Workbench questions

[Shekhar Borde]

I'm hoping you folks can answer a few questions about my first workbench. I plan to build the one that is described at FWW's Getting Started in Woodworking (GSIW) site. Here is a link to the plan: http://images.taunton.com/downloads/GSIW_workbench.pdf

The two changes I plan on making are:
a) I want to make the benchtop a little longer (72" mine vs. 62" theirs), but keep the base the same size (24" x 48").
b) I plan to put a 1"x2" oak or maple edging on the MDF top to dress it up a little and protect the edges.

Since one long side of my workbench will sit against a wall, my questions are related to the width of the bench top:

1) The top of the GSIW workbench is 24" wide and it is flush with the base (on the long sides). I am wondering if I should make the top wider so that it overhangs the base on one side or both. How useful is it to have an overhang vs. not? Is it easier to clamp things to the edge if the benchtop overhangs the base?

2) If I do extend the width of the top, does it make sense to have a 4" overhang just on the front side and keep the back side flush with the base (the back side of the workbench that would go against the wall). This would give me a benchtop width of 28" which is just about as wide as I want to go, given my limited floor space. The other option is to have equal overhang of 2" on each side, which seems like it might not be deep enough for clamps.

3) I plan to build some cabinets with drawers to go in the space below the top and I also want some open space right underneath the benchtop (on top of the cabinets) for storing items needed at hand. To that end, I would like to reduce the height at which the lower stretchers attach to the legs so that I have more vertical space for storage. The design calls for attaching the lower stretchers at a height of 9"; I would like to lower this to 4". Would lowering these stretchers pose any problem from a toe kick perspective or anything else? It seems like an overhang would also help here with the toe kick issue.

[Roy Harding]

I built a version of that bench to use as a "mobile workbench" for Farmers Markets that I attend - I shortened the legs, put it on casters for mobility, and added drawers for storage of tools, products, and a cash drawer. It's a great little bench, only took less than a day to throw together. The threaded rods do a wonderful job of keeping it from racking. It gets winched up onto and off of a trailer twice a week (I attached an eye bolt on one of the lower stretchers, with added blocking, so I could hook a winch to it) and hasn't suffered any from the abuse.

I used a torsion box (with solid wood inserts strategically placed for bench dog holes and vice mounting) for the top, and moved it to the left to accommodate a vice - I attached it to the top stretchers using buttons. I laminated thin (1/8") red oak that I had laying around on the top, and edged it with birch which I had laying around. It looks good, has held up well (although it got rained on pretty good once, and the oak lamination needs some repair), and is wonderful at attracting folks to my booth in the Farmers Market - I work on whatever needs doing, cutting dovetails, assembling boxes, sharpening chisels and plane irons.

All that said - good choice for your first bench. You DEFINITELY want an overhang on the front. You need it for clamping, and for ease of use. As far as having it flush in the back so the whole thing sits against the wall, that makes sense to me. I don't see any problem with lowering the bottom stretchers - if you have a front overhang, toe clearance is no longer necessary.

One point - when I built mine, I considered plugging the holes where the threaded rod and nuts and washers go - but I never got around to it. I'm not so sure I want to now - my mobile bench lives in an unheated garage between Farmers Markets, and thus undergoes a cooling/heating cycle. That, combined with the constant moving up and down a ramp, and I'm suspecting that some day I will want to tighten up the nuts, although after four months usage that hasn't been a problem, and may not be in your case.

Good luck and have fun.

[Tony Shea]

This was the similar style bench I built when i first started out but I didn't have this plan or video to go by. But it was basically identical with the threaded rod joinery and all. I really liked the threaded rod joinery as it was plenty strong enough especially if I tightened the bolts from season to season.

My one suggestion is to opt out of using MDF as a top material. I am a big time hand tool woodworker and I ended up with a 4 layer glue up of MDF that wasn't really that flat. I took every precaution to get this thing flat during glue up but when dried it turned out not even close. I used the bench for over 3 years and the out of flat top caused me all kinds of problems. Planing wood on an out of flat bench just creates a piece of wood that is not flat. I had to keep a huge assortment of wedges handy to strategically place under the board to prevent it from deflecting while planing a surface. I would seriously consider just using solid wood for your top. This will allow you to flatten it as often as you feel necessary. And it doesn't have to be a hard wood to be successful. Check on Southern Yellow pine, doug fir, etc.

[Scott Brihn]

I agree with Tony about opting out of using MDF for the top. I also had a bench with a thoughtfully constructed multi-layer MDF top that was not flat. I ended up giving that bench away to a non-woodworker.

[Prashun Patel]

On a bench with an apron like that, I agree that you would probably like a generous overhang (as deep as your clamps at least). 4" is nice. If this will be against the wall, there's no reason to make an overhang on the back.

The only downside of a wider bench is that if you are planning to put this against a wall and utilize wall storage above the bench, make sure you can comfortably reach fairly high.

I also do not think MDF is the best choice on a bench with dog holes. One of my first benches has mdf and to be fair, the dogs hold ok - even after several years. But there's no comparing it to the solid wood tops. I would consider plywood as an economical, stable alternative to both.

[glenn bradley]

I too would go ahead with an overhang for clamping. I have an MDF top and have used the dog holes for years without issue but, there are varying grades of MDF. I flooded mine with BLO and then wax it every other year or so. It is flat except at the edge where I added the trim. I cheaped-out an used "kiln dried" fir. Even though I stickered the fir in my shop an additional two months, it continued to shrink and caused some failure at the edges. I preferred the MDF for the lower cost and higher :)weight realizing that this would not be the last bench I ever built.

[Matthew Dunne]

I built a very similar bench, with exactly the two modifications you mention: longer and with a solid wood wrap-around.

There is one advantage to having the edge of the top flush with the legs: it's easier to clamp large flat things (doors, panels) against the leg and top, with an edge up. Especially useful if you plan on doing more hand tool woodworking.

[Shekhar Borde]

Thank you, all, for your valuable suggestions.

Regarding the advice to not use MDF, I have mulled this over more than any other issue :) and searched the SMC forums a lot for direction. I finally figured that if it is good enough for FWW, Woodsmith, etc. to repeatedly recommend in their magazines, it should be fine for a weekend woodworker's bench. And if it does turn out that MDF was not the best choice, I can always replace the top.

One other thing I forgot to mention. I plan on putting a set of those Rockler retracting casters on this bench so I can pull it out when necessary and use it as an outfeed for my table saw, or as an assembly table. I only have 1/2 of a 2-car garage and 1 wall. Everything has to be mobile and I need as many multi-taskers as possible.

Thanks again, everyone.

[Paul Murphy]

One other consideration is overhang on the right side [if you are right-handed] for a possible future end-vise. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 18" overhang will give you the room for the guide-bars to have full range of motion. Have a look at the requirements for your possible end vise, it's easier to build the clearance in than to modify after construction.

[Prashun Patel]

Right on! My first bench was a single layer of particleboard. And i gotta tell you it still works fine for what it is. Go for it!!!

[Roy Harding]

,,,
Regarding the advice to not use MDF, I have mulled this over more than any other issue :) and searched the SMC forums a lot for direction. I finally figured that if it is good enough for FWW, Woodsmith, etc. to repeatedly recommend in their magazines, it should be fine for a weekend woodworker's bench. And if it does turn out that MDF was not the best choice, I can always replace the top.
...

Understood - consider placing an inch or so of solid hardwood on the bottom side of the top where the dog holes will go - this should ease some of the stress on the MDF when using the dog holes for clamping etcetera.

Good luck to you - I understand your situation regarding sharing a two car garage - it's where I started thirty some odd years ago, and most of the furniture I built there is STILL in use around the house, and my son's houses - I get a little sentimental when looking at it.

[John Piwaron]

Thank you, all, for your valuable suggestions.

Regarding the advice to not use MDF, I have mulled this over more than any other issue :) and searched the SMC forums a lot for direction. I finally figured that if it is good enough for FWW, Woodsmith, etc. to repeatedly recommend in their magazines, it should be fine for a weekend woodworker's bench. And if it does turn out that MDF was not the best choice, I can always replace the top.

One other thing I forgot to mention. I plan on putting a set of those Rockler retracting casters on this bench so I can pull it out when necessary and use it as an outfeed for my table saw, or as an assembly table. I only have 1/2 of a 2-car garage and 1 wall. Everything has to be mobile and I need as many multi-taskers as possible.

Thanks again, everyone.

You're going to do what you're going to do. I'm not here to change your mind. But I do have to say this - Long ago, I followed Woodsmith's plan for a router table. 1 thickness of 3/4 inch plywood topped with tempered hardboard. It sagged. I built another. It sagged too. I've noticed that every shelf, every largish panel made of MDF or plywood has sagged at least a little. But I haven't given up. I completed a new router table about a year ago. It's 1 1/2" thick made of MDF and topped with plastic laminate. BUT - I put a *lot* of bracing underneath to support it. The bracing is all hard maple. This top has a lot of support to help it resist sagging.

Considering my experience with ply or MDF as a top I wouldn't use it to make a workbench top. I just don't think it has the strength needed. Unlike making a new top for a router table (the old Woodsmith design) making a new workbench top would be both difficult and a major irritant.

[Art Mann]

If you want an MDF router table top to stay flat, you need to laminate both sides. Otherwise, the differential expansion and the difference in moisture uptake and release will induce warping with no other outside forces. It is not enough to just provide good bottom support.

[John Piwaron]

If you want an MDF router table top to stay flat, you need to laminate both sides. Otherwise, the differential expansion and the difference in moisture uptake and release will induce warping with no other outside forces. It is not enough to just provide good bottom support.

I'll find out! :) It's over a year old, still flat.

[Art Mann]

I found out the hard way what I am saying about laminating both sides, although the recommendation is published in all sorts of references on building flat work surfaces. I built a router table top using two layers of MDF glued together with PVA glue and laminated with Formica laminate on the top only. The table was 24 by 32 inches and was supported on the periphery and in the middle with two equally spaced center struts, all made of 2 by 4s and constructed to be coplanar. Over the course of a year, the table top curved upward on the edges by about 1/4 inch. No amount of support underneath will prevent that. I think my problem was particularly bad because my shop is detached from the house and it gets as cold as 45 and as hot as 95 in there during the year. I eventually discarded the top and built one that was laminated on both sides and had no more trouble.

[Justin Coon]

I built the same bench the OP is wanting to build about a year and a half ago. It sits in my unheated/uncooled garage in TX and hasn't gone out of flat yet. I'm sure it will happen but at that point I will have outgrown this bench and made a big boy bench. I've been happy with mine so far. As far as the top being flush with the front, if I need a clamp in that area I just grab the bottom of the 2x4. Don't plan on using a holdfast with this bench top, I believe its not deep enough and the action of setting it will destroy your dog holes. I wish I had made my top longer in case I want to add a tail vise at some point. The good thing is, with one sheet of MDF I can make a new top any time I want in about 30 minutes...