In my first post, I said I was going to use 3/4 plywood for my bench shelves. That was part of my early enthusiasm. After going to Lowes and pricing the stuff, I starting thinking about using the existing crate. When you get right down to it, the only part of the shelf you ever see is the front edge when you open the doors, plus, eventually it will be scratched and stained from your various projects. I followed the instructions in my manual and glued the crate panels together with a tube of construction adhesive and let them set up overnight. Then I marked out the shelves so that when I cut them out I would have fresh edge cuts all around. The crate is made from a " crate grade" 1/2" plywood, so after laminating them together you have a nice 1" thick shelf. The bench has welded in supports with pre-drilled holes to secure the shelves from below, but its not necessary, as they are captured by the steel side panels. I'm not a tree hugger type, but I hate to toss out good materials too. Once all the panels were cut and installed i had a few scraps left over which i can burn in my fireplace. I think Shopmaster did a good job of designing this whole bench/crate assembly to get maximum use and minimum waste.


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