Best wood for workbench?

[Niels J. Larsen]

I'm planning to build myself a proper workbench primarily for handtool use in the near future, but I'm having trouble choosing the right wood for it.

I know that you guys mainly suggest to use hard maple, but unfortunately that's not widely available here in Denmark.
Beech is - and was my suppliers first suggestion, but I just don't like the look of beech.

Can you suggest other wood species suited for a workbench?

[johnny means]

Funny, here I am wishing I could find some beech to build a work bench, but I'll have to settle for hard maple.

[glenn bradley]

Beech is plentiful and low priced in southern California. I have made several items from it but read that it is prone to a lot of movement. I haven't noticed it but, maybe that's the climate. The beech I get out here is very even grained and machines beautifully. I would use that and do, actually, for my vise jaws. Other recommendations may not play out in Denmark either but, southern Yellow Pine is favored by many. Fibrous woods like oak and ash are usually avoided. It will be interesting to see where this ends up. Good luck in your search ;-)

[Frank Drew]

Niels,

If you don't like beech, you should be able to find birch, which I'd used without hesitation. In fact, I incorporated a couple of pieces of birch in my workbench top when I ran out of maple.

[John Coloccia]

Too bad. My Sjoberg bench is beech and I love it. By the way, have you considered buying a bench? I believe they're pretty reasonably priced out there. I paid a lot more for mine than you would over there I think. I know I know, you want to build it yourself. I'm just throwing it out there.

[michael case]

Just to be different I built mine out of quartersawn white oak. Actually I chose it because its very, very, stable. If you don't like the look of beech, you might really like the way white oak looks. Also, if you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend Lon Schleining's book The Workbench. It has loads of color photos of beautiful benches and many useful ideas. One thing I might also suggest if I may, is not to automatically use a trestle base. Manufacturers use it because it disassembles for shipping, but you may find, as I did, that four massive legs with deeply mortised stringers both top and bottom produce a more massive and stable bench. Of course if you ever plan on moving this would not be a good idea.

[Ed Griner]

I built mine out of crappel(2x4&2x8) from home depot.Put a "Groz" vise on
it.(FWW special?) The bench turned out fine,but I'm still concerned about the vise.



Crappel=native Lumber/could be anything HD got a deal on.

Ed

[johnny means]

Anyone ever used walnut? I am seriously considering it, because I got a bunch cheap. Any reason not to?

[Tony Shea]

I'd use walnut if I had an over abundance of it without hesitation. But honestly I save that stuff for some beautiful peices of furniture. For that matter I'd be willing to take it off your hands for a reasonable fee...actually I probably wouldn't charge you anything for disposal.

Another one all ready listed that I wouldn't hesitate making a top out of is White Oak. Very stable and creates a very hard surface. With proper finishing techniques one could get it smooth as a baby's but.

Plentiful wood usually equates to fairly inexpensive wood, therefore if I was in your shoes I would use Beech!

[lou sansone]

I have 2 benches - one is American silver beech that I built - and the wood did move on me. the other is an old European bench made from European beech. both are great surfaces for working on. I say use beech or hard maple

lou

[Chris Tsutsui]

I thought that there was a "Red Beech" popular in Europe. Then there's the Beech we use in the states that's just White Beech that's pretty similar to maple.

If I was in DK I'd use whatever Beech is available. Oak would also be fine.

Personally I would want a work bench that's heavy and strong and there's a lot of wood that can do that. Even several layers of MDF as a top which is what I have now...

Though if you don't like how Beech looks then I imagine you won't like MDF.

[Brian Kent]

What are your available wood choices in Denmark?

[Tri Hoang]

Accessible/affordable wood. Any of the following would do: Douglas fir, poplar,ash,oak,beech,hard/soft maple...For hand tools, I'd go with softer wood - it easier to hand plane flat and less likely to ding your work.

If this is your first workbench, use something inexpensive. Most people would end up building a second workbench after experiencing what they like/don't like in the first bench.

[Jeff Nolan]

I probably would not simply because I like have a light colored surface for a bench top. It should make a beautiful and long lasting bench though.

Anyone ever used walnut? I am seriously considering it, because I got a bunch cheap. Any reason not to?

[Alex Shanku]

My bench is made from hard maple, but I have two mallets I turned from beech. The beech seems very hard and I would love to be able to build another bench, this time from beech. Unfortunately, it seems much more difficult and costly to find than other woods...