wookbench top from commercail maple tops

[Greg Bearman]

any experience with gluing two maple table tops together, like standard 1.5" workbench tops to make thick one? Main question is whether it will stay flat or bend? I can imagine the glue bending it, althought maybe too thick for that.

[Jerome Hanby]

I'm doing that with my workbench build, only my top is beech. I bought a wider top and ripped it in half length wise then stacked the two pieces. I haven't glued it up yet, just stacked and clamped and both pieces appear to be remaining flat. I need to get the edges trimmed up nice and neat and get a slot routed for the threaded rod for my shoulder vise before I do the glue-up.

[Bruce Page]

I am not sure what you would gain by gluing two together like that. Structurally it would not be any stronger than a single glue up. Also, the slabs do expand/contract a bit with seasonal changes. I used a single prefab 1½ top on my bench that has worked well.

[Jerome Hanby]

You get twice the thickness <g>. Also double the weight.

[Jeff Duncan]

I'd be worried about a couple things on this type of glue-up. First is getting enough pressure in the center of the panel. A vacuum press would certainly help, otherwise that's a tricky one to get good pressure evenly distributed. Secondly I'd be worried about the actual wood orientation. If one layer has more rift wood than the other for instance, it will want to move less, possibly causing the top to warp??? I'd be more comfortable gluing up a top from scratch or adding thicker ends to the 1.5" slab.

If I really wanted a 3" thick top I'd probably do it similar to a bowling alley, with 3" wide boards face glued to each other. I would think it would be more stable that way. Of course 3" is pretty thick and I'm not sure I'd want a top that thick.....but to each his own;)

good luck,
jeffd