Workbench Finish

[Ben Abate]

Hello all,

I'm building a new Roubo style workbench and it's coming along fine so far. I'll be wanting to protect the top and other surfaces and I'm wondering what some of you might suggest? My last bench I built I used I believe was Watco's Danish oil. It worked well but yellowed over time. (I know its the nature of oil) I was hoping there might have been some advances in oils that might not yellow with age. As I write this I'm thinking I'm sounding silly asking for an oil that will not yellow. I know hard maple will oxidize and the walnut will look great as it ages but I'm hoping to slow the process. I know if I use a water based urethane that would do the trick but then it's urethane on a work bench and I can't see that as a good thing for later down the road when you want to flatten the top again and so on. Maybe that's not too bad if you only have to re-sand the top and then flatten it? I just can't see using WB urethane. Possibly on the lower areas it might work.

If you have an opinion please post it here, I'm sure others would like to hear of options that are available


best regards
Ben

[Jim Finn]

I use, and abuse, my workbench every day so I laid a sheet of Masonite on top. When it gets worn too much I plan to just replace it. This is what we used for bench tops when I worked as a sheet metal worker.

[Robert Fuller]

Hello Ben,

Like Jim, I beat my benches up a lot, but I did not want to cover up the beautiful beechwood with Masonite. I purchased West System's 2 part epoxy, mixed up a batch and poured it onto the bench, then used a cheap bristle brush to spread it as evenly as possible. I used painters tape at the edge to contain any drips. I made sure it was a warm day when I did this, and I also made sure the epoxy was warm. This was not to enhance the curing process, but to enhance the flowability. Nevertheless, there were still a couple wavy areas , and of course the sharp corner where the epoxy met the tape. After 2 days of curing I used my ROS to take care of those problem areas. I started with 120 grit and worked up to 320. Then I switched to my 1/4 sheet sander and wet sanded thru 1000 grit, followed with a paste wax applied with a felt pad on the 1/4 sheet sander. It looks like it came off the showroom floor!
The trick is to work in a warm environment but to work fast. Once it starts to set up, do not touch it or you will have to go back and fix a lot of ugly spots.

[Jim Barrett]

Hello all,

I'm building a new Roubo style workbench and it's coming along fine so far. I'll be wanting to protect the top and other surfaces and I'm wondering what some of you might suggest? My last bench I built I used I believe was Watco's Danish oil. It worked well but yellowed over time. (I know its the nature of oil) I was hoping there might have been some advances in oils that might not yellow with age. As I write this I'm thinking I'm sounding silly asking for an oil that will not yellow. I know hard maple will oxidize and the walnut will look great as it ages but I'm hoping to slow the process. I know if I use a water based urethane that would do the trick but then it's urethane on a work bench and I can't see that as a good thing for later down the road when you want to flatten the top again and so on. Maybe that's not too bad if you only have to re-sand the top and then flatten it? I just can't see using WB urethane. Possibly on the lower areas it might work.

If you have an opinion please post it here, I'm sure others would like to hear of options that are available


best regards
Ben

I have one of the Lie Nielsen workbenches and this is what they use:

1/3 spar varnish, urethane,
1/3 mineral spirits
1/3 blo

[Luke Bergin]

I use, and abuse, my workbench every day so I laid a sheet of Masonite on top. When it gets worn too much I plan to just replace it. This is what we used for bench tops when I worked as a sheet metal worker.

Same thing for me. I just use Masonite over the top with a coat of wax every now and again and when it’s lived it’s useful life, I’m out $10 for another sheet.

[Andrew Hughes]

Now that's funny, Im building a new Roubo Work bench and I want to protect it.:)
Sorry Ben had to point that out.Theres no protection from Mother Nature or Eight year old eight year old kids!

[Doug Hepler]

Ben

It depends on what your goal is. What are you trying to protect it from? I do a lot of small and large glue-ups on my bench and my main objective is a surface that PVA and epoxy won't stick to very tightly. I put on two coats of water based acrylic varnish and a good coat of Johnson's wax. I can scrape off drips very easily. I renew the wax occasionally (annually?) The bench is a bit slippery but a rubber mesh mat solves that when it's a problem. Also, I use smaller removable pieces of Masonite or melamine coated Masonite to protect specific areas. I'm on my 4'th year and the bench still looks decent.

Doug

[Jim Becker]

I don't use a film finish for a workbench...only an occasional application of BLO after "refreshing" the surface. A film finish will get damaged relatively quickly and is a whole lot more work to refinish than simply wiping on the oil to provide a little bit of glue release.

[Dan Hulbert]

My bench came from a GM Pattern Maker's shop. It has a Masonite top and when I got it, had a shellac finish. When the top needs renewing, I go over it with a card scraper to clean up any glue drips and brush on a fresh coat of Shellac, usually the leftovers from a project or the bottom of the can. If it worked for pattern makers, it should be good for a home shop.

BTW, the bench came with an Emmert Pattern Maker's vise. I seem to recall my father paid 5 cents/pound for it. He was on a GM Foundry shutdown crew and they could buy the "scrap" for scrap metal prices at the time. He brought home the whole bench just to get the vise.

[Ben Abate]

Fellows
Thank you for the suggestions. I will consider all of your replies. I use my benches pretty hard also. I would just like to keep the natural color of the maple at least for a few years. I just like the white color of the maple. But oil makes it easy to maintain as some of you have mentioned. Since I recently built a MFT style assembly table the bench will get a break as being my main bench. I might try the Masonite cover for certain work.
Thank you all for your thoughts on this

Ben

[Jim Becker]

Oiling the maple doesn't change the color all that much, Ben...slight darkening, but it tends not to be really noticeable because of the many projects that are using the bench. :)

[Peter Follett]

I have just finished building a new bench; hard maple with a bit of walnut for contrast, and decided the best way to go was simply BLO with some beeswax blended in. Easy to maintain and, so far, glue doesn't stick to it very well.
349189

[David Eisenhauer]

Nice bench Peter. You left out the Spar Varnish of the traditional 1/3 spar, 1/3 BLO, 1/3 bees finish and it is rejecting glue?

[Ben Abate]

My bench came from a GM Pattern Maker's shop. It has a Masonite top and when I got it, had a shellac finish. When the top needs renewing, I go over it with a card scraper to clean up any glue drips and brush on a fresh coat of Shellac, usually the leftovers from a project or the bottom of the can. If it worked for pattern makers, it should be good for a home shop.

BTW, the bench came with an Emmert Pattern Maker's vise. I seem to recall my father paid 5 cents/pound for it. He was on a GM Foundry shutdown crew and they could buy the "scrap" for scrap metal prices at the time. He brought home the whole bench just to get the vise.

It was a decision whether or not to build a Roubo with an Emmert Pattern Maker's vise or go with the Benchcraft wagon wheel vise. I choose the Benchcraft, in fact I just go it mounted today in the leg section. Now I can start assembly of the bench. I've always wanted an Emmert but the Benchcraft won me over. I have a nice older Record style vise on my current bench and it has been good to me but I wanted a real old style heavy bench. The old bench I used Danish oil on but that was years ago. It has a nice older patina now but I'd like for this one to stay the maple color for awhile, at least until I forget about being gentle with it.

So, I'm thinking I might do a combination of things. First I might go with the three part mix and a cover of Masonite for those times when it becomes the stacking area. I was in a Woodcraft a few weeks ago that open in Pittsburgh and they had few Sjobergs benches there. The finish was nice and it felt like it might be a combination of oil and vanish.

Yes Peter that is a nice bench.

[Rich Riddle]

Another person with the exact same mentality. I accidentally started a Porter Cable 513 on top of the masonite the other day and now have a nice 7/8" cut. It's nice to laugh and replace it for ten dollars if you want. I like Penofin for some applications though. It's a nice oil finish and only requires one coat. I am more a power tool guy though so those nice benches don't do much for the shop.
I use, and abuse, my workbench every day so I laid a sheet of Masonite on top. When it gets worn too much I plan to just replace it. This is what we used for bench tops when I worked as a sheet metal worker.