Workbench top design

[Prashun Patel]

I'm trying to make a good stable top for a 48"x24" workbench.

There are a lot of good designs/threads here. However, I notice that a lot of designs incorporate a breadboard end. Is that necessary? What are the downsides to leaving the end grain exposed? I'm planning to laminate 1x2 poplar to make a 2" (1 1/2 nominal) thick top. Won't that be stable enough w/o the bread ends?

[Chris Schumann]

AFAIK, stability of the bench usually comes from weight, and many designs leave end grain exposed. Poplar is a fine choice for a workbench surface.

In my very inexperienced opinion, the breadboard is for looks only, and you have to concern yourself with its attachment and movement, since its grain will be crossing the bench surface, but I'm sure that's been addressed in the successful designs you can find. (Not just so that the bench can be made, but it holds up well.)

I'm starting in on the 21st Century Workbench (see it in the Design forum here, working from Popular Woodworking's October 2008 issue), and it has exposed end grain, but the top surface is around 90x24 and 3 inches thick. That's nearly three times as much wood.

You can add weight easily if you have a bottom shelf and load that up.

[Tim Null]

In some designs, there is a skirt that is deeper than the bench top. My bench is 1 1/2" thick, but the skirt is 1 3/4 x 4". This gives a wider surface for end vises, etc.

It also looks really cool! LOL

TimN

[Greg Cole]

Poplar's a tad soft for a work bench top or work surface top IMO.
The skirting is done for looks and also to add stiffness depending on the supporting base-structure. At the size you've given at that thickness, I'd not worry much about stiffness, as 24 x 48 is definately on the smaller side and the base will offer some additional ridgidity.
Skirting on a bench top also allows to install a vice with one chop and using the bench skirt as the other chop for clamping in the vice. Skirting does add visual mass to the top, which to some is a big deal. Me, I say it's a bench function over form. Think a bunch about what you want from the bench top and then decide on the options to accomodate the needs you have for it.
If you skirt a bench top, be sure to allow for movement. I recently built a bench and made some bench bolts to hold the end skirt pieces in place.

[John Bush]

Hi Shawn,
Aesthetics aside, the top needs to be flat and solid. I made a frame/apron with 6/4 X 4" maple, box joints @ the corners, one long side has an end vise and line of dog holes, one side has a conventional wood vise. I had on old solid core door that I laminated with masonite and set in the frame for the working top. I had all this stuff in the pile of "to be used someday" and it has worked well for over 15 yrs. I milled some old fir timbers for the base as well, and designed it all so I can dissassemble for moving. Cheap and solid is a good thing. JCB.

[tyler mckenzie]

Poplar is a terrible choice for a bench top. Poplar is mostly used for paint grade applications. Its light, and soft, but the worst draw back i can see is the color is not uniform, it goes from white to green to black to purple. Those colors would drive me nuts. Beech or maple would be my choices for a bench top.