Yet another New Workbench Thread

[Chuck Tringo]

Must be Workbench season :rolleyes: I had been laminating some pine to make a workbench when I saw episode 77 (?) of the wood whisperer, David Marks' shop tour, and I loved his bench...so I took the 4 legs and made them 2 :D. I also decided that I wanted it to be a purty bench so I decided to laminate the frame with hardwood. The legs will be laminated with 1/4 ~ 5/16 Jatoba, as will the top and bottom feet of the legs. The stretcher is laminated with red Oak and I'm thinking of attaching it with Wedged or through tenons.

I did start backwards and am not too sure about the top.....the local borgs dont have any SYP, everything is green doug fir/redwood, so thats out. The two options I've been leaning towards are: 1) Prefab butcherblock from lumber liquidators, 12 foot cut in half and laminated to itself for 3 inches of maple goodness, or 2) 2 layers of MDF sandwhiched between plywood (bottom) and 1/2 hardwood strips (top) and completely edged with hardwood. Thoughts, Ideas, Comments :confused:

Anyhoo, no more talk, heres the pics so far...first are the legs, one pre-Jatoba Lam, and the other with the Jabota and a Coat of BLO (had to give myself a little tease :p) the other is the stretcher in the lam process.

[David Christopher]

looks good so far, but are you showing us your progress or your clamp collection

[Chuck Tringo]

looks good so far, but are you showing us your progress or your clamp collection

Gotta make sure I have good clamping pressure, ya know :D

[Phillip Pattee]

Nobody get tired of bench threads. Nice storage system for your clamps.:D

[Michael Sobik]

How about Ash? The hardwood suppliers here in Houston charge around $3/bf for 8/4. I'm using it for vice chops and my bench's endcap. So far I really like it. More expensive than SYP, but the yield is much better.

[Wilbur Pan]

I did start backwards and am not too sure about the top.....the local borgs dont have any SYP, everything is green doug fir/redwood, so thats out.

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out the Douglas fir. That's what I'm building my workbench out of, and I've already built a small worktable from the same material. Douglas fir has the same stiffness and hardness as SYP. It's not quite as dense, but you can easily make up for that with increasing the thickness of your top.

The only downside of Douglas fir that I've found is trying to find boards that are relatively knot free. But I've never picked through a pile of SYP, so that might be an issue for both species.

[Douglas Brummett]

Seems to be a lot of folks who are hashing over laminated benchtops. This composite of mdf/plywood topped with solid wood continues to be a recurring theme. Success in that approach appears to be the exception, not the norm. The tables with long-term success are built using about 1/8in as the hardwood top layer thickness. Any thicker and the odds are stacked against you that it will eventually tear itself apart.

I just completed an mdf layer top myself. The main reason for going that route was expedience and convenience. What you are describing fits neither nicety, so why bother? Just take a bit more time and do it out of solid if you want it to look solid.

ps the David Marks bench is very cool. I liked his incorporation of a centered end vise and the full width chock.

[Ian Gillis]

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out the Douglas fir.

I totally agree. Douglas Fir is a good tough wood. The construction grade lumber can be a bit nasty, though. I built a bench out of old salvaged Douglas Fir floor joists many years ago, and it's still going strong. You won't find old growth stuff like that at the lumberyard, but it's still a good choice for a bench.

As with other softwoods, it often pays to look at the wider and longer pieces in the lumberyard. If you can find a place with 16ft 2x12's, your chances of finding good lengths of decent stock goes up. If you can phone the yard and ask them if they have some long stock suitable for stair stringers, you might do ok. If it's a good yard, they might even cherry pick some good stuff for you.

They might think you're nuts if they see you sawing them in half to get them in/on your vehicle, but what the heck? ;)

AND... I never get tired of workbench threads. Keep us posted

Cheers

Ian

[John Schreiber]

The two options I've been leaning towards are: 1) Prefab butcherblock from lumber liquidators, 12 foot cut in half and laminated to itself for 3 inches of maple goodness, or 2) 2 layers of MDF sandwhiched between plywood (bottom) and 1/2 hardwood strips (top) and completely edged with hardwood. Thoughts, Ideas, Comments :confused:

Another place to look for a top is Ikea. You could laminate a couple of layers of their beech countertop (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40057754)and it would work well. Not the prettiest though because of the fingerjoints.

If you do a hardwood top, make sure that it is floating or it will try to separate from/warp the MDF and plywood. Floating would be a challenge with dog holes etc.

[Bob Easton]

Don't rule out Doug Fir unless "purty" is more important than functional. My Doug Fir bench works VERY well.

See it at: http://www.bob-easton.com/blog/?cat=11

[Chuck Tringo]

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out the Douglas fir.

Its not the Doug Fir thats the problem....its GREEN doug fir, and Id rather not wait a year for it to dry :)

[Alan DuBoff]

Nobody get tired of bench threads.
+1 to that! :)

[glenn bradley]

Its not the Doug Fir thats the problem....its GREEN doug fir, and Id rather not wait a year for it to dry :)
I let my BORG KD doug fir air dry for another couple months before working it and it is still shrinking. Fortunately it is only the trim but It will need to be replaced. For all the wasted effort i could have gone to the lumber yard and bought 'real' lumber. Lesson learned.