (perpendicular to the direction of the blade) and got them nice and smooth.
With the notch cleaned out, I could then place and set my 2x4 to make a much more solid frame.
With the two braces already in-place on the lower section, I added two more then four on the top for 12 notches total to cut out, which probably only took 45 minutes or so. Some screws to hold them in place and I was nearly complete.
I originally planned on the bench being three feet deep, but we later decided to put the bench in a different area, and three feet was too big. I reduced it to 2.5', so I had to run the plywood through my table saw to make it fit properly. The shelf is now two pieces of plywood 'scrap', but it works out well.
