workbench top wood grain question

[Steven Lee, NC]

If I build a workbench top out of QS Oak, which direction should the QS grain be oriented for wood movement? I don't know why but my brain is kinda fried from work right now.

I am thinking facing up and down so that the tendency will be to expand and contract horizontally?

red vs white, any one particularly better than the other? Mostly likely an oil based finish.


thanks

[Prashun Patel]

Any wood on a bench should have the grain oriented in the long direction of the bench. The end grain should be appearing at the short ends of the bench. The only movement you need be concerned with is in the width. Assuming you don't breadboard the ends, then the only thing to consider is attaching the base so it allows the top's boards to expand in the width.

[David Weaver]

What looks nicer, red is probably cheaper. If you're worried about how the wood will react if it expands and shrinks, alternate the grain on the ends (like you're saying) so the curvature in the end grain points up and down in an alternating pattern -that way the wood closest to the bark side of the tree (that contracts more) even itself out by alternating.

[Steven Lee, NC]

ok, thanks. When I look at maple or beech bench tops its so hard to tell what direction the grain is going.

[David Weaver]

You can plane it - if it planes nicely in the same direction, you're in good shape. If you're using something quartered and the face of the quartered board shows the grain running about parallel to the sides (not uphill or downhill), you might find it works nicely in either direction.

[Scott T Smith]

Hi Steven.

A quartersawn board (either red or white oak) will expand and contract about 2X more in thickness than in width. Thus, if you orientate the boards in your bench top so that the growth rings form vertical lines (as viewed from the ends), you'll have less issues with expansion/contraction across the width of the top of the bench.

Scott

[Steven Lee, NC]

thanks, shoulda known to just PM you directly :)


Hi Steven.

A quartersawn board (either red or white oak) will expand and contract about 2X more in thickness than in width. Thus, if you orientate the boards in your bench top so that the growth rings form vertical lines (as viewed from the ends), you'll have less issues with expansion/contraction across the width of the top of the bench.

Scott

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Steve,
I oriented my boards so they are QS across the width. I.e. so you see the ray fleck on the top. This has both negatives and positives. My bench is a Roubo-like design so minimizing the expansion in width is good: it keeps the legs square with the top. Although I don't think this is terribly important.

It also has a couple negatives. I find QS oak to often have reversing grain unless it is very straight grained to begin with: read "very high quality". This makes flattening the top more difficult. Also if your QS oak is low quality I have found it often expands unevenly in the thickness. This is another undesirable trait for a bench.

If I had it to do over again I would not use QS oak. Don't get me wrong, the end product is great. But I would rather use great QS oak on furniture. I used very poor quality and it really made the build more difficult. But now that I am done I do love it and have NO intention of replacing it!

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