Work Bench Top

[George Bokros]

I see Woodcraft has birch bench tops on sale this month. They are 1 1/2" x 27 x60 for $100. Does birch make a good bench top? I know it is not as hard as maple but for the price will it service a woodworker reasonably?

Thanks

George

[Stephen Musial]

What will you be using it for? Assembly, planing, sawing? To my mind, a bench isn't a piece of furniture, it's another tool. It's going to get finish spilled on it, oil, dripped on it, etc. I made mine out of 2x4s, 3/4" plywood and topped it with 3/4" t&g oak flooring. Sanded it, shellaced it and called it good. There are dog holes drilled all over on one end along with a vice. 12 years old and still going strong. Total cost was probably under 50 bucks including the 2x4s.

[Rich Riddle]

Steven,

Birch is the lowest quality wood many would consider who used their benches for hand work, but just about anything works for power tools. Also, if you have an Ikea near you, they sell counter tops for around the same money in Beech wood. Idea also offers longer counter tops for slightly more money if you want a bench longer than five feet. That would be entirely too short for many people. Here is a link to Ikea counter tops:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/10472/

You will find them at least on par (or superior) to the ones you are considering. Many woodworkers would consider the material quality to go in the order of Maple, Beech, Oak, and Birch. Some European woodworkers prefer Beech over Maple. Good luck.

[John TenEyck]

Birch will do fine as a bench top. That looks to be a very good price for a top that size.

John

[John Downey]

I know a guy who turns out amazing furniture on a doubled up laminate bench top. Birch will be fine, there is nothing magical about what the top is made of.

[Charles Lent]

For a low budget bench top that is surprisingly good I have used commercial solid doors. They can usually be found at Habitat Stores and other similar outlets for $20-50. Since they are usually 36" wide and 1 3/4" or 2" thick there is more than enough material to allow trimming off the hinge and knob hole areas and still get a bench top of up to 30" wide. A bench top made from one of these doors is very solid and very flat, but also very heavy. The last bench top that I made this way only cost me $20 at the Habitat Store because it had a deep scratch on one side and was dusty enough to have been there for several years. I trimmed it to 28" width and just put the scratched side down for my work bench. It served me very well, but I left it behind when I moved away because I didn't have a large enough shop for it at my new home. I've missed that work bench and will be building a smaller one for my new shop soon.

Charley

[Edward Oleen]

My bench top was 1-1/4 chip board for years and years and years...( I bought the bench at Sears back when I was young and not long married and broke.) The frame is steel and has held up well. After a few years (about20) the top finally got too grungy so I flipped it over and used it for a few more years (another 20).

I finally replaced it with jointed and planed DF 2x6's doweled together. It was inexpensive, especially since the jointing and planing was done at a commercial shop with heavy duty equipment - for free, no less. (I was doing the owner's computer system for him.) (He paid me for my work, and threw in the jointing and planing for nothing. I didn't even have to ask him.)

The DF has held up very well. It is still on the steel framework, which is heavy enough to stand up to occasional heavy work due to tool storage underneath.

Hey, I know I "missed" the experience and joy of building my own bench from scratch, but I've got a side vise and an end vise and more dogholes than I can count and it does what I need it to do.

So there.

[Rich Riddle]

I am guessing DF means Douglas Fir.

[Jeff Bartley]

Just a note to anyone considering the Ikea tops: I installed those in a kitchen last year and when cutting out the sink and cutting a large radius in one end I found voids within the slab. These slabs are reasonably priced but if your plan calls for cutting into them in any way I'd plan on filling some voids with epoxy.
For the super low-budget I'd go with Charles plan and find some cheap solid doors. But whatever you use for your top make it flat!

[Halgeir Wold]

This is a birc top scandinavian style bench, made in Norway, http://www.hamran.no/høvelbenker/snekkerbenk
Made in various sizes from school benches to pro versions. Been on the market for a number of years......