Craftsman 6-Foot Workbench Review

After 25 years of tearing computers apart on the kitchen counter, I finally have a bench. I stumbled upon a “one-night-only” sale at Sears, scooping up their Craftsman 6-Foot Red Workbench with the  optional Craftsman 5-Drawer Workbench Module in Red/Black. I ordered the two pieces online, with the option for local pick-up at the near-by Sears in the Alderwood Mall.

Kenny came by with a pick-up truck and off we went. The loading area attendant was helpful and friendly. He helped us get the two large cardboard boxes into the bed of the truck. I really appreciated his attitude; customer assistance seems often forgotten.

Unpacking

We began by locating the instruction sheets for each system. Complete construction of the bench seemed to be the best first step.

After carefully unpacking and doing inventory, we discovered that several of the pieces for the bench were bent, even though the delivery box was in good shape. Luckily, I was able to persuade the offending bits back into shape with a large rubber mallet. The inventory was complete. Kenny and I got underway...

Assembling

The bench is a large, steel structure with some rough edges – wear gloves, or expect to get your knuckles banged up. All of the bolts, screws, and drawer slides seem like pretty decent quality. If you’re building this beast (particularly if you’re installing the drawers), be sure to leave the bolts hand-tight at this point. The biggest challenge in the basic assembly was the torque necessary to get the bottom-back rail in place. Kenny and I had to pull the outside legs apart a bit to get the bolts in place.

The instructions were pretty good, although I still managed to get the bottom-back rail installed backwards initially. Additional detail with the exploded drawings would have been useful. If the drawers were not used, the backwards rail wouldn’t matter. Since I was installing the drawers, I had to take the offending rail off, and reinstall it. This is the rail that required extra spreading between the legs, which are nearly six feet apart – tough sledding for someone who is 5’ 7”.

The drawers took a while to prep, although I found it to be straight forward. Each drawer needs to have the rails attached on each side. By carefully laying out each set of rails, I only had to do this once. I imagine it would be quite easy to get these mounted backwards. Put on some Boston and get’er done.

Likewise, the matching rails must be installed into the cabinet base after the rough framing is complete (with bolts still loose). I elected to match the installation of drawers in the illustration and the screw holes matched up exactly. Again, it would be easy to get these in backwards; take your time.

Adjusting

The engineering of the beast is not exact, so care must be taken to only tighten the primary bolts enough to keep the thing from flying apart (hand-tight) while you make adjustments to get it square. The squaring process is not nearly as critical if the drawers are omitted. However, if you are installing the drawers module, the squaring process becomes critical.
Be sure to think about all of the axes that are at play – side-to-side, back-to-front, and top-to-bottom. Kenny and I did some interesting twisting before the drawers seemed to settle down.

After everything is working, then carefully cinch down the bolts.

Summary

As I am not a construction-savvy guy, I’m reasonably happy with the results; I suspect this is normal fare for guys who are handy with a wrench. The drawers open and close, and I have a flat surface to work on. It is quite stout. I had expected that things would line-up a bit more easily (that the process would be a little more exact), but I can deal with the result.
The bench top seems pretty soft; it scratches easily. I believe I’ll use a very fine grit sandpaper to take the finish off, then apply several coats of a polyurethane finish to provide years of protection.

Would I buy it again? Yes – it solved my problem.