Leveling a workbench took me 6 hours because I skipped one dumb step

I built a new workbench last month and spent an entire Saturday trying to get it level. Adjusted the legs over and over, shimmed one corner, then another, got it perfect, then came back the next day and it was wobbling again. Turns out I never tightened the bolts on the cross braces first. Had to undo everything, tighten those, then level it again. Took maybe 45 minutes the second time around. Anyone else wasted a whole day on something that had a simple fix right in front of them?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinp445d ago

That line about "skipped one dumb step" hits close to home. My buddy Dave built a big shelf for his garage and spent like 4 hours shimming it because it kept rocking. He was cursing at it, adding more shims, getting frustrated. I came over to help and noticed he never actually fastened the shelf to the wall studs. Once we bolted it in, it was rock solid in like 10 minutes. Felt bad for him but I still give him grief about it every time I see that shelf.

the_jessica4d ago

Oh come on, you're actually defending the shim approach? Four hours of shimming versus ten minutes of bolting sounds like a good use of time to you? I mean sure, shimming has its place but not when you haven't even tried the most obvious fix first. Dave should've started with the bolts and then seen if he even needed shims. My uncle did something similar with a deck railing. Spent a whole afternoon adjusting post anchors, finally called me over, and I pointed out he installed them upside down. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one.