Your opinion on a work bench: How thick is too thick?

[Jim Neeley]

Like many here, my goal is to build a solid maple top for a new workbench and I'm wondering how thick would be too thick. I've heard many wish their top was thicker but have any wished it wasn't so thick?

Let's assume I'm going to install a Veritas twin-screw vise, so to take that out of the equation. I'm thinking in the 30"w x 7-8' long and started out with 2" thick, then went to three or so. Then I realized that the 8/4 hard maple I have available is generally in the 5-1/2" to 6". Yes, I could go for one-half of the narrowest board but I'm exploring the idea of going really thick; perhaps as much as 5" since otherwise I'll have lots of narrow pieces of 8/4 scrap and it seems like I ought to consider leaving it part of the bench.

I'll start a second, related thread, on this in a minute.

Jim

[Andrew Gibson]

My bench top is 2" thick, with a 6" skirt all the way around.
I had full 8/4 oak available all 6" wide and 6' long. I let this dictate the size of the bench.

I think 3" would be about ideal, Thicker then that and holdfasts will have a hard time holding, unless you enlarge the hole on the underside (basically thinning the top around the hole)

A wide skirt is nice because I can use my holdfasts on the front for holding wide pieces for dovetailing, or edge jointing. Though to wide of a skirt and it could be hard to reach under and adjust the height of dogs.... unless you made you own and made them quite long.

I think I would not go thicker then 3" or 4", unless I came across some really thick slabs... hmm now I am going to have to sit and ponder my next bench... this is a bad bad place.

[Niels Cosman]

Wait a minute- what style of bench are you thinking about building? and are your ideal outside dimensions?
Any answer would really depend on what the overall design of the bench is going to be (how the top will be supported/connected to a base or legs), so that's probably a good place to start.

[Bob Stroupe]

I’ve got a 5 1/2” bench top. Because of the size of clamps I normally use clamping things to the bench top would be more convenient if it was an inch or two thinner...

[Johnny Kleso]

I used 2x4s for my bench and has worked well for me with 3/4" square dogs and round 3/4" dogs in the square holes since it has the extra thick top..

Other than mounting things like a Saw Sharpening Vise and the clamp was only 2 1/2" wide I have not seen a down side..

[Jim Neeley]

That's the part I haven't fully decided on yes... I'll probably design my own as a hybrid of other styles. Here's my current thinking.. and I'd welcome feedback...


I'm not interested in a tool tray.
For vises I own one veritas twin screw and plan on picking up a second, one for a face, one for an end. I'm debating adding a pattern makers as a second face vise.
It'll definitely have a squat cabinet base with either primarily or totally drawers.
My thought is to leave 6-8 inches from the bottom of the fence to the top of the cabinets, both for as space for the vise screws and as a safe place to rest one of my Veritas LA planes, chisel or saw briefly.
I'm envisioning ~3"x5" "legs", with the cabinet sandwiched in between and the legs stubbing up under the bench (w/spacer & rail) to support the heavy top, to leave room for the vice screws.
Once I decide on the pattern makers vice I'll order the 2nd twinscrew and construct a fir prototype for the top before giving a shot at maple. Hopefully I can make my mistakes (and figure out what I *really* want) on the first one and have something to use while making #2. <g>

Does this help?

I'll appreciate any and all comments, opinions, ideas and feedback you all are willing to share!

Jim

[John Sanford]

Holdfasts are your friends. Get good holdfasts, and determine how long they are. Insure that the distance from the TOP of the bench to the top of the cabinet is at least 3" more than the maximum "drop" of the holdfast. Otherwise, you may find yourself dropping a nice holdfast into a doghole and having the leg of it shatter a plane below. That would be "not good".

That said, I'm a fan of thicker tops. No skirts, just make it honking thick all the way across. 3-5". Yes, such a thickness reduces the usefulness of the 4-6" clamps that we love ('cause they're a cheap clamp fix), but there's plenty of 8-12" clamps in the world. And holdfasts.

btw, a thick top doesn't need any other support, just what it takes to keep it off the floor at the height you want.

[Scott T Smith]

Jim, this is a timely thread, as fellow Creeker David Nelson and I will be milling some wide quartersawn red oak slabs later this morning for workbench tops (16" - 20" wide). We will be using a combination of my swing-blade mill and his chainsaw mill to produce them.

We are planning to mill them at 4" - 4.5" thick, under the assumption that they will dress out around 3" - 3.5" or so after they dry. Based upon the feedback from Andrew, Bob and John, it sounds like we're in the right ballpark.

Thanks guys!

[Joe McMahon]

I built m y Roubo out of hard maple. I started out with 4" as the desired thickness. Miling caused it to actually end up at 3 3/4". It is more than strong. I have had no problem with flexing or holdfast usage. It has turned out perfect.

[george wilson]

My bench is 4" thick. I like the bench to be very heavy so it stays put when planing,etc. Weight does it.

Beyond that,it might depend upon what vises you might be wanting to mount on the bench. Some require a thinner top,or you have to chisel the top away. I expect that a 2" maple top would be plenty if you have enough weight in the rest of the construction. I had a large Garett Wade Swiss bench at work without drawers. It was as large as a large Ulmia. Though its front edge was 4",the rest wasn't. I had to load it full of wood underneath to make it heavy enough to not move about when planing on it.

[Frank Drew]

I like a thick top so that the bench stays put against lateral stress (George's point) and so that there's absolutely no flex or bounce when you pound on it (on it, not into it!) So 3+-4" is good, IMO; mine is 4" and I really can't think of a reason to go thicker than that for general woodworking purposes.

[Jim Neeley]

I couldn't really think of a compelling reason to make one that thick either... I started with 3"+ and then got to thinking about 3-1/2" to 4". The sole reason for my considering thicker is due to the amount of wood I'll be throwing away in cutoffs.

I figure that I'm looking at 24 pieces of 8/4 hard maple 8' long for the top. Most of the locally available stock ends up 5-1/4" to 5-1/2" once you S4S. If I go 4" with each piece I'd be trimming off 192 running feet (24 x 8') of 8/4 stock that's 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" wide. Not having a use for that much narrow stock (no lathe), off it goes to firewood. It seems like such a waste.

[Jim Koepke]

If I go 4" with each piece I'd be trimming off 192 running feet (24 x 8') of 8/4 stock that's 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" wide. Not having a use for that much narrow stock (no lathe), off it goes to firewood. It seems like such a waste.

Make and sell cutting boards.

Laminate it and make saw benches or horses.

Make a bunch of bow saws.

Save it until you do get a lathe.

Make a spring pole lathe.

Send it to me!:D

jtk

[Matt Radtke]

I don't see a real reason to limit thickness, unless you have a specific need to mount a vice or do a task.

I don't see a real reason to shoot for a crazy thickness past 3-4" or so, unless it makes sense from the materials at hand.

I believe Schwarz had a blog entry about a gentleman that ended up with an over 5" thick Roubo style. It ended up that thick due to A) his materials and B) true neandering.

With no table saw, he didn't want to rip his material, construction grade 2-bys, into thinner strips. So, 2x12s, 2x10s are out. So he bought 2x6s, planed them square, and face glued them. Ta-da, instant bench and efficient use of materials.

[Jason Roehl]

Too thick is when it's so thick that it's too tall... :D

[David Weaver]

bahh.. i was just about to say the same thing that jason said, but he beat me to it.

I wouldn't go thicker than 4" because hold fasts wouldn't work well, and because the wait doesn't offer a practical benefit above that. It is still nice sometimes to be able to move the bench a little. A 650 pound bench doesn't have anything over a properly made 300 pound bench when planing something, nor when chiseling, etc.

[David Keller NC]

Jim - To be effective as a workbench top, the width of the ripped, edged and planed boards doesn't have to be all one piece. In other words, if you decided on a 3" thick top, two 5-1/4" wide maple boards can be edge-joined to make a panel 10-1/2" wide, which can then be ripped down to 3 3" wide "boards" that can then be face-glued to form your workbench top. Yes, one of those 3" wide boards will be a composite of 2 boards, but it won't matter - the top will still move as one unit, and as long as you don't put one of the composite boards on either of the two outside workbench top edges, no one will ever be the wiser.

The one caveat is that I would orient the "composite" laminates so that the wider piece is on the top face of the workbench - one would not, for example, want one of these joints within 1/4" of the workbench surface, as occasional re-flattening of the bench would eventually get down to the glue joint.

[Jim Neeley]

Excellant point, David.. With one side of the "scrap" ripped straight, one more pass through the saw and poof... edge-join material. A good way to "warm up" for the big glue-up anyway. :-)

[Johnny Ramon]

Thick enough so that you don't need a skirt. Clamp work better without a skirt.

[Jim Neeley]

No skirt??? ..even with shapely legs???? <cheezy grin>

[Dave Gallaher]

Too thick is only when you don't need legs under the bench. But 3 inches seems like the thickness of my next bench.

[Stanley Covington]

Don't forget to take into account the vise when designing your benchtop. If it is too thick, you may be forced to rout out a significant amount of wood to accommodate the vise mechanism. :eek:

Stan

[george wilson]

If the bench needs to be 32" high,and the top is 33" thick,then it is too thick.:)

[Jim Neeley]

I dunno.. just take a think shave off the top... <g>

Not only that, little fear of sand-through!!

Tho there is one thing... 33" x 36"w x 84"l is about 700bf of wood...


If the bench needs to be 32" high,and the top is 33" thick,then it is too thick.:)