Laminated or Slab Benchtop

[Erich Weidner]

Brandon Berdoll at Berdoll Sawmill in Bastrop, TX may be able to assist you with a thick slab. Tell him that Scott Smith referred you.

I have already sent them an email. No response so far.

[Tony Shea]

I built my first bench top out of laminated 4x4 doug fir as money was an issue to begin with. I have been using this bench for a while now with not too much issue. The base I made out of hard maple knowing I would replace the top at some point. The legs on the base are 4"x5" hard maple so is extremely stable. I've also made it in the Roubo style so the legs are at the same plane as the edge of the bench with a Lake Erie Tools Leg Vise.

Knowing what I know now I would def opt for a Benchcrafted Wagon Vise or a LN Tail Vise and will on my new top. I also would opt for a row of square dog holes near the front edge of the bench as I think they are just superior for work holding when paired with a wagon vise or tail vise. I'm a heavy hand tool user so find myself surfacing lumber a lot with handplanes and the square dogs with either of those two vises just give you great grip on flat work pieces. I would also use a light colored hard wood for the top that is at least 4" thick and is laminated using at least 8/4 boards on edge. IMO this laminated surface just gives you much more stability and negates the need to constantly flatten the top of the bench. There will still be some maintenance flattening the top but no where near what a solid slab that is not dried all the way through. Even with my 4x4 doug fir top the wood wasn't 100% dry therefore moves a lot on me and I need to flatten it more than I'd like. I wouldn't hesitate following a Benchcrafted plan on making the bench top using laminated hard maple or maybe even ash. Ash is a little open pored for a bench top but is really durable and strong. I also think the open pored nature of the wood might help the surface from being like glass as maple would be.

Basically the moral of the story is I wouldn't bother waiting for a large slab and just get on with a glue up. I think you'll be happier with the stability and the ability to create square dog holes near the front edge of the bench. Again, check out Benchcrafted for their vises, bench hardware, and plans. IMO these are the nicest benches on the planet right now.

[Chris Fournier]

I've made several benches and have chosen not to take the slab route. With the exception of the cool aesthetics and vibe of a slab I only see trouble. I've made lots of slab furniture over the years and I enjoyed the projects but a bench will live on to be a tool in your shop. I have laminated my bench tops to suit my designs for each bench which is kinda nice. I think that they are cheaper than slab benches and to my way of working far more functional. Either way a bench project is like no other and is really a lot of fun! Show us your bench when you're done. Also take a boo at the old Taunton Press Scott Landis book about benches, it will help you design and build the bench that you want.

[Stu Gillard]

I built my first bench top out of laminated 4x4 doug fir as money was an issue to begin with. I have been using this bench for a while now with not too much issue. The base I made out of hard maple knowing I would replace the top at some point. The legs on the base are 4"x5" hard maple so is extremely stable. I've also made it in the Roubo style so the legs are at the same plane as the edge of the bench with a Lake Erie Tools Leg Vise.

Hi Tony,

Quick question.
I have a heap of old close-grained Doug fir which I'm planning on using for building the entirety of a new workbench.

Has the top been a problem?
Should I be looking for some other timber?

Cheers,
Stu

[Scott T Smith]

I have already sent them an email. No response so far.

You might want to give him a call. Nowadays, with all the phishing scams I'm finding that lot's of incoming e-mails to me are not making it through, and most likely the same thing is occurring with Brandon.

[Ben Ellenberger]

Doug fir is plenty sturdy for a bench. It can be a little splintery, so if you get a little careless and catch a corner of the bench with a saw you might take a chunk out. It is also pretty light. My bench is Doug fir, and the laminated top is only about 2 3/4” x 16” x 5’, with a tool well at the back For a total width of about 24”. So, it is a pretty small bench and it is a little too light for my taste. For the most part it works fine, but if you are rough planing across the width of the bench You will feel it rock back and forth a bit. If you made a bigger Doug fir bench with a thicker top I’m sure it would be heavy enough to be more stable. Doug fir is plenty stiff and hard for a bench material.

[Michael J Evans]

You people must be behemoths or something to need 5" thick benches?... or Is it like having a 10" lift on a truck kinda thing?

Not trying to be spiteful as I am very inexperienced. But I have no power tools for dimensioning lumber and do it all with my planes. My bench is only 2-3/4 thick, laminated Doug fir x 60" long. I've never felt it lacking in the heft department. It is against a wall so that stops any horizontal movement, but lengthwise it's never moved on me. Mines also not perfectly flat, I gave up on trying, and it has all kinds of glue,beer, oil and every kind of stain imaginable. But it holds my work steady.
Also on the holdfasts subject. I bought a cheap handforged? Pair off of eBay, I believe they were $45. They seem to work dam well. I can probably find the purchase history if you all need some reliable holdfasts.

[Tony Shea]

Hi Tony,

Quick question.
I have a heap of old close-grained Doug fir which I'm planning on using for building the entirety of a new workbench.

Has the top been a problem?
Should I be looking for some other timber?

Cheers,
Stu

If you have doug fir on hand I wouldn't hesitate making a bench from it. Like others have said it is very splintery and you will rip a chunk or two off the edge when a splinter catches on you. My doug fir 4x4's came from HD when they had some really nice tight grained stuff in stock. I would pick a couple out and wait till they got another batch in to pick through. I did this for a few months until I had enough, at $10 a stick I couldn't beat the price for the quality of material.

Having said this I don't believe it was that dry even after letting it sit in my shop for 8+ months. Either that or doug fir is really unstable as my bench is constantly moving and going a bit out of flat. Most of the time the flatness is a non issue and I just deal with it unless I'm planing thin stock for a project. Then I'll take the time to flatten it out, which is when I'm glad it's doug fir and not hard maple. As far as thickness goes I'm around 3.25" and I personally think that's plenty thick enough for my purposes. I have Gramercy and Lie Nielsen holdfasts and they both stick no problem in my bench. I do prefer the Lie Nielsen as they seem to hold a bit better due to the rougher surface.

[Jim Matthews]

My bench is only 2-3/4 thick, laminated Doug fir x 60" long. I've never felt it lacking in the heft department. It is against a wall so that stops any horizontal movement, but lengthwise it's never moved on me. Mines also not perfectly flat, I gave up on trying, and it has all kinds of glue,beer, oil and every kind of stain imaginable. But it holds my work steady.

Sounds alot like my bench.

The point of using a slab is to skip the lamination.

[chris carter]

I’ve never owned a slab bench, but from everything I’ve read they are a big pain in the butt due to constant flattening and chasing down cracks/checks in the ends. If that doesn’t bug you, then go for it. I will admit, with the right slab they look really darn cool (I’ve also seen really ugly ones, so not just any slab will do). One nice thing about lamination is that, if you have a thickness planer, you can make it in sections small enough to fit through the planer. Just work one side by hand flat enough to get decent registration for the thickness planer and then let the machine do all the hard work. Then glue your sections together and you will only have a minimal amount of hand planing left. Or, if making a split top, you won’t even have to glue those sections together – just assemble the bench and you will only have to flatten the top.

Laminated benches will generally have way less movement because the pieces in the lamination tend to keep each other in check, relatively speaking. It also takes like a billion years to fully dry a slab all the way through, hence all the movement and checking issues.

Personally, I could have used whatever I wanted ($-wise) for my new bench I recently built and went with doug fir and a laminated 4” top. I have zero regrets. Soft tops are very easy to work on. The only downside is the road rash that builds up, but it’s a 10 minute resurfacing to take off a 1/32 every couple years. My first bench was construction lumber (SPF, but I don’t think there was any F in there, and it was generally softer than doug fir) and I didn’t have to resurface for two years before all the tiny dents became annoying enough to prompt me to do it. The other problem being mass, but a bucket of sand, large dumbbell, tool chest, etc. sitting on the bottom shelf easily cures that problem.

[Jim Koepke]

The other problem being mass, but a bucket of sand, large dumbbell, tool chest, etc. sitting on the bottom shelf easily cures that problem.

A plastic bucket filled with concrete can also help:

Bench Bucket Cement.jpg

This light weight bench seldom moves now when planing long pieces.

jtk

[ken hatch]

I’ve never owned a slab bench, but from everything I’ve read they are a big pain in the butt due to constant flattening and chasing down cracks/checks in the ends. If that doesn’t bug you, then go for it. I will admit, with the right slab they look really darn cool (I’ve also seen really ugly ones, so not just any slab will do). One nice thing about lamination is that, if you have a thickness planer, you can make it in sections small enough to fit through the planer. Just work one side by hand flat enough to get decent registration for the thickness planer and then let the machine do all the hard work. Then glue your sections together and you will only have a minimal amount of hand planing left. Or, if making a split top, you won’t even have to glue those sections together – just assemble the bench and you will only have to flatten the top.

Laminated benches will generally have way less movement because the pieces in the lamination tend to keep each other in check, relatively speaking. It also takes like a billion years to fully dry a slab all the way through, hence all the movement and checking issues.

Personally, I could have used whatever I wanted ($-wise) for my new bench I recently built and went with doug fir and a laminated 4” top. I have zero regrets. Soft tops are very easy to work on. The only downside is the road rash that builds up, but it’s a 10 minute resurfacing to take off a 1/32 every couple years. My first bench was construction lumber (SPF, but I don’t think there was any F in there, and it was generally softer than doug fir) and I didn’t have to resurface for two years before all the tiny dents became annoying enough to prompt me to do it. The other problem being mass, but a bucket of sand, large dumbbell, tool chest, etc. sitting on the bottom shelf easily cures that problem.

I can't help myself , good design can replace a lot of mass.

Chris,

I agree with every thing you posted, I've done both slab and laminated and of the two laminated wins easily. As I have posted before the only advantage of using a slab is the "hoot" factor and I admit a slab Roubo can have hoot factor out the ying yang.

ken

[Jim Matthews]

.
"hoot" factor and I admit a slab Roubo can have hoot factor out the ying yang.

ken

If you're hooting out your ying yang, get help moving the bench. It's better with an audience.

[Jim Koepke]

If you're hooting out your ying yang, get help moving the bench. It's better with an audience.

Just don't light a match!

jtk

[Erich Weidner]

You might want to give him a call. Nowadays, with all the phishing scams I'm finding that lot's of incoming e-mails to me are not making it through, and most likely the same thing is occurring with Brandon.

I called. They can cut me a slab out of pecan. Price seems reasonable.