Paul Bombardt
01-27-2008, 4:40 PM
A couple of years ago I cut down a large hard maple tree and milled the butt log into lumber. I left some of the boards as 3" slabs and let them air dry with stickers.
I'm planning on building a workbench for my new shop, and it seems that most bench tops are made from laminated maple strips, 1x3 on edge. What are peoples thoughts on my using the slabs after squaring, jointing and planing, rather than ripping the slabs, only to joint them back into slabs again? Seems like if I rip the slabs down to about 10-12" boards (3" thick") and then joint 2-3 of these together, that would be as dimensionally stable with a lot less work involved.
A second question is that I plan to put a few strips in the top of either walnut or cherry to visually accent the top. Am I asking for trouble here due to their softer nature or difference in environmental stability?
Any help or thoughts on these two questions is much appreciated.
I'm planning on building a workbench for my new shop, and it seems that most bench tops are made from laminated maple strips, 1x3 on edge. What are peoples thoughts on my using the slabs after squaring, jointing and planing, rather than ripping the slabs, only to joint them back into slabs again? Seems like if I rip the slabs down to about 10-12" boards (3" thick") and then joint 2-3 of these together, that would be as dimensionally stable with a lot less work involved.
A second question is that I plan to put a few strips in the top of either walnut or cherry to visually accent the top. Am I asking for trouble here due to their softer nature or difference in environmental stability?
Any help or thoughts on these two questions is much appreciated.