New to Samill Creek and have a question about my first attempt at a Holtzapffel Bench

[Brian Simpson 1980]

Hi there, I just joined the forums today!

I have spent the last few years remodeling my 1965 rambler, just had our first kid (boy) 8 weeks ago, and finally, FINALLY got my garage half way cleaned out. I want to build a traditional workbench and really start my hand tool woodworking weekend career. :)

SO, my major home projects are finished for the winter (replaced all my windows, doors, garage doors, remodeled 2 baths, and built little dude's nursery), and now I want to take this time to build my bench. Done a lot of casual reading about various benches, and have really been drawn to the Holtzapffel Workbench. BUT, i'm on a budget (go figure). So my question has to do with my benchtop material. I don't have the money to dump into Ash, pine is not readily available for a reasonable price in the NW, so i'm either gonna have to substitute for Doug Fir 2x or cut up this 6x8 fir beam i've had in my garage for over a year.

Question: Which will be better and why -
A) Vertically glued 2x4 Doug Fir
B) Resaw my 6x8 12' beam in half (3 3/4 x 5 1/2) then glue

I'm not thrilled about using softwood, but simply cannot afford hardwood at the moment.

Thoughts?

[Michael Sobik]

Hey Brian, welcome to the Creek.

Check out Chris Schwartz's blog posts on the LVL bench. He seemed to conclude it was a good bench material. It should be cheaper than the hardwood. Although, what's ash going for up there? In Houston, I think I paid something like $3 board foot for it. After building my Roubo out of SYP, I think I'd spring for the Ash next time around.

[David Gendron]

My bench is DF and I'm realy pleased with it! It's stiff, relatively heavy, it's easy to work, quite stable and it look good! the only thing I would change other than the lenght( who doesn't dream of a longer bench??) would be to put a realy hard wood like suger maple where the dog holes are going... the DF seem to deforme with the use of oldfasts!

[Michael Schwartz]

Hey Brian, welcome to the Creek.

In Houston, I think I paid something like $3 board foot for it. After building my Roubo out of SYP, I think I'd spring for the Ash next time around.

Just finished up with my Roubo. I think I spent about 2.15 per bf for 8/4 ash but I think I am about 2000 miles from you.

The Roubo takes at least $3000 worth of time and effort to build, might as well use some nice wood. I think its worth using ash. I built the stand for mine out of white pine, but I went for ash on the top.

[David Gendron]

Michael, do you have a few shots of your bench?

[Brian Simpson 1980]

Hey Brian, welcome to the Creek.

Check out Chris Schwartz's blog posts on the LVL bench. He seemed to conclude it was a good bench material. It should be cheaper than the hardwood. Although, what's ash going for up there? In Houston, I think I paid something like $3 board foot for it. After building my Roubo out of SYP, I think I'd spring for the Ash next time around.

Thanks for the welcome Michael, and for the referral to Schwart'z blog, looks like a great read. I called on ash this morning (I'm from Seattle, WA) and it was about $3.60 somthing a bf.

I'd love to use Ash or equivilent but am stuck with a cheap top for now. I like what you said about the dogs though, I think i might use some hardwood, maybe some scrap IPE i have layin around just for those rows of dogs.

But i guess the real question i have is should i glue up the 2x4 DF, or use the beam. I'm worried about cupping if i cut the beam. It's been in my garage for about a year so i'm not sure what the moisture is, it should be dry. Do they kiln large timber beams (6x8 x 12'), or leave them green?

[John Keeton]

Just as an aside, my guess is that in a few short years the price of ash will move dramatically because of the ash borer. There will be a bunch of standing dead trees. Either it will be super cheap, or the fear of never having ash lumber again will cause people to pay more - it will be interesting to see how that goes. Such a shame to lose another tree to a foreign pest invasion. First the chestnut, then hemlocks, and I am sure there have been others.

Sorry to hijack, but on the topic of dog holes, my top is SYP and I don't have any difficulty with deformed holes. However, I am sure it is substantially harder than the DF.

[Brian Simpson 1980]

Surprisingly SYP is 690 on the Janka scale, while DF can range from 660-710 depending if you're on the coast or not.

[John Keeton]

Interesting! I never have worked with DF, so I have no familiarity with it. I will say that it has a nicer appearance (to me) than does SYP.

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Brian,
Try some of the online dealers, you will have to pay shipping but will get out of the taxes. I often use Peach State lumber out of Georgia and get very nice wood from them at a good price.

[David Keller NC]

Surprisingly SYP is 690 on the Janka scale, while DF can range from 660-710 depending if you're on the coast or not.

brian - If you're going cheap, then looking at the hardness scale isn't really what you want to do. Ideally, of course, bench material should be 1) very strong, 2) very hard, 3) very dense, 4) very cheap, and 5) easily worked.

Naturally, #1, #2, #3 and #5 are generally mutually exclusive. Ash, maple, birch, and beech are all very hard and strong, but also incompatible with #4. So, if you require #4 and #5, then you'll have to sacrifice on #1, #2, and/or #3, and that means softwood.

And if you're going to skimp on something, strength is the one you want to keep and sacrifice on the "hard". that's why douglas fir and SYP are recommended - they're tremendously strong. The only other species that I can think of in your neck of the woods that's cheap is spruce or white fir/hemlock and those are neither hard nor strong nor dense.

If it were me, I would simply rip the beam up for the top and stack and sticker it once it's ripped. Even if it cups, you can simply wait for it to re-equilibrate and it will come back close to straight.

[Brian Simpson 1980]

If it were me, I would simply rip the beam up for the top and stack and sticker it once it's ripped. Even if it cups, you can simply wait for it to re-equilibrate and it will come back close to straight.

Awesome response David, thanks for answering my question. I was kind of in a quandry and needed some direction. I"ll use the beam and maybe some scrap IPE i have laying around for the dog holes, just for added strength there. I really appreciate you taking the time and will put your advice into action.

Now comes the tough part, finding the time to build it! lol, I'll post pics along the way and more questions for sure. Thanks everyone!

Brian

[David Gendron]

Plus one for the use of the beam!! Great post David K., it should help a lot of people to make a choice on the wood they should use!