Wood Choice for Workbench

[Nick Shattuck]

Beautiful bench Nick! Like the hardware too. Been thinking about a Hovarter or Benchcrafted vise but haven't convinced myself yet.

Hey BTW, my pine bench top has lasted just fine. I don't expect to need to replace it. Have you had a different experience?

Fred

Thank you! When I was building this bench I thought I would use the leg vise a lot and not so much the tail vise. But I couldn't have been more wrong. The tail vise is the most handy thing in my shop right now... being able to firmly secure any board of just about any size to a huge unmoving mass in literally a matter of a few seconds is quite the difference maker. The leg vise is awesome too, I just thought I would use it way more than the tail vise.

Honestly, I've built a benchtop out of pine along with a few heavy equipment stands and have never had a problem with it. But I'm typically not hammering/pounding/chiseling/sawing on those either.

[Stew Hagerty]

I prefer a softer species for the benchtop - its easier to work, easier to maintain & less likely to damage projects you place on it. And likely cheaper than hardwoods.

Douglass Fir is excellent -if you can find old growth with tight grain that would be ideal.

For a spilt top, see if you can find some 12" x 4" - maybe from a demolition center/timber recycling supplier.

While not quite a traditional design, see my bench renovation project pictures here - I have a 12x3 as the main bench surface.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f213/b...ovation-205992

I'm a weekender and just finished up a split-top Roubo with benchcrafted hardware. While way more expensive than yellow pine in these parts, I decided to use hard maple because I figured I'm already spending $$$ on the hardware I might as well make this a damn fine bench. I don't have any regrets. I think any hard hardwood would be fine and I'd stay away from pine if you want the top to last.

Great looking benches guys. Thank you all for your input. I definitely have some things to consider. As I said, I'm a hybrid woodworker but over the years I have found myself gravitating towards handwork more and more as I gain skill and confidence. I plan on spending a lot of time at this bench. I do a lot of planing and sawing by hand. I do chop some mortises, but I also have a Powermatic mortising machine that is just too good to not use. Right now I don't have an assembly table so this would serve that purpose as well.

This is my current bench, which I inherited from my father-in-law.
Shop - 12 My Bench A.jpgShop - 12 My Bench B.jpgShop - 12 My Bench C.jpg

[Jon Nuckles]

I used hard maple and, other than the weight of the bench top when building it, am very happy with it. I can't speak to the other choices, which may be as good or better. If you want a particular wood and can afford it, don't decide based on price; you will have the bench for a long time and using it can inspire you when you work on it or remind of a decision you regret.

[Marko Haarma]

Hope this isn't blasphemy here but after pricing out workbench materials I went with the pre-built Harbor Freight models instead. With coupon you can find them for 100 each and they have a hardwood top, vice, shelves, and drawers. Would have spent waaaay more trying to build them myself. I currently have 4 in my workshop, some alone, others mounted together for a larger work area...

Shop01.jpg

[Stew Hagerty]

Hope this isn't blasphemy here but after pricing out workbench materials I went with the pre-built Harbor Freight models instead. With coupon you can find them for 100 each and they have a hardwood top, vice, shelves, and drawers. Would have spent waaaay more trying to build them myself. I currently have 4 in my workshop, some alone, others mounted together for a larger work area...

!!!!!!!!!!

blaspheme_blues_brothers.jpg

[Dennis Tebo]

Stew,

Sounds like you are going down the same road I just traveled. I have about 10 hours of work to complete my split top Roubo workbench, outfitted with Benchcrafted vises. I also researched what wood to use and quickly found you can use whatever you want, just like you are seeing in this thread. There may be some small pros and cons, but I decided that if I was going to spend the money on the Bencrafted hardware that I would invest in some quality wood and make a nice bench. I ended up using Soft Maple with some Walnut for the trim. I really like the looks of the contrasting woods. I plan on posting pictures in the projects section once I'm done, but here is a teaser photo:

Tail Vise small.jpg

Dennis

[Stew Hagerty]

Stew,

Sounds like you are going down the same road I just traveled. I have about 10 hours of work to complete my split top Roubo workbench, outfitted with Benchcrafted vises. I also researched what wood to use and quickly found you can use whatever you want, just like you are seeing in this thread. There may be some small pros and cons, but I decided that if I was going to spend the money on the Bencrafted hardware that I would invest in some quality wood and make a nice bench. I ended up using Soft Maple with some Walnut for the trim. I really like the looks of the contrasting woods. I plan on posting pictures in the projects section once I'm done, but here is a teaser photo:
Dennis

Thanks Dennis, I look forward to seeing it. Please write a quick post here to let me know when you do so that I don't miss it.

[Tom Bender]

Mine is 3" thick Hard Maple.

Pros
great for chopping on
durable
stable
can write and make layout marks on it
can do some drafting on it

Cons
difficult to flatten
slick
stains really show up (it looks used)

[Stew Hagerty]

I plan on using the same finish on it that I have on the top of my current bench. The traditional BLO/Wax/Turpentine blend. Although I substitute less odoriferous mineral spirits for the turpentine. It protects the top from glue drips and I think it gives it a "softer" feel.

[Herb Smith]

Several have mentioned using Southern Yellow Pine and having good results. I live in the greater Chicagoland area and my question is where do you find SYP around here? I know that it can be special ordered from Menards but if you do, you can't select the boards that you get. I'm not sure that I want to pay for what I can't see beforehand. Does anyone have anywhere else in this area that you've been able to find 2x8 or 2x10 SYP?

[Mike Berrevoets]

Several have mentioned using Southern Yellow Pine and having good results. I live in the greater Chicagoland area and my question is where do you find SYP around here? I know that it can be special ordered from Menards but if you do, you can't select the boards that you get. I'm not sure that I want to pay for what I can't see beforehand. Does anyone have anywhere else in this area that you've been able to find 2x8 or 2x10 SYP?

Sorry, I don’t have anywhere else but I have ordered from Menards and have found the wider and longer the boards the better the grade they seem to be. I get the #1 grade 2x12 and rip to what I need and add a few extra boards. Still cheaper than anywhere else even if I need to cut around some areas.

The last time I ordered I order some MSR (machine stress rated?) SYP thinking it would be even better and less knots but I didn’t notice a difference although one piece had very tight growth rings and was very very dense.

Your mileage may vary.

[Jim Dwight]

Jay Bates has an interesting video on his website where he says he likes his southern yellow workbench better than his hickory workbench. Worth watching. The two benches are almost identical. He does prefer the hickory leg vise. Hickory is heavy and really hard. Harder than hard maple or oak.

[Ross Manning]

I believe that SYP became popular for traditional workbenches in USA due to the "Schwarz Effect". However I do recall reading in one of Schwarz's posts that he only recommended SYP as it was cheap in his area, and available in the dimensions needed, stable & stiff. He went on to say just use whatever was available, inexpensive, dry & stiff.

A lot of mass & easy to flatten are good inputs to your choice. Aesthetics will also play a part - some will want to make a bench to showcase their skills & be a beautiful piece of furniture - nothing wrong with that.

[Ted Phillips]

I recommend that you visit several hardwood dealers in your area and get to know them. When I built my last bench, I went to talk with them to see if they had any good inexpensive hardwood choices. As it turns out, one dealer had a load of soft maple 8/4 stock that had some bad sticker-stains. They weren't able to sell it for normal cabinetry purposes and were on the verge of severely milling it down and taking a loss on the shipment. They gave me a very good price - and it made a fantastic bench. I didn't really care about the stains... they just added a bit of character...

It pays to make friends with your local dealers.

[Chuck Nickerson]

I used DF on my split-top Roubo five years ago and have no regrets. One advantage of the split-top: I knew if I didn't like the DF top I could replace it one half at a time.