Swapped my old workbench for a metal one from a garage sale in Denver
I had this beat-up wooden bench from my dad, you know, the kind that wobbles if you look at it wrong. Last spring I found a heavy steel Craftsman bench (the 6-foot one) at a garage sale for 40 bucks, and I figured why not give it a shot. Honestly, it's way steadier for pounding on stuff, but I miss having a built-in wood top that doesn't get ice cold in winter. Anyone else regret swapping out an old family piece for something more practical?
My dad's old wooden bench had this charm to it, but it also had a drawer that would just fall out if you breathed on it wrong. Metal benches are great until you have to hold a screwdriver in January and it feels like you're holding an ice cube. I switched mine out a few years back for a bolted-together steel model from a hardware store closeout. Now I keep a piece of plywood on top in winter just so I don't have to touch the cold steel. Still, I'll never forget the time my kid put his tongue on it on a dare. That was a fun trip to the ER.
My buddy tried something similar on a metal slide at the park when we were kids, except he was trying to impress a girl. He ended up getting his tongue stuck and the fire department had to come with warm water to free him. Kinda makes me wonder if @the_lee's kid learned the same lesson the hard way, or if it was just a classic dare gone wrong. At least with a bench you don't have to worry about a crowd of kids watching the whole thing go down.