Workbench question....

[Robert Mayer]

After a failed weekend to square four sides of 2 x 4's to make into a nice solid workbench I think im just going to buy one. I ran 2x4's through the table saw, then through the jointer and planer. It seemed like the more pieces I glued together the more warped it was. Since I dont have a widebelt sander or planer its a little hard to flatten them once their crooked. I give up!

Grizzly has a decent deals on hard maple tops. All I would need to do is build a base and mount the bench vises i already bought and drill holes for the bench dogs. They have 30" wide, 1 3/4" thick, 48" long tops.

now for the questions:

1. is 48" long enough for most applications? They have 60" ones too, but im trying to keep the $ low and fit it in my garage.

2. is there anywhere that sells these tops any cheaper? grizzly is the cheapest i could find. $148 + $50 shipping.

[Robert Mayer]

http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G9913

http://images.grizzly.com/grizzlycom/pics/jpeg288/G/G9913.jpg

[Tom Jones III]

Short answer to your direct question, 48" should work fine. Nobody is every going to say that you won't appreciate a longer bench, but in thinking back over past projects I can't say that a 48" bench would have prevented me from completing a project. Maybe the longer bench would be necessary if you are doing lots of large scale projects.

I've got a 2x4 bench, and it was not easy to get it square. My bench top is not completely flat either. When you glue up the boards, put a squared up 2x4 above and below the top at both ends and clamp them together with a few beefy C clamps. These cauls will hold the top flat while the glue dries.

After the glues dries it will still be a little warped. That is just the way it goes. You can find a lumberyard or cabinet shop and pay them to run it through a big belt sander or power-planer. Your best option is to flatten it yourself with a hand plane. It will be quite a job to learn how to do this the first time, but after that you will have a valuable skill that you will need in the future. You can get a reasonably flat and smooth bench top by using a junk $30 import #5 (Jack) hand plane. With some searching, you can find good quality used planes for the same price. I think even Home Depot has started carrying low quality Jack planes.

[John Dingman]

After a failed weekend to square four sides of 2 x 4's to make into a nice solid workbench I think im just going to buy one. I ran 2x4's through the table saw, then through the jointer and planer. It seemed like the more pieces I glued together the more warped it was. Since I dont have a widebelt sander or planer its a little hard to flatten them once their crooked. I give up!

Grizzly has a decent deals on hard maple tops. All I would need to do is build a base and mount the bench vises i already bought and drill holes for the bench dogs. They have 30" wide, 1 3/4" thick, 48" long tops.

now for the questions:

1. is 48" long enough for most applications? They have 60" ones too, but im trying to keep the $ low and fit it in my garage.

2. is there anywhere that sells these tops any cheaper? grizzly is the cheapest i could find. $148 + $50 shipping.Robert,

Don't give up! I did as Tom suggested and I took my bench slab (glued up Doug Fir) to Kettle Morraine Hardwoods and they ran it through their belt sander on both sides until she was nice and flat. I cut my pieces to 3-3/4" thick. The finished slab thickness was 3-1/4" Keep at it, you'll get it done ;)

Best Wishes,
John

[Robert Mayer]

Thanks for the help. I think I will go with the 48" one. That should allow a little extra room in my garage.

Saving a few bucks building it myself would be nice, but im ready to get cranking on some projects. After spending 4 days trying to get it right im just sick of looking at it. The nice thing about buying the top already done is that I can have a top thats perfectly level from the start.

One more question:

What size holes should be drilled in the top?

[Bart Leetch]

I made a top out of 2X4's for the top of my lathe bench. I first jointed & planed some very dry 2x & then glued them up to widths of about 10" wide & scraped the glue off. I made sure that all the edges were tight down to the bottom pipe clamps that they were clamped in as I did the glue up.
Then & ran them through the planer with the side that was against the bottom clamps on the bed of the planer . They came out nice & flat then I glued the 3 sections together 2 sections first then adding the third section.