Help choosing benchtop material

[Peter Cobb]

When I read The Schwarz suggests using SYP for a bench top (actually whatever is localy available for cheap) I looked at my "Borg" 's stock...

Most of the stuff is low grade radiata (insigne/Monterey) pine, seems pretty soft for the intended use and known unaffectionately as "crapiata" in some circles, next step up is Oregon pine/Douglas-fir about 30% more expensive.

Is Monterey/Insigne/Radiata comparable to SYP or a completely different kettle of fish? Is Douglas fir any closer??

Any help appreciated.

Cheers,
Peter

[James Taglienti]

I don't think I'd ever build a bench out of radiata pine.. I've used a bit of it for different things here and there, trim, etc. It struck me as really soft and it scars very easily. Usually when you go to ask for clear pine, thats what a lot of lumberyards carry.
Southern yellow pine is a very tough wood, I think that's why it was being used for a bench. I know radiata pine can't even hold up to light pencil marks- they'll have to be sanded or planed out of it.

[Jason Chestnut]

When I read The Schwarz suggests using SYP for a bench top (actually whatever is localy available for cheap) I looked at my "Borg" 's stock...

Most of the stuff is low grade radiata (insigne/Monterey) pine, seems pretty soft for the intended use and known unaffectionately as "crapiata" in some circles, next step up is Oregon pine/Douglas-fir about 30% more expensive.

Is Monterey/Insigne/Radiata comparable to SYP or a completely different kettle of fish? Is Douglas fir any closer??

Any help appreciated.

Cheers,
Peter

Doug Fir is definitely the better option of the two -- in fact, it is usually suggested as a good second alternative in the US if you are in an area that SYP isn't widely available.

[Andrae Covington]

Doug Fir is definitely the better option of the two -- in fact, it is usually suggested as a good second alternative in the US if you are in an area that SYP isn't widely available.

Yep, lots of people have built theirs from douglas-fir. Including me, although I used old-growth stuff, which is practically a different type of wood. I've used the home-center douglas-fir framing lumber for other shop pieces, such as a wood rack. I think it would be fine for a bench. Be careful when you are planing across the grain, it really likes to splinter out at the edges. Generally, douglas-fir and SYP have similar properties; medium density, high bending and crushing strength, etc.

[Kent A Bathurst]

My understanding is that Radiata is basically the same species as a western inland fir, transplanted to New Zealand, and grown in large commercial plantations [been there, seen them]. Nothing at all like SYP - completely different critter.

Doug Fir would be my choice as well, if those are the choices.

[Frank Drew]

I understand an interest in saving money where you can, but, as with most fairly complex woodworking projects, the cost of the material won't be all that much when balanced against the amount of time you'll be putting in.

Without saying anything bad about yellow pine for a benchtop, I'm glad I went with hard maple for mine; had that not been available, I would have looked for birch or beech.

[Prashun Patel]

Consider ash. It's very cheap right now, and very hard and stable. It's open-grained, though, which some people don't like on a bench.

[Johnny Kleso]

Doug Fir 2x10s ripped would be my choice as they will be more clear than 2x4s

Check local saw mills for not popular species of woods that are good quality but widely known..

[dan sherman]

Chris uses SYP, because it cheap and plentiful in his area. I made two bench tops out of SYP, they where 30" wide, 72" long and 3" thick. I paid $197 (including tax, and Menards truck rental) for the wood, and I still have some of it left over.

The trick is to buy big boards, I used 2"x12"x16'. After I got them home I cross cut them in half and stickered them for 2 weeks. then I rough ripped them to width, and stickered them for another 2 weeks. After 4 weeks of being in the shop the MC dropped to between 6% & 10% so I could start milling.

It took some time, but if I had used a hard wood, it would cost me around $1k, and that was more than I wanted to spend.




When I read The Schwarz suggests using SYP for a bench top (actually whatever is localy available for cheap) I looked at my "Borg" 's stock...

[Charlie Stone]

Peter,
Since Monterey pine is abundant locally, go with it. Here is all you will ever want to know about its properties.

http://www.connectedlines.com/wood/wood56.htm

[Michael N Taylor]

I am starting to build a bench and I found Glulam Beams that are 3 1/8 x 12 3/8 x96 for $6.39 a lineal ft, so the top cost me $100.00 for 2 beams. I just got them home today and unwraped them to let them aclumate to my shop. One of the beams is cupped about 3/32 and the other about 1/8 but It should be no problem to flatten them. There are a few pin knots but over all they look very good. My thoughts are that it will save a lot of time ripping and gluing up boards to make the top and for what I want to use it for it will be just fine. You can find Glulams in several different species of wood including fir but the cost goes up considerably because then you are getting into beams made to be exposed instead of hidden in the framing.

[Frank Drew]

I made two bench tops out of SYP, they where 30" wide, 72" long and 3" thick.

It took some time, but if I had used a hard wood, it would cost me around $1k, and that was more than I wanted to spend.

Dan

Probably my math is off, but I get 45 bf in a finished 3" x 30" x 72" top; allowing for 30% waste, that's still under 60 bf of material for the top. What kind of hardwood were you looking at that would cost $1K (~$16/bf)? Was that for both tops? Still ... ($8/bf)?

[dan sherman]

Probably my math is off, but I get 45 bf in a finished 3" x 30" x 72" top; allowing for 30% waste, that's still under 60 bf of material for the top. What kind of hardwood were you looking at that would cost $1K (~$16/bf)? Was that for both tops? Still ... ($8/bf)?

Your math is about right, I looked at hard maple, but at the time I made the tops the closest place I knew of that had hard maple was 150 miles away. Thus I was going to have to rent a u-haul, plus gas, plus I was going to pay a premium, because the place in question only carried S2S. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I remember thinking it was almost a grand to make the two tops.

I just checked my blog, and for $197 I got 275 Bf of SYP, and they where 2x12x14, not 16. I was really anal about not having any knots in the tops, I think one top has a knot on the under side, and that was because I wasn't paying attention, and garbed the wrong board during the glue up.

I attached some images of the tops.