Woodworking: Kitchen Cart Workbench Project (Part 1)

Years ago I got an IKEA kitchen island from a couple that was moving. and was going to discard this piece of furniture had I not relieved them of it. While writing this, I have learned that the item is the FÖRHÖJA, and a new one costs a little more than $100.

When I got it, the surface was covered with contact paper. Why was it covered in contact paper? Ostensibly it was there to protect the wood surface from food, but that’s weird, and it didn’t work out because knives used on it cut right through. You know, obviously.

I removed the contact paper and used Goo Gone to get the goo, you know, gone.

I have no pictures of this process because it was long before the woodworking blog.

For a long time, the drawers were used for decks of cards, pens, Post-it pads. The shelves had board gams for a while, but that gave way to a storing some of my larger tools.

With acquisition of additional furniture, we ran out of room for this cart. While I like my coffee table workbench, I figured the cart could be great for doing work while standing up. Whoa, right?

The idea is the same as for the coffee table workbench: embed mounts in the surface to allow me to install and remove the various tools and clamps sustainably.

Once I’d taken down the sukkah that had been on the balcony, it was time to start work making mounts for my vise.

Just like with the coffee table, I’d start with sinking the mounts for the vise into the corner.

And initially that means drawing the circles from the base holes onto the table. I had some flexibility, but a better fit is better.

I started with the 1/8″ drill bit and worked my way up from there. In order to make sure that I was on target with the holes, I put the vise over the holes. I also decided to hold a bubble level against the back of my drill to ensure that the holes were vertical to make my life easier later.

I got the final holes almost perfectly in the circles and well within the error tolerance. I went one bit beyond where I needed in order to sink the anchors flush with the table surface.

Mounts like these are notorious for being tough to get in straight. As you can see, they’re all wonky when dropped in place without adjustment. Vertically drilled holes would not overcome a poorly inserted anchor.