Corian for Workbench Top?

[Steve H Graham]

I'm redoing my shop. I plan to put metalworking things on one side and woodworking things on the other.

The previous owner of the house put a solid L-shaped Corian counter in one corner. It sits on two-by-fours, and everything is screwed to the wall. It's very nice, but fixed work surfaces are stupid, so it has to be taken out. Tool mobility is a must. I plan to cut it in two non-L-shaped pieces and save it for projects.

I don't have a real woodworking bench. I'm planning to make one. I don't want to join the bench religion and make a work of art I'm afraid to use. Among the planned acts of heresy: it will have wheels and maybe a power strip screwed to it somewhere. Anyway, here's what I'm wondering: is there any reason not to use Corian for a workbench top? This stuff is 1.5" thick, it won't have to be planed, it can't warp, it's impervious to chemicals, it's tougher than wood, and I can drill and cut it. Seems like a great idea to me. I have to do something with the Corian counter I'm taking out, and I just happen to have Corian blades for my table saw. I bought it from a guy who made Corian counters.

[Mark Daily]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Just because it’s not traditional doesn’t mean it won’t work.

[Paul F Franklin]

I've never seen a solid 1.5" thick corian countertop; all the ones I've seen are about half that or less with the edges built up, so I'd check that.

Corian will sag if not well supported.

One down side would be that it's pretty slick, so holding work to it might be a challenge. That's why you see a lot of folks recommending leaving a wood bench top unfinished, so it's less slick.

Properly supported, it would make great infeed/outfeed tables or a router table top.

[Steve H Graham]

I'll bet you're right about the thickness. I have not checked behind the edge.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I like using dogs to hold work down and flat. I'm not sure that could be done very easily with corian. I am also sometimes careless with my blades and drill bits, and having a wooden surface is more forgiving.

[Bill Dufour]

Note that it will not take heat from soldering etc.
Bil lD

[Gary Ragatz]

I've never seen a solid 1.5" thick corian countertop; all the ones I've seen are about half that or less with the edges built up, so I'd check that.

Corian will sag if not well supported.

One down side would be that it's pretty slick, so holding work to it might be a challenge. That's why you see a lot of folks recommending leaving a wood bench top unfinished, so it's less slick.

Properly supported, it would make great infeed/outfeed tables or a router table top.

I agree with Paul. We had Corian installed in the kitchen in our old house, and it was 1/2" material over a particle board substrate, with built-up edges. Same deal with the bathroom vanity tops in our new place. When we were shopping for the kitchen in the old place, I believe they told us that the thickest standard size was 3/4" - so I guess it's possible you have two pieces laminated.

I don't think I'd care for it as a workbench top, but I like the idea of using it for infeed/outfeed or a router table.

[Tom M King]

I used to install it during the time when it was in favor for countertops, after the Formica era, but before Granite. I accumulated a lot of scraps, and sink cutouts. It makes good custom router bases, and shelves in showers (have shelves I made in our Marble shower, and no one has ever commented on them being out of place). I made one shooting board out of it, only because I had some.

I think it would be good for an assembly table, outfeed table, or even router table, but I wouldn't feel great about it for a workbench top. It's a lot harder than wood.

It is fairly easy to fabricate, and cuts with normal woodworking blades, and bits just fine. Just feed slow. I do have one saw blade specifically for it, left over from back in that day, but won't bother to change a blade if I'm not cutting a lot of it. The edge forming bits I have for it have solid surface bearings, so as not to leave marking on the edges, but regular bearing bits work fine too, you just might have some fine sanding to do.

[Lincoln Brown]

Too brittle and unforgiving for woodworking, in my opinion. Would be great for 'utiliity' benches though - sharpening station, finishing etc.
Are you sure it's 1.5" thick, and not just a built up front edge? Corian is usually 13mm/ .5" thick.

[Erik Loza]

During my stint in the plastics industry, we sold another acrylic-based solid-surface material that was essentially a competitor's version of Corian. Most common thickness was 1/2". I recall quoting some 1.0" at one point and that it was ASTRONOMICALLY expensive. Agree that Corian is too brittle for a ww'ing table top. I would prefer HDPE for a ww'ing (or paint finishing) top. It's heavy but cheap and somewhat shock absorbing.

Erik

[Steve H Graham]

I have been reading about it. People say it has no structural strength, but the counter in my workshop is so solid and rigid, it feels like working on concrete. I need to get under it and find out what's down there. I'm pretty sure it's just a two-by-four in front and another in back, though. The installation was not a quality job.

Right now a small Harbor Freight wood lathe is sitting on it, and it works great for that. Maybe I'll make a rolling cart and put the Corian and lathe on it.

[Tom M King]

I has a lot of structural strength, but I have no idea in measurement terms. I'd be surprised if 1/2" sagged over a 2' span without heat added. It's certainly way stiffer than 1/2" plywood. It will break if you hit it hard enough with a blow that would only dent, or flex wood, so it is more brittle than wood, but it has to be a severe impact beyond any normal use.

[Ellen Benkin]

I have a Corian countertop and sink and within one week of owning them I dropped a knife into the sink. CHIP! Not repairable. I love it as a router table but I would never use it for a workbench top.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I do still use a little of it periodically, mainly for repairs or matching an existing counter or something. Like Tom said, it is pretty strong. When making the joints, you have to flex it a little to line up the surfaces for the epoxy. No big deal, but it feels as stiff as a sheet of 7/16" plywood or something when you are doing it. I've stress tested scraps, it's tougher than you think.

Ellen, your sink ship is probably repairable if someone wants to try. All it takes usually is the proper color matching epoxy which the manufacturer supplies, and some sanding. One of my favorite things about it is how easy it is to repair and work with. I wish it was still popular.

[Gary Ragatz]

I have a Corian countertop and sink and within one week of owning them I dropped a knife into the sink. CHIP! Not repairable. I love it as a router table but I would never use it for a workbench top.

Ellen,

I had good results repairing a couple of small chips in our kitchen countertop using a kit from these guys: https://acrylicrepair.com/corian-repair-kit . The countertop was a "granite" pattern, and a repair with a clear acrylic was pretty much invisible - it might be harder to get the same results on a solid color, which I imagine your sink would be.

Gary

[Curt Harms]

..................
Ellen, your sink ship is probably repairable if someone wants to try. All it takes usually is the proper color matching epoxy which the manufacturer supplies, and some sanding. One of my favorite things about it is how easy it is to repair and work with. I wish it was still popular.

Just because it's not 'popular' doesn't mean you can't use it. I think it's excellent for kitchen counter tops and work surfaces though I'm doubtful about a work bench top. A use I've found for scraps is 'feet' for outdoor wood furniture. It can be glued and screwed to wood and won't rot. I"ve thought about solid surface for outdoor tables. I'm not sure how long term UV stable the stuff is though. For anybody who wants to experiment there's a site that sells overstock full and partial sheets - solidsurface.com. Pieces can be not very expensive, just watch the shipping, the stuff is heavy. No affiliation etc. etc. I just think solid surface material has its place.

Re Ellen's repair, I saved some router shavings when doing our Corian work. It can be mixed with the colored epoxy adhesive sort of like mixing sawdust with glue. Regular epoxy works on solid surface as well, you just don't get the color match. Just rough up the surface a little to remove any glaze and add a bit of 'tooth'.

[Edward Dyas]

I have a Corian countertop and sink and within one week of owning them I dropped a knife into the sink. CHIP! Not repairable. I love it as a router table but I would never use it for a workbench top.I think you are mistaken about the chip not being repairable. Unless they have changed the product since the 1980's we used to mix up the joint adhesive to fill a chip. Once hardened it could be sanded flush and polished and the spot would disappear. The joint adhesive is the same product as the corian sheet.

[Richard Coers]

If you ever hand chop mortises, I suspect it will crack the Corian from the heavy blows. Don't be fooled, Corian moves a lot with temperature change. If you glue it down heavily, it will bow. It moves more than wood, and that is one of the reasons they only let trained workers install Corian in kitchens.

[Jim Becker]

I've cut some Corian for CNC projects and it's a very nice material. Heavy, too. I think that the purpose of the bench would come into play relative to the decision to use it or not for the bench top. For folks who primarily do assembly and other operations that do not "impact" the bench top, properly supported, it could be a very nice surface to work with and is easy to clean. I don't believe it would be a good work surface for someone who's doing a lot of hand-tool work that necessarily (or inadvertently with frequency) has tools striking the surface.

[Jak Kelly]

If it is "free" then why not? From what you have described I seriously doubt that you will invest a large sum of money into this project. Would be a great addition to a shop to utilize for glue ups and such, just let the glue drip where it may, wait for it to dry then scrape away. Now will this be the "one and only" bench? I doubt it. I have a parts cart, donated to me from the last job I was at, as it become obsolete, it also had those spiffy U-Line blue plastic bins that hang on the sides, both sides, metal top, on casters, the top might be 24" wide by 36" long or so. I put a piece of granite on one end, about a 24" square, I use it to "lap" some surfaces when sanding; sandpaper laid flat on the granite top, then just run your piece back and forth on the sandpaper. Not sure if Corian is as flat as granite and glass are??
Once again, it is "free" so what have you got to lose!!

[andrew whicker]

Does wood glue stick to it? It might be pretty rad for a glue up table. Not sure how it would handle a glue scraper, but wood isn't amazing.

[Steve H Graham]

I tore it loose from the wall today and worked on it. It's about half an inch thick except for the edge. Even if Corian works with holdfasts, this piece is too thin.

I could have made a thicker piece by gluing the two parts of the "L" together, but I would still only have around an inch.

I'm going to use one piece to make a top for a cart for my Harbor Freight lathe. I made a sled out of scrap and cut a piece 18" by 36".

It really is brittle. There were a couple of fractures while I was wrestling with it. The parts I wanted to keep are not damaged, though.

I may make a cutting board from part of it. Seems like a good idea, and it will save me the trouble of taking it to the dump.

It cuts beautifully.

[Mark Daily]

Steve- thanks for the update. I learned a lot on this subject because of all the varied opinions and experiences posted by “the gang” lol!

[Steve H Graham]

It's a funny material. Very strong in resistance to compression, but lacking in structural strength. If you bend it, it will snap easily, and it will not give you much warning. It reminds me of cast iron.

Today I went to Home Depot, looking for one of their $70 rolling cabinets. These things are bargains. They hold 600 pounds, they have locking drawers and doors, and they come with pegboard and power strips. The sheet metal isn't bad, either. As I walked in the door, they happened to have one sitting there with a tag saying they wanted $35. It was a return. They said the buyer told them it didn't have any keys. The lady who waited on me said she would give me $5 more off the price. I figured I could buy new locks on Ebay for $5, so I bought it.

I got it home and looked it over, and when I looked in the bottom, I saw monofilament hanging from the back of the drawer. I pulled it loose, a set of keys fell into my hands.

I cut 4 strips of wood and hot-glued them to the bottom of a piece of Corian, which I radiused on the top with the router. Stuck the Corian on the cabinet, and I was ready to go. The top has a lip that confines the Corian and won't let it come off unless I lift it.

My chisels fit in the big drawer, and I am thinking I'll get a Rockler dust scoop and put a little shop vac in the bottom of the cabinet. I can run it from the cabinet's built-in power strip. I have an LED sewing light with a magnetic base, and I can attach it to the lathe and use it with the power strip, too.

The caster wheels aren't too good, but better ones are very cheap online, or maybe one day I'll turn some on the metal lathe.

I feel like this will be a great addition to the shop. Now that the lathe isn't in a dirty corner, it will be a pleasure to use.

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[Edward Dyas]

Does wood glue stick to it? It might be pretty rad for a glue up table. Not sure how it would handle a glue scraper, but wood isn't amazing.Corian is a plastic so wood glue would not adhere to it. The correct adhesive would be the corian joint adhesive. I think probably the epoxy for plastic would bond to it if it was roughened a little.

[Keith Outten]

You can use any type of construction adhesive to bond solid surface materials to plywood, MDF, etc.
You should use either the manufacturers color matched epoxy or regular epoxy if a color match is not required when bonding solid surfaces together.
When bonding very small solid surface items like segmented pen blanks CA glue is often used.

Using Corian for table tops and benches can be an excellent choice depending on how you plan to use the bench. As noted above solid surface material is not robust enough to use for surfaces that you intend to use for any type of shock activity. It is fantastic for hundreds of other chores though. Note that Corian is still available in 3/4", 1/2" and 1/4" thicknesses but not all colors are available in every size. The last time I checked a few years ago 3/4" thick Corian was over $700.00 for one sheet (30" wide by 144" long). It is a common practice to double the 1/2" thick sheets to obtain a top or edges that are one inch thick using epoxy adhesives.

[Jim Becker]

That turned out very nicely with the cabinet deal-of-the-year and the nice top to support your lathe.

[Tom Trees]

I use lab counter top material which is probably similar and is about an inch thick.
Making do with it temporarily until I make my bench.
I like it for the fact thats its stable and can be shimmed to a good tolerance
I use my bench as a reference for planing long timbers on, and it can bite you in the behind if whatever you are using to shim the top moves.
I have selected door components to make shims from, and I have noticed them move, so have painted with green paint so they don't get mixed up and applied lots of glue to seal it.
Still moves a bit though.
To be happy with it for a full time basis, you need to have two parallel beams the length of the bench and check them with each other flipping over to avoid spooning (for want of a better word)
Check on the bench also, using preferably an angle poise lamp to look for low spots.
If you have an error it will double up if you paired the timber to the surface.
I find using a reference that's only 3/4 the length of the bench will make the bench concave,
and not a nice thing to find out when you have used it to joint a long length of timber :confused: :mad: :o

Another thing is I actually really like the slick surface for ease of scraping near the whole surface of the bench with an edge of timber, following up with a brush.
It makes cleaning up after gluing easy also, and any dried stuff gets scraped with the end of my carpenters square.
If I only had shorter lengths of this, or thinner stuff, I would have stuck it on top of a composite door to make it a bit more solid.

I use bearers to elevate the stock and can beat away on the top with no problems, and I find it a boon to have the work like this for greater visibility.
Thinking it will still be used after my bench will be completed.
That's my 2cents on its usage.
Tom

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[Steve H Graham]

I'm very happy with it. I bought a Dustopper and a bucket for it. I'm waiting for a Rockler Dust Right, which happened to be on sale, with free shipping.