workbench top from maple short pieces?

[Gil Liu]

A local hardwood supplier has maple 2X4's short off-cuts at 30-cents an inch. Most of the pieces are 12-20". Do you think this is a good deal for material to make a workbench top?

[Jamie Buxton]

If my math is right, that's about $2 a board foot. Around here, hard maple is around $4 per board foot, so the lower cost looks good. However, you're going to have to work to earn the savings. You'd probably need to end-splice the shorts with a biscuit or finger joints or the like. Then you'd joint the now-longer boards. Then you could glue them up into a top.

If you look at commercial "butcher-block" tables, they are sometimes built this way. Of course, with industrial fingerjointing machines, the end-splicing operation is lots less work for them.

[Jim Becker]

Jamie is spot on...if you can do the work necessary, that's a good deal and the actual bench top will not be unlike many commercial pieces that also use shorts and finger-joint the ends to make them longer.

[Alan DuBoff]

I built my workbench out of 4/4 hard maple, as I got a deal on it locally, for $0.50/bf. There was a lot of time I wished I had 8/4 material, as it simplifies the laminate in half. No complaints as I felt good about the savings, but I was limited on pieces that were 6' in length. I have a lot of 5' length boards, as well as 4' lengths, but I wanted my bench to be at least 6' long.

I am considering another 5' bench, just because it probably won't hurt to have another bench, if I can make room in the garage, my hand tool area has 2 benches already, although one needs a wooden base made for it...:rolleyes: That bench is used for other work like working on tools, like grinding, saw sharpening, leather work, etc...so it is not critical it is so solid. ;)

I would not spline short pieces on the end, just seems like too much work. Consider running the laminations front to back, but will be much more difficult to glue up, but would be doable, IMO. I thought about that before...but if the pieces are 12" - 20" long, you will be stretched to get a 20" wide workbench doing it that way. All our mileage varies...

[Frank Drew]

Gil,

As the others have noted, there's nothing wrong with making a bench out of shorts except that it will be more work. To keep your material even and avoid a lot of slipping and sliding during glueup, consider cutting grooves along the sides of your material to accept loose splines (meant more for registering the pieces than for any additional strength). I think you could do away end joints that way.

Try to get a helper for the final assembly :D, and a glue with a slow set time (slower to get tacky), such as Weldwood's Plastic Resin Glue, might relieve you of some of the time pressure.

[Dick Strauss]

Gil,
Am I brain dead this morning? The math doesn't add up for me...a 12" long piece of 2x4 material would be $3.60 (for 2/3 bf or 96 cubic inches). An 18" long board would be 1 bf and $5.40! This is not a great price for short 8/4 maple in my book.

[Dave Rose]

Gil,
Am I brain dead this morning? The math doesn't add up for me...a 12" long piece of 2x4 material would be $3.60 (for 2/3 bf or 96 cubic inches). An 18" long board would be 1 bf and $5.40! This is not a great price for short 8/4 maple in my book.


Your math is correct. $5.40 per BF

[Gene Michael]

Gil, the $5.40/ board foot price aside, I used a variety of red oak cutoffs of mixed lengths and widths to make a cabinet top. Used titebond III and no biscuits. It took a while to align and clamp - did several pieces per day, but it looks good and I don't think the glue joints will fail. Maybe if you offer to buy more than a few pieces of the cutoffs, they'll give you a better price.