Glued up Benchtop

[Bryce Adams]

Has anyone seen Garrett Hack's new bench in the current issue of FWW? He glued up his top with 3 horizontal layers of 4/4 stock and explains that this produces a very stable top.

I recently bought 100 bd ft of 4/4 hard maple at a pretty good price, and am planning on building a bench with it. My original thought was to face glue the 4/4 stock to get a 2" thick top with edge grain on top. Garrett's article has me reconsidering.

Do you see any issues with gluing up 3 layers? I'd prefer the look of wider, flat sawn board on the bench top instead of 32 3/4" edges, but I could go either way.

[Chris Friesen]

Hack should know what he's doing, but personally I'd be worried about it cupping with humidity changes. At the very least you might consider doing the bottom and top layers with the growth rings pointed in opposite directions.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Should work fine. The lamination method commonly used today is a solution to the limited avaliability of thick, wide boards. It allowes commercial bench manufactures to use 6/4 or 4/4 stock to make benches with thick tops because the thinner stock is cheaper. It has little to do with stability of the top.

Most original benches that survive today from the 19th century used a single, thick, wide plank or two for the top. They weren't laminated. Once a board has stabilized, it should not continue to cup severely unless there are internal stresses in the board, even with seasonal changes in humidity, unless you restrict the movement of the board. Allow the thick plank several weeks in your shop to acclimate to the area. Then flatten the board. After the top is finished, flatten the entire top again. When you attach the top to the base, allow for the wood movement. Every bench, whether laminated or not, will require occasional maintenance and reflattening so laminating the top won't save you this maintenance.

I've laminated two tops and in my opinion, it's not worth the effort. If I ever build a new bench top, it won't be laminated, it'll be just two wide boards. The top of the English style bench pictured in Peter Nicholson's "Mechanic's Companion" is two wide boards, flat sawn. Mike Siemsen built a similar bench (http://www.schoolofwood.com/node/27) with a top made from two wide 1-1/2" thick pieces of construction grade lumber, flat sawn. You could send him an email and see how his bench top has faired. I'm guessing it's been just fine.

[David Gendron]

I agree with Bob" my next banch will also be one or two wide and about 2, 3" thick boards. DF i think will be!