2x4 work bench

I have been needing to build a wood working bench in my garage. My original thought was to use old wood pallet to build a frame and top it. While this worked I found that it was unstable when attempting to work with heavy material. So I deconstructed the wood pallet, to try again at a later date. 

Fast forward 9 months and using a temporary work bench that consistent of two 15" lament shelves sitting on top of my garage cart. This gave me an idea to utilize the mobility of my shop cart yet gain 4 feet of space on top of my cart. 

So down to the local Home Depot, I went to pick up some 2x4's. I purchased 12 foot Douglas fir 2x4 so that I could cut them in half. 

My shop cart was 31 ³/⁴" by 22 ³/⁴" with a 3” well ontop. I used a left over 2x4 from another project to frame out the 3" well ontop of the cart. This left about ½" of lip above the metal well side of the cart. 

After I ran the cut 2x4 through my "Bertha" a powermatic 9" jointer. I glued and screwed each of the boards together. This created a 34" x 72" top that was flat and Semi smooth. 

Once the glue and dried I took a belt sander with 80 grit and sanded the top to smooth out any unevenness. Then I stepped up to 120 grit to give it a smooth surface. 

Once I was good with the sanding I took the top out side and began the Shou Sugi Ban process to treat the top and give it a nice finished look. Using a 40k BTU propane burner I burned the top until it was surface looked like a hide to a alligator. 

I then hit the surface with a sprinkle of water to put out any burning wood. I let it dry for an hour or so since I live in AZ and the temp is hanging around 80 and it is dry this was long enough. 

Once it was dry I wire brushed the surface until I had a nice smooth dark colored wood surface.

I then took the top back into the garage and flipped it on its top to mount the well insert. Using four 5" 1/2 lag bolts I predrilled the 2x4 well insert. 

I offset the insert to the back of the top and center of the top. Then drilled into the bottom of the top for the lag bolts to hold the well insert onto the bench top. 

With the help if my two boys we rolled the top over and set it into the metal shop cart. We checked fitting if the well insert several time and Making sure pulling the too would be simple if needed. 

With that working well I moved on to vacuuming and dusting the surface of the bench top. Then applied two coats of danish oil. Allowing an hour and half between application. 

I let the top dry over night... 

With the top dry I moved on to mounting a 6" vise to the left side of the bench top.