Wood for new workbench

[Larry Browning]

I have started building my new workbench and was wondering about the wood I am using. I have an an abundant quantity of well seasoned ash that I am using. I know that traditionally maple or birch is used. Will the ash work ok for this application?

[Chris Padilla]

Ash should be just fine, Larry! If it is good enough for pro ball players to use to crush a 400' home run with, I'm SURE it would make a fine addition layed up as a solid workbench for your shop!

Now we need the deets on your workbench! :) :D

[Larry Browning]

Chris,
I am building the one from the plan in the latest woodsmith magazine. I have just gotten started. I am really a very slow worker, so I might get it done by this time next year! I am having to plane down all the wood and right now my planer knives are too dull to continue. I have a solution on order so I will post that when it arrives.

[Don Bullock]

Larry, ash should make an excellent workbench. I've worked with ash and know it well. Right now my assembly table in my shop is an old dining table that I made over thirty years ago. It can be banged with a hammer and not dent. I know because I've done that. Right noe, according to some wood industry reports I've read, ash has fallen out of favor with builders and wood workers, so it's pretty cheap when compared to other wood, even red oak. When I get to the point where I can make a workbench I plan to use ash as the main wood.

[scott spencer]

Ash should work out fine, plus it can have some really nice grain.

[glenn bradley]

Ash is a little open-grained like red oak but I see no problem using it for a bench. In my area, Ash is a reasonbly priced clean hard wood that I often use as a primary and a secondary wood.

[Jim Becker]

Absolutely. Ash will be quite beautiful, too...I'd pick it over oak any day of the week. And I love the smell, too!

[Ryan Bess]

Almost finished with my new bench, and I just so happened to use Ash for the top. (Slippery Elm for the base) It was fairly easy to work with and appears to be stout enough to take years of "abuse". Good luck with yours.

[Dave Lindgren]

My daddy always sed a little piece of ash never hurt nobody :D

[Larry Browning]

Almost finished with my new bench, and I just so happened to use Ash for the top. (Slippery Elm for the base) It was fairly easy to work with and appears to be stout enough to take years of "abuse". Good luck with yours.

Ryan,
Did you turn you own vise handle?

[Ryan Bess]

Larry,
I did not turn the handle, it came with the vise. I will make one out of ash, though, as soon as other winter projects slow down.
Ryan

[Gary Keedwell]

My daddy always sed a little piece of ash never hurt nobody :D
:DI was wondering when that little "saying" was going to pop up.:rolleyes:
Gary

[Zahid Naqvi]

Hey Larry, if you have reservations about using Ash let me know and I will come take it off your hands :D.
I think it would work just fine for the workbench, it seems you are already working on the bench.

[Larry Browning]

Hey Larry, if you have reservations about using Ash let me know and I will come take it off your hands :D.
I think it would work just fine for the workbench, it seems you are already working on the bench.
Zahid,
I think if everyone had said that ash was no good for the top, I would have continued make the base and legs from the ash and maybe would have tired to locate some maple somewhere.

[Gary Muto]

I've always been an ash man.:cool:

[Greg Cole]

Non smoker here who's a proponent of having some ash now n then.:D
Its nice n firm and oh wait, this was about a bench not ash.;)
Being a family forum I will sweep my my mind up off the floor and say the bench should be just fine with ash on top.

Ryan, fine looking piece of ash.... err bench there.

I'll shuddap now.

Greg

[Grant Morris]

Ash should be just fine, Larry! If it is good enough for pro ball players to use to crush a 400' home run with, I'm SURE it would make a fine addition layed up as a solid workbench for your shop!

Now we need the deets on your workbench! :) :D


Hmmm I always thought baseball bats were made from hickory!

[Larry Browning]

Hmmm I always thought baseball bats were made from hickory!
Not at all! Hickory is too heavy.
Maple bats are gaining in popularity these days. Barry Bonds uses one. (or should I say used to use one!)
Ash is by far the most common wood for baseball bats.

[Mike Langford]

Hmmm I always thought baseball bats were made from hickory!

Hickory (and Ash) are used in tool handles.....hammers, shovels, axes, mattocks, etc.....

[Larry Browning]

I have reached a milestone on my workbench project, so I thought I would post an update on my original thread. I have completed building the base. Yeaaaaa!!!!:D. This has only taken about 3 months. Well there were several interruptions, but I still am claiming to be the slowest woodworker on the planet. Anyway, here is a picture. I took this with my cell phone so sorry about the fuzzyness.I won't be able to start the top for a couple of weeks, due to a business trip to Wisconsin next week.

[Jeff Hallam]

Hi Larry, I completed my bench completely out of Ash and I think it will stand up to heavy use very well. It is one of the most satisfying projects I did for myself thus far.

83097

[Phil Thien]

That looks fantastic! Taking your time pays off!

[Larry Browning]

Hey Jeff,
I noticed you have your front vise mounted on the right side of the bench. Are you left handed too? I had been planning on reversing the vice mounting scheme due to my left handedness and then I almost glued up the leg assembly just like the plan called for, but caught my mistake just in time. So far this has been great fun. I have noticed that this seasoned ash is pretty hard on my planer knives. I am going to sharpen them before I start planing the wood for the top. I can live with a few chip outs on the legs. but not on the top.

Phil,
Thanks for the compliment. I think my slowness has to do with not being organized and doing things in the wrong sequence. I also know that when I try to hurry I always screw up somehow. I am sure that I would have messed up the leg assembly if I had not double checked things before glue up.

[Dennis Peacock]

Beautiful work there Larry!!!! I really, REALLY need a workbench. Maybe I'll start mine this year....maybe.

[Larry Browning]

Beautiful work there Larry!!!! I really, REALLY need a workbench. Maybe I'll start mine this year....maybe.

Well, Dennis, if you would like some of this ash to build it with, I could make you a REALLY good deal on it. I am afraid that it is going to rot away if I don't use it up soon. Also, some of it is starting to spalt, so you might get some really nice spalted turnings out of it as well.

[Don Bullock]

Larry, it looks like you've made good progress on your bench. You're not slow, just having fun. One thing that separates us hobby woodworkers from the pros is that we can take our time on most projects.

I'm glad to see that the ash is working out well for you.

[J. Z. Guest]

Lookin' good Larry!

The only problem I can forsee with using Ash is that it isn't bug resistant at all. If your shop doesn't have any bug issues, you'll be OK. Otherwise, powder post beetles or termites may make mincemeat of it.

[Dick Heifner]

Very nice benches,
I built mine with a straight grain douglas fir base and a 400# top made of of MDF with a replaceable top of 1/4" hardboard. I have a question for Jeff on how he made his bench portable with wheels. I'm on my third try to do this and I cant find a satisfactory method yet, any idea's?
Thanks,
Dick

[Jim King]

I am trying a 4" thick Bloodwood bench. Here is a photo where I am just starting to glue up the legs. The top is 1x4 glued up stock and ready for the sides and ends.

We are making sand molds and will be casting the vice plates and t´s out of bronze. I thought it would look nice with the oiled Bloodwood. We will turn the handles.

It will be done by next week and I will post a photo of it finished.

[James Carmichael]

Not at all! Hickory is too heavy.
Maple bats are gaining in popularity these days. Barry Bonds uses one. (or should I say used to use one!)
Ash is by far the most common wood for baseball bats.

Aha, it wasn't steroids, but the maple bat! We need another congressional inquiry!

[Eddie Darby]

Aha, it wasn't steroids, but the maple bat! We need another congressional inquiry!

The advantage that maple offered over ash bats was that a player could go through the whole season or close to it with the same maple bat once a favourite was found, while ash bats are somewhat more disposable.

I don't know if I have ever seen Barry Bonds beat out a broken bat for a single? :confused::eek:

[Larry Browning]

Well, I have reached another mini milestone with my workbench. I have completed the center slab of the top. No pics yet due to not having full time access to the camera.
As you may recall, I am making this workbench from some very old ash timbers which I had cut into more manageable sizes. After much culling and trying to find and use the very best of this wood for the top I still have a couple of areas on the top that are less than perfect. There is one place that has a knot that I would really like to fill with something to stabilize it and strengthen that spot. I know that simple wood filler won't work for a workbench top. I was thinking that there has to be something that will work, I just don't know what it would be. Maybe some sort of epoxy filler. I would prefer something that would look good as well, but is not required. Mostly I want something that would have some of the same properties as wood. And suggestions?

[Chris Padilla]

Epoxy mixed with sawdust should work well, Larry. Experiment first because surprise, surpise, epoxy mixed with maple sawdust comes out dark brown!

If you really want it to flow, warm the epoxy.

[Larry Browning]

Epoxy mixed with sawdust should work well, Larry. Experiment first because surprise, surpise, epoxy mixed with maple sawdust comes out dark brown!

If you really want it to flow, warm the epoxy.

Are you talking about epoxy cement like you get at HD? I have some JB weld. Would that work? Don't they make something like liquid steel only for wood? (liquid wood???) I am really a newbie when it comes to fillers, glues and epoxies. So it may take a little more explaining for me than the normal guy on the forum.

How about something like this? (http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5782&mode=details#tabs)

[Wilbur Pan]

There is one place that has a knot that I would really like to fill with something to stabilize it and strengthen that spot. I know that simple wood filler won't work for a workbench top. I was thinking that there has to be something that will work, I just don't know what it would be. Maybe some sort of epoxy filler. I would prefer something that would look good as well, but is not required. Mostly I want something that would have some of the same properties as wood. Any suggestions?

How about wood? Cut out a square/rectangular hole where the knot is, and patch it with a scrap piece of your ash. Or if you want to get really fancy, inlay it with walnut or another contrasting wood. Now it's a design element!

[jim gossage]

Are you talking about epoxy cement like you get at HD? I have some JB weld. Would that work? Don't they make something like liquid steel only for wood? (liquid wood???) I am really a newbie when it comes to fillers, glues and epoxies. So it may take a little more explaining for me than the normal guy on the forum.

How about something like this? (http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5782&mode=details#tabs)

my top choice would be a wood plug also. if you use a filler, go with 2 part epoxy with or without sawdust. if JB weld is a type of "plastic wood" i would skip it.

[Larry Browning]

How about wood? Cut out a square/rectangular hole where the knot is, and patch it with a scrap piece of your ash. Or if you want to get really fancy, inlay it with walnut or another contrasting wood. Now it's a design element!

Ohh!! I like it!!!! I have been wanting to try the bow tie inlay think anyway. I could get one of those inlay kit deals for the router (good excuse for a new tool:D) Maybe I could make a template in the shape of a plane or saw blade or something like that. This could be a plan!!!!

[J. Z. Guest]

my top choice would be a wood plug also. if you use a filler, go with 2 part epoxy with or without sawdust. if JB weld is a type of "plastic wood" i would skip it.

FYI Jim: JB Weld is epoxy with metal dust in it. It is often used for quick & dirty repairs on cars. I once reparied a broken-off post inside a motorcycle carburator with it. (it is gas resistant!) Next time you're in an auto parts store or Wal*Mart, read the packaging. It has customer praise like: "I fixed my tractor with this; it is great stuff!" :D

The great thing about epoxy is that it is a good filler, unlike nearly every other

[Chris Stolicky]

I build my top out of mainly ash, and a couple of pieces of walnut I had in the shop.

Ash was half the price of maple, and just as hard and heavy for the purpose I was using it for.

I ended up using poplar for the legs. It was relatively inexpensive and I never worked with it before.

Good luck on the rest of the project.

[J. Z. Guest]

Very nice Jim. All that red sawdust everywhere just makes me drool.

Bloodwood probably isn't as expensive down there as it is up here, and its harder than most things we can get affordably.

Tell me, do you get used to the sawdust between your toes? :D

[Larry Browning]

Well, I am almost finished with the workbench. There are still a few things to be done. I think I can deal with most of them, but I do have one thing I am not too sure about what to do. The top is not perfectly flat. There is a dip in the middle, or maybe the outside edges are high.:) Either way you look at it, it is not flat. When I put the straight edge to it, there is about 1/16" gap running length ways down the center. From what I have read so far, there seems to be 2 methods to flatten it. 1) with a hand plane (looks like WAY too much work, plus I only have a small cheapo low angle block plane) and 2) With a router using a pretty simple homemade jig. The 2nd method seems to me to be something I could do, but still pretty time consuming.

However, I have been thinking of a 3rd method using a belt sander. My dad used a belt sander to flatten table tops he made, so I thought it might work for my bench top as well. Now, I am pretty sure that this method would not get the top dead on flat like the other 2 methods, but why does the top have to be absolutely flat? I will be mostly using the bench to well... "work" on stuff. I will be clamping boards down to drill holes, sand, chisel, etc. It seems to me that 99% of what I will be using the workbench for won't require a dead on flat surface to do it on. Yet, everybody just seems to think that if the top isn't really really flat, the workbench is useless. What am I missing?

[Greg Hines, MD]

Well, I am almost finished with the workbench. There are still a few things to be done. I think I can deal with most of them, but I do have one thing I am not too sure about what to do. The top is not perfectly flat. There is a dip in the middle, or maybe the outside edges are high.:) Either way you look at it, it is not flat. When I put the straight edge to it, there is about 1/16" gap running length ways down the center. From what I have read so far, there seems to be 2 methods to flatten it. 1) with a hand plane (looks like WAY too much work, plus I only have a small cheapo low angle block plane) and 2) With a router using a pretty simple homemade jig. The 2nd method seems to me to be something I could do, but still pretty time consuming.

However, I have been thinking of a 3rd method using a belt sander. My dad used a belt sander to flatten table tops he made, so I thought it might work for my bench top as well. Now, I am pretty sure that this method would not get the top dead on flat like the other 2 methods, but why does the top have to be absolutely flat? I will be mostly using the bench to well... "work" on stuff. I will be clamping boards down to drill holes, sand, chisel, etc. It seems to me that 99% of what I will be using the workbench for won't require a dead on flat surface to do it on. Yet, everybody just seems to think that if the top isn't really really flat, the workbench is useless. What am I missing?


A bench plane, either a smoother or Jack, would make quick work of your flattening. Plane across the grain. Perhaps this would be a time to get a new tool? You can get a Jack plane for <$50 at Woodcraft, and it would do well at this.

Doc

[Larry Browning]

A bench plane, either a smoother or Jack, would make quick work of your flattening. Plane across the grain. Perhaps this would be a time to get a new tool? You can get a Jack plane for <$50 at Woodcraft, and it would do well at this.

Doc
I saw that video of the guy flattening his bench with some kind of a plane. He was huffin an puffin like nobodies business. I don't need that kind of workout.:eek: Plus, I am not really into planes so much (I don't get why those are so useful either)
The question I would like to get answered most is, why does the bench top need to be so flat in the first place? The answer may seem to be so obvious to you that it doesn't need to be answered. But I really don't know why it needs to be so flat.

[Chris Friesen]

The question I would like to get answered most is, why does the bench top need to be so flat in the first place? The answer may seem to be so obvious to you that it doesn't need to be answered. But I really don't know why it needs to be so flat.

According to Chris Schwarz if the bench isn't flat then whatever you work on top of the bench won't end up flat either. This is especially an issue when using hand tools (jointer planes, etc.) or when using the bench as a reference surface when clamping (gluing up carcases, drawers, etc.).

[John Schreiber]

I can think of two reasons you want your bench to be as flat as you can make it. First, it's your reference surface for everything you assemble, and if you want your work to be square, you've got to have a square surface to work off of. Second, when you clamp to a flat surface, you will have complete support along the work piece and it won't move unexpectedly.

[Larry Browning]

Well, almost done!
Today I applied the 1st coat of the beeswax and BLO finish to the bench. I heated it in a double boiler until the wax was all melted and then applied it with a foam brush. I think I am going to be pleased with the results. I think I will put 1 or 2 more coats on the top, but the leg assembly and shelf are done with one. Here are a few pictures.

The first 2 are of the bowtie inlay I did to patch a flaw in the top. The last one is meant to show the color difference after applying the finish.

I can't wait to start using it!!!!!!

[Don Bullock]

Larry, your bench came out great. Let us know how you like working on it.

[Chris Stolicky]

Larry, your bench came out great. Let us know how you like working on it.

Good job. Now, its actually too nice to work on.... :confused:

[Larry Browning]

Actually, I am really looking forward to discovering all the new ways I can use it. Not only have I never owned a real woodworking workbench, I have never really used one either.

[Wilbur Pan]

Very nice job!

Did you ever go about flattening your benchtop?

[Chris Stolicky]

Actually, I am really looking forward to discovering all the new ways I can use it. Not only have I never owned a real woodworking workbench, I have never really used one either.

Just promise us that you won't do what many of us ultimately end up doing: leaving stuff on top of because it is such a nice handy flat table in the shop! I've been turning pens and there are pen parts and turned tubes all over mine right now.

Hey, you still have to mount your vises... Once you do that, you will really get the 'feel' of a 'workbench'.

I hope you enjoy it for many year to come.

[Larry Browning]

Hey, you still have to mount your vises... Once you do that, you will really get the 'feel' of a 'workbench'.

I hope you enjoy it for many year to come.

Actually the vises are already mounted. I have removed the front vise for finishing. All I have to do is screw it back in and it is ready to go.

[Larry Browning]

Very nice job!

Did you ever go about flattening your benchtop?

Yes I did. Check out the thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=87377).