Workbench materials question

[Maury Saggus]

I am about to start working on my first "real" workbench. I currently use a Workmate with a laminated pine surface.:(
I have two sources of wood - 4/4 tiger (soft) maple, 6"-12" wide, and a number of red oak 4x4's which were cut in 1963. The maple is pretty straight - a little bowing and cupping, and the oak varies with some straight, and some cups bows, crooks, etc.

My question is this - What would make a better surface, laminating the maple, jointing the oak, or ripping the oak and laminating it? Would you do a maple top with an oak base?
How well does soft maple hold up versus red oak?:confused:

Just looking for some good ideas......

[Alex Carrera]

i'm currently building mine with an oak base and using a torsion box for the majority fo the top. The front of the top will be oak and will contain the dog holes. The tool tray is purpleheart. my limited knowledge would steer me towards the maple for the top, as I would think filling the grain on the oak might be necessary to prevent it from looking like crap rather quickly from stains etc..

[keith ouellette]

I used 3/4 plywood that I laminated togeter in various ways to build the different pieces of my workbench. I made rails for the lower shelf and for the top by cutting the ply wood into 5 1/2 inch widths and glueing and screwing the faces together to make 1 1/2 thick stock. I also made the legs by taking four pieces (two pieces with rabbits along the edge) to make a hollow 4x4. The rails were tennoned to fit into mortises made in the legs. Glue and brads to pin the tennons in has held together very well. The top was just a sheet of 3/4 ply and 3/4 mdf glued and screwed with formica on top. cross members and wedges in the right places made it flat. I used plywood because it is so sound and won't warp. I trimmed the top in hard maple just for looks. I weigh 240 and can actually dance on it with no wobble. I mean the table doesn't wobble my legs do.

[glenn bradley]

Oak is a little open grained for a bench but some folks here have done it and seem happy. Maple would be more traditional.

[Jim Nardi]

I have a red oak bench. Bought it up for 50c bf. Can't complain one bit about it. It's at least 5 years old now. I'd build another out of red oak in a minute for the price.

[John Schreiber]

It sounds like a natural to me to do a maple top with an oak base. You can probably work around any out of shape boards in the base by picking your pieces carefully. With some care, you could show off the best of the tiger maple on the bench, but much of the figure would be lost in the laminations.

I like the idea of soft maple for a top. I feel like my bench should be softer than the projects I'm working on.

[Maury Saggus]

Thanks for the replies guys! Based on your comments, I think I will be OK either way I go. I would like to use the oak, since it was cut by SWMBO's grandfather over 40 years ago, but I also want the bench to be as useable as possible.

Do you know how the hardness of the red oak would compare with the soft maple??

I will post pics as I start building my bench.

Regards,
Maury

[Doug Shepard]

I'm hoping to finish planning my top out and buying material this weekend for one along the lines of Sam Blasco's on this thread.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=22081

[James Mittlefehldt]

Maury welcome to the creek.

This may seem an anal question but do you know what species of Maple the wood is? If it is silver maple than even though it is softer than sugar maple, the wood is hard enough, more stable than sugar maple and more than adequate for the top.

If it were me, I would build a heavy base with the oak, and make the top out of the maple, four inches thick if you want.

Christopher Scwartz has used Southern yellow pine which would be softer than the maple you have, with good results.

[Maury Saggus]

Christopher,

The maple should be silver leaf as it is pretty common in this area (where the lumber yard is). And although it is tiger maple with pretty good figure, I will lose most of the figure in the laminations which is a shame.....except on the front face of the top.
Where does the hardness rate? Similar to cherry or the red oak?

[Jim Newman]

If the Oak has sentimental value for you, then by all means use it for the top and the tiger maple for the base, so you can show off that beautiful figure...if you have a great figure, flaunt it I always say!!! Seriously, the oak will be more than adequate for your top and you will be reminded of your family every time you use it.....what better way to honor your family heritage? You can also use the oak for the top and a 2x piece of the tiger maple along the edges of the top as well, or for the vise jaws. Check out Das Bench here on this site if you wonder about using oak for the bench top. Also, the base may not be the sexy part of the bench you notice often, but it is maybe the most important part of the bench as it is the foundation the top rests on, so stable and heavy with wide, strong stretchers with strong joinery is crucial, otherwise a sexy top and expensive vises will not give you good results in your work.....kinda like the difference between a good woman from a shallow woman, er people!!!! Best of luck and let us know what you decide!

[Robert Miller]

I'm the builder of DAS BENCH which is all white oak. I originally wanted to use maple, but I got a great deal on some white oak that I couldn't pass up. I laminated the top to expose the vertical grain and to add stability to the top. I posted a build of the bench, just do a search for DAS BENCH.
This the bench, I'm very happy with it.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/workbench14-1.jpg


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/workbench16.jpg