work bench top

[Ken Tucker]

Hello everyone . I need your help . I am building my work bench .only because i was giving 40 pcs of 1" or 4/4 , 12" to 14" w x 10' L oak rough cut lumber . I will plane it and rip it . I was going to rip it to 3" pcs after planing them to 3/4 or more. how should I glue them, edge to edge and glue that to 2x4 pine , or face to fase 26" wide for my top ? thanks to all and have a happy and safe Thanksgiving .:)

[Jim Becker]

Well...you don't want to glue that oak to pine! You'll have wood movement issues galore over time. Typical bench top construction would be to glue face to face, with consideration given to dog holes during the assembly if you plan on using rectangular dogs as well as any accommodations you need to do for the vices you want to use.

[Doug Shepard]

Face to Face. Cut it somewhat wider than 3" to allow running it through the planer again after glue up. You may have to do 2-3 subsections depending on your planer width. You can also usually find a hardwood mill or cabinet shop to run the full bench top through a wide belt sander after you're done to flatten and remove any final glue-up alignment snags.

[Dewey Torres]

Aim for a 2" thickness rather than 3".

With oak it will still be plenty heavy and strong believe me! This will give you enough left over for the skirt/apron all of oak! Much better option (especially than pine) IMO.

[Ken Tucker]

Face to Face. Cut it somewhat wider than 3" to allow running it through the planer again after glue up. You may have to do 2-3 subsections depending on your planer width. You can also usually find a hardwood mill or cabinet shop to run the full bench top through a wide belt sander after you're done to flatten and remove any final glue-up alignment snags. Thanks doug . I have a 13" ryobi thickness planer . I can in 2 sec. I wanted to make it approx 26"x 72" that's including the aprons . I was worried about sagging with only the 3/4" side by side 26" deep without substrates .but i guess with 3"s of glued suffice it should do. Now for one more advice would you use tekbond 3 wood glue or grolla urethane glue :)

[John Schreiber]

. . This will give you enough left over for the skirt/apron all of oak! Much better option (especially than pine) IMO.
A matter of opinion, but I'd much rather have the thicker top with no aprons. Aprons are a pain to clamp to/around. A solid slab also has the advantage in weight/stability.

[Frank Drew]

I agree with John, thicker is better; you can still (at least minutely) rattle a 2" top with heavy pounding, not so a 3+" top.