Big ol' laminate beam - what to do?

[Karl Wicklund]

I've been given a structural off-cut. 18" wide by 6-1/2" thick, by 8' long. It's made up of two-inch stock, pine it seems, fairly knot-free. My first impulse was to use it for a workbench. It's certainly heavy enough - my brother and I cannot safely lift it. The dimensions are not ideal, though. Pretty thick and narrow. Anyone else have better idead? Rght now it's just taking up space.

[David Weaver]

Are there nails in it? If not, I'd probably resaw it and make it into a bench top.

If it has nails in it, I'd burn it.

[Dave Ring]

Wow! That should make one killer bench top. You could add a tool tray in back or a hardwood face and dog strip in front to bring the total width to 2' (more or less). Even if you have to pay a couple of guys to help lift the thing I think it would be well worth it.

[Zach England]

My dad had several of these and it did not occur to me to make a bench top out of them. We ended up cutting them up with a chainsaw and burning them.

Sad.

[Jerome Hanby]

Sounds like the dimensions of some Japanese bench I've seen someplace, probably one of the workbench books.

[Chris Griggs]

I had a similar beam. 5 or so inches thick, about 72 inches long, but only about 14 inches wide. I ripped it and resawed it on a friends bandsaw then used the pieces to make a 2 1/4-2 1/2 thick bench top.

I'm with David. If possible, resaw it and make a bench top. If you can't resaw it, leave it as is, and still make a bench top. 18" is a bit narrow for a bench but will work fine, you can always add a tool tray if you want a wider top and more space to put your tools.

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on the resaw idea if you can find someone with a big enough band saw.

It could also be used as one piece to a split top bench or a bench with a tool tray that could have a top put on it to widen the bench.

Lots of possibilities including what Dave said about adding a few more pieces to make it deeper.

Keep us up to date on what happens.

jtk

[Richard Line]

My guess is that beam is doug fir. From what I've seen of glue-lam beams, here in the US they are mostly made from doug fir. According to Schwarz's book, that would make an okay bench top.

[Dan Hintz]

I'd take it to the local sawyer and have him split it into 2 (maybe 3) pieces... joint, glue, enjoy!

[Zahid Naqvi]

agree with everything Dave Ring said. If resawing is a lot of trouble due to the size just add a 6" dog strip on the front and make it a bench top as is. In reality 18" is also very functional as bench top just that drilling dog holes would be a bear and you can forget using hold fasts.

[Jim Foster]

I suggest leaving it at 18" wide also. It's a little narrow, but it's still very usable at that width IMO.

[Jeff Wittrock]

I'd make a really heavy narrow bench dedicated to stuff that would benefit from the heavy mass like planing and chopping mortises.
Kind of like a real heavy version of Harry's portable bench, only not so portable.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?38637-Pictures-and-description-of-my-bench-%28-11-pictures%29&highlight=bench

[Jim Koepke]

Another thought would be to send it my way. :D

I'll post pictures of what I do with it.

jtk