Building up end grain side of a workbench top

[Peter Pfaff]

I have some glued up maple strips I am going to use for a workbench top. They are 3/4" thick. I am going to glue up a front piece 1 1/8" wide to make the workbench top look thicker. But, I want to make the sides of the workbench to also look 1 1/8" thick. I was planning on gluing up some more maple strips the width of the workbench top and then to glue them to the bottom side workbench top to make the end grain side also look 1 1/8" think. Will there be any issues with expansion if I am gluing up a small strip to the workbench top? The grain will be going in the same direction, but one piece will be 4 ft long and the other piece will only be a couple of inches. Peter

[Frank Pratt]

You may want to rethink this. Even 1 1/8" thickness is pretty minimal for a workbench. A 3/4" thick top won't stand up to much pounding.

[Peter Pfaff]

Agreed. But, this is just an auxiliary bench mostly to hold tools and parts while I am working on projects.