I made this last night. It’s nothing special, an inside joke and gift. I’d have liked a darker engrave, more like a thoroughly tanned soul, but it’ll work. It’s maple ply, framed with walnut ply and a walnut hardwood stand. The only reason the stand is hardwood is because the two stand legs fit on a piece of scrap. Waste not, want not.
I cut off the top of the frame, because I was trying to capture the detail on the end of the legs and not paying much attention. That is the large image shrunk down to 7x8mm.
The satisfaction came from being able to just make something, that turned out nice, in not a lot of time because I’ve spent the last four weeks either being busy with other commitments or making this, the very definition of rough carpentry.
While not pretty, it is solid, can be disassembled into three pieces if it ever has to move to a new home, has casters, allowed a long stretch of kitchen counter to be cleared of material and gives me somewhere besides the top of the glowforge to assemble stuff. But darn it ate up a ton of time.
That’s a fine bench! The oak top is great
The need for surface area for layout and assembly is real. I have been so happy with my pull out shelf for the forge, I look around the shop and see other opportunities for an application like that.
With the loss of about 2inches under the top, you could have another 12 square feet of pull out surface that stands ready for use tucked away. Without a filter, I might even think about mounting the forge on that first shelf with a pull out. With limited area in the shop, the ability to slide the laser up under my bench has been wonderful.
The length of the table is along the east wall and the forge is along the west wall. There is maybe three feet between them.
The length of the table was originally sized to be placed along the south wall and take up all but about six inches between the forge and east wall. The table top is 78" x 43.5". After it was mostly built I realized the area behind the proofgrade materials is perfect for four foot 1/4" boards, but in order to slide them in and out I need easy access to the short side. Luckily it fits just as nicely where it is. It and the forge’s table are on casters so things can be moved around as most of the room is devoured by them and I have a Pro so to utilize the pass through slot fully a dance must be performed.
maple ply, framed with 
