Work Bench Top

[Tony Falotico]

I have a slab of what I'm pretty sure is ash, 2" thick, 13" wide and 11 ft long that I want to use for a work bench top. Question is, can I just spline and edge glue two 5 ft pieces for a 26" x 5 ft top, or , for strength and stability do I need to slice it down to 2 x 2" strips and glue it all back together like most bench tops are made?

[Dick Parr]

Tony, I would think as long as you have cross supports in the frame that you could just edge glue the two pieces together. If you have a pocket hole jig, I would use it on the bottom and it will never come apart. I have the Kreg Jig and it does wonders with 2x4s. That is what I put my wall wood rack together with. :D

Good luck

[Scott Post]

The reason you so often see benchtops made of narrow strips is because flatsawn lumber is more common than quartersawn. If you have a flatsawn slab you rip it into strips, turn them on edge, then glue them back together. This creates a quartersawn bench which is much more stable. If your slab of ash is flatsawn then you might consider going this route. If it's quartersawn (doubtful) then use it as is but gluing two sections together.

As for how you do the glue up - just use glue. Glue joints are stronger than the surrounding wood so splines, biscuits, or pocket screws add absolutely nothing in terms of strength. Some folks like to use these devices for aid in alignment but I personally don't find them helpful - they just slow down the process.

[Jim Becker]

Do remember to accomodate wood movement when you mount your benchtop, whether you leave it as a two-piece slab or if you rip and reassemble. It needs to be able to move front to back seasonally. I agree with Scott...if you have flatsawn boards, it may be a good idea, despite the time involved, to rip to strips and reassemble for more stability and strength. You only need glue for this...and a whole lot of clamps.

[Eric Porter]

Just wanted to add a tip. If you do go the route of ripping it into 2" strips, glue up the strips in 8" or 12" sections and then glue all of the sections together. This makes the alignment much easier, and also allows you to run the sections through a smaller planer to smooth before final assebly.

Eric

[Tim Sproul]

traditionally, 2 inches would be a very very very very thin workbench.

And I heartily disagree with the need for ripping your slab into thin strips and gluing to make a quasi-quartersawn field.

But, if you leave as a slab....2 inches is traditonally very thin. It can work if your base is not open and is instead heavily laden with drawers and cabinetry. Even still...at 2 inches it may still have enough spring when you chop dovetails or mortises to make that operation a bit more difficult. A bit of spring/flex in the benchtop when chopping with a chisel equates to having to use slightly more forceful blow. The less force you need...the more accurate and easily controlled the cut.

It this is for a tailed-devil workbench...leave it as a slab and don't worry about lack of mass at 2 inch thickness.

[Chris Padilla]

Tony,

2" would be a thin workbench but it really depends on what you want in terms of a workbench. What will be the primary use of the workbench? Do you plan to handchop dovetails? If so, you may need more mass as Tim points out and therefore might need to rip and glue to get a thicker top.

As others pointed out, the strength is in the glue and the wear/stability is in the orientation of grain (quartersawn, maybe rift). For a very strong joint, consider using a glue-joint bit that adds more area for the glue to be applied upon. The more area for glue in a joint, the stronger the joint, period.