Trains.com

Is your workbench the kitchen table?

956 views
10 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2004
  • 1,634 posts
Is your workbench the kitchen table?
Posted by pbjwilson on Sunday, March 12, 2006 4:19 PM
After seeing this listing on e-bay I got to wondering how many of us use the kitchen table as there workbench for working on their trains.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HO-Gauge-Streamliner-Toy-Train-Conversion-1946-HowTo_W0QQitemZ6042187170QQcategoryZ11644QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Then I saw Tims(pigseyes) post on Sunday photo fun. Really nice job on the door pulls. I'd like a set-up like that. I primarily use the kitchen table.

A little off the subject - A few years ago my painting partner and I were going through a house doing an estimate. The woman of the house was taking us room to room telling us what she wanted done. When we got to the master bedroom I commented on the height of her bed. For some reason a few years ago beds started getting taller and this one you almost needed a step stool to get into. So after my comment the lady said, "Ya my husband calls it his workbench." That just floored my buddy and I. I don't think she got the inference of the bed being a workbench, where her husband does his best work.
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Watkinsville, GA
  • 2,214 posts
Posted by Roger Bielen on Sunday, March 12, 2006 7:14 PM
Only when the wife's not home. I have a small "work room" off the attached garage, of course just outside the kitchen door, that I usually do my bench work in.
Roger B.
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, March 12, 2006 7:20 PM
Guilty as charged. The height and size are perfect and the laminate top is pretty good at resisting paint/glue/lube. We now use the restored dining room table from my wife's grandmother's house to eat off of. I was going to put this table in the dining room and sell the dining room table. WRONG! That table was one of my wife's first significant furniture purchases and we aren't selling it or giving it away. She wants me to get rid of the orginal kitchen table that is technically the most useful of the three.
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Crystal Lake, IL
  • 8,059 posts
Posted by cnw1995 on Sunday, March 12, 2006 7:44 PM
Yes, and a small old desk in the basement - has one of those bright gooseneck lamps. I actually work in the carboard 'top' of a box we used when we moved into the house five years ago. So I can keep everything in the boxtop and scoot it away when done. My wife likes my company while she watches TV and I usually can't stand the stuff she likes - we talk during the commercials. [;)]

Aren't those pull-tops made of the ZW logos awesome?!

Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.

  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: New England
  • 6,241 posts
Posted by Jumijo on Monday, March 13, 2006 5:19 AM
The kitchen table has been my workbench and easel ever since I was a boy. I have a good sized light table with tilting surface in the basement, but I've always preferred the kitchen table. Now my daughter is carrying on the tradition.

Jim

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 13, 2006 5:42 AM
YES, and our dining room table is the "supply holding area"... which is why I do all my work on weekdays, when my wife's at work (I'm retired). We have a small TV built into the kitchen wall, and I often run train videos while working, since I don't have to follow a story-line. Joe
  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: Southwest Georgia
  • 5,028 posts
Posted by dwiemer on Monday, March 13, 2006 3:32 PM
Oh, I only wish!
We have a 3 year old son who has turned the kitchen table into his painting/ play-do table, a 18 month old girl who will find her way into any type of hiding spot that I may try to work on my trains, so for now, I am having to set up shop on a TV tray and keep the parts in a box. I can only work on these when the wife and kids are busy elsewhere. Someday soon, I hope to have our building finished so that I can have my layout done and a nice work area. Till then, it is the TV tray for me.[*^_^*]

TCA#09-63805

 

Charter BTTs.jpg

  • Member since
    January 2005
  • 1,991 posts
Posted by Frank53 on Monday, March 13, 2006 3:34 PM
"Is your workbench teh kitchen table?"

umm, yup


  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Southern Indiana
  • 432 posts
Posted by marxalot on Monday, March 13, 2006 3:41 PM
Use the kitchen table for building structure kits and a basement work bench for working on the rolling stock. Kitchen table has much better natural light which helps with these 55 year old goggles I peer through!

Jim
  • Member since
    February 2006
  • From: The Netherlands
  • 132 posts
Posted by More to restore on Monday, March 13, 2006 3:48 PM
Only some electrolytical nickel plating I prefer to do on the kitchen table, close to the sink, but I do this rarely.
Most of the time, it is the table in the attic, were children fingers do not reach. It is sometimes cold, but I can make a large mess of it, without anybody noticing.
I feel for you Dennis, I hope you will get your own working spot soon.
Nothing beats a finished and restored train car......
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 13, 2006 5:52 PM
I use it everyday.

Almost all my pics of structures are taken right there.

Someday I will have a nice shop in the garage but for now, the kitchen works out fine.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month