Work Bench Question

[Allen Grimes]

Hi guys, its been a while. Lack of money and time has kept me away from woodworking. But I stumbled onto a little bit of money and bought some new tools and will be buying more soon as well. I will post the gloats when those tools arrive in my shop, which wont be for a couple months or so.

Anyway, my question is, what wood do you guys think would be best for my workbench base. I already decided that I will be making the top out of hard maple, but should make the rest out of hard maple or would one of the other available woods be more appropriate?

Available woods:
Mexican Mahogany $3.65
Tzalam $2.92
Maple $2.71
Ash $2.71
White Oak $2.40

As you can see they are all priced close enough together that money doesnt reallly make a difference (exept for the Mahagony), so what I am concerned about is stabilty and what not. The only wood out of these that I have worked with is White oak, so I really don't know too much about the others.

By the way, Frank, I will be getting that cd you sent me in 2 weeks.

[Mark Singer]

I would use maple of the woods listed....strong and stable if dry...

[Allen Grimes]

Thanks Mark, I was leaning towards maple anyway, since it will be the top, but I just wasnt sure if it would be the best for the base as well.

I wont be building the bench for a couple months but I'm asking now so I can figure out how much it will cost me so I can have the money when the time comes.

[Mark Singer]

Allen,
For the base it is less critical. Oak, maple, mahogany , ash , will all work fine.

[Allen Grimes]

Ok, well then if it doesn't really matter, then I will just keep it all made out of the maple. Maple is the best out of those woods for the top right?

[John Cavanaugh]

Allen,

You will probably shoot me for this, but you might want to check out http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=217664#poststop

Ive been thinking about a bench myself, and IPE is looking pretty attractive. I saw some pricing at http://www.ipedepot.com/picelist01.htm where they had 6ft remnants of 1 by 6 for $1.30/lf (about $2.60 bf). I figured you could rip them in half and laminate together and make a nice 2 1/2 thick IPE top that would last forever.

Just a little food for thought...

--
John C

[Allen Grimes]

Actually I really like that bench top, I'm going to have to see if my wood supplier can get a hold of some of that.

[John Cavanaugh]

Allen,

Be warned though on the prices. The price I quoted was one of the lowest I have ever seen. It could probably easily double in other areas. Also, given how incredibly hard IPE is, keep in mind that it would be useful if the wood came s4s so you dont have to destroy the blades in your jointer or planer.

--
John Cavanaugh

[Allen Grimes]

Well, generally wood is a little cheaper here than it is in the US so Im hoping that it wont change with Ipe, my only worry is that my wood supplier wont be able to get any. I might just have to buy it from that site and let it sit in the States for a few months.

[Bart Leetch]

Good luck on your bench I hope you'll post pics when its finished, its always fun to see a great bench

"Well, generally wood is a little cheaper here ."

By the way where is here???:D

[Allen Grimes]

Hey Bart, Im sorry I keep forgetting to put my location in my profile but I'll do that now. Im in Mexico.

[Alan Turner]

I favor a light colored wood for a bench top, but the base is of less importance in terms of color. Ipe is a bit dark to reflect light well.

[scott spencer]

Maple, ash, or WO. Mahogany isn't incredibly strong relative to maple and some others.

[Frank Pellow]

Hi Allen, it's good to see you active again.

I would definately choose maple. That's what Lee Valley uses in their Veritas benches and, you can't go far wrong , taking their choice as your choice.

[Allen Grimes]

Alan, I see your point, but I do like the look of darkwood over light wood

Scott, I thought that Santos Mahogany was harder than maple or oak.

Thanks Frank, it was actually those benches that made me decide on maple in the first place, in the end I think that will just make an all maple table, since it is cheap and I can pick out the boards I want to use, as opposed to ordering anything else.

Thanks for all of your input guys, like I said, I wont be building this for a couple months, but I got the design close enough to done to see how much it will cost me, so I can put the money aside for when the time comes.

I will post the pictures of the bench when I finish it. Maybe I'll even do one of those work in progress threads so I can share the whole process with you all.

[Larry Fox]

Allen, I may very well get stoned (the bad kind) for suggesting this, but given that you are talking about the base, couldn't you just build it out of pine 4x4's from the BORG (aesthetics aside)? You should be able to bolt togehter a very stout base very cheaply and spend the $$ saved on some project wood or more tools. This is assuming the base's only purpose is to support the top and allow you to stuck stuff under it for storage. This is how I constructed my bench base and it has served me quite well so far - but pretty it is NOT.

Hope it helps . . .

L

[Hank Knight]

Allen, I used oak for my base because I had some 8/4 on hand. Here's a pic of the finished bench with a maple top.

[Allen Grimes]

Larry, I am planning on building something that I can pass down to my son or grandson, so I want to use, not only a stronger and more durable wood, but also something that will look nicer.

Hank, thats a nice bench, the bench I am designing is very similar. Thanks for posting the pics, it very helpful to see the 2 woods together.

[Larry Fox]

Allen, the desire to pass down a nice looking piece definitely changes things. I will hand mine down to my sons as well but they will likely end up arguing over which one has to take dad's ugly old bench. :)

[Frank Pellow]

... Maybe I'll even do one of those work in progress threads so I can share the whole process with you all.
Please do Allen.

By the way, did you ever get the CD that I sent?

[Allen Grimes]

Frank, I guess you didnt notice, but in my very first post in this thread, I answered your question. I will be getting the CD on the 16th of this month. As soon as I get it in my hands and take a look at it I will let you know.

[Steve Wargo]

What about some good old fashioned quarter sawn MDF for the top? I really like my bench now that i've built it this way. :D

[Jim Young]

Personally I would go with a closed grain wood, in your case maple. The mahagony is a little light weight for a workbench base, although it would look the best. I don't care to mix open and closed grain woods, doesn't quite look right to me.

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, I guess you didnt notice, but in my very first post in this thread, I answered your question. I will be getting the CD on the 16th of this month. As soon as I get it in my hands and take a look at it I will let you know.
Sorry about that Allen. I did read that post, but obviously not to the end. It's not like me to miss things like that, but I sure did this time.