workbench materials

[Howard]

I have acquired plans to build a traditional european workbench which calls for maple for the entire project. I have a feeling that using maple is going to be very expensive for a workbench. What other reasonably priced and procured hardwood would you guys recommend for this project? It's the one found on the Workbench site. http://www.plansnow.com/eurobench.html. What would you finish it with? It's going to be an interesting and difficult project, sure to test my woodworking mettle. Reluctantly, the LOML has agreed to let me keep my truck in the driveway so I can free up room in the garage. 8" Jointer shouldn't be far behind!

[ChrisD]

Howard,

Ash would be a good inexpensive alternative if you want to stick with a hardwood. Of course, 2x material is even cheaper, if that is an option for you. Somebody here recently completed a really nice bench out of pine framing lumber and chronicled the construction process very well.

[SARGE..g-47]

If you need lumber Howard, back your truck down my drive-way and load it from my back-yard where I downed it today. Ready for you to take to the mill........................ just kiddin' even though true.

Before I give my feeble opinion, I have a question. Are you more concerned with your bench being solid, functional, cheap.. sturdy and cheap an are you shooting for show-case looks?

Maybe even better.. describe in your words what you hope to achieve and in what price range.

Regards...

[Bulkley]

I agree with Sarge. Decide what you want to do with it first. I use a sheet of MDF flopped across a couple of saw horses and have built numerous cabinets and drawers on it. Pretty it isn't; useful it is.

Look around your area for a small job wood miller. We have one near us that slices up whatever is available. He often has woods that are not available in the big box lumber yards. The downside is that you have to do your own drying.

[Howard]

I am divided on what I want to do. On one hand, I have a little guy sitting on my shoulder saying, "cost be d**ned! go for the good stuff!" and at the same time I have another guy on my other shoulder saying, "you're going to spend a lot of money on a workbench, cheaper wood would work just fine." I really need to go down to a hardwood store, not the local Rockler or Woodcraft, and see what it really costs. The plans call for some 8/4 for use on the top slab but the rest would be 4/4 or 3/4. Of course I could always just buy a manufactured version for about $800 or so but what fun would that be? I just need to get off the dime and get started. Thinking about won't get it done. I would imagine something this complex is going to take awhile. It's going to be a bench I am going to use for a long time so my inclination is to suck it up and by the good stuff. I'll know more on Monday when I go price it.

[Russianwolf]

find a local sawmill (preferably with a kiln) and find out what the price is. And remember, you don't need clear lumber for this type project, number 1 and 2 should be fine for most of it. I can get 8/4 maple locally for about $2 for clear and maybe $1.25 for number 2.

[Bulkley]

I helped a friend build a work bench. He got his wood, mostly rough-cut, from a local mill. There were 4x4's for legs and 2x6's and 2x8's for the rest of it. The only part that is at all smooth is the top. This thing is solid. You could spend all morning pounding on it without knocking it out of allignment. His cost was probably under $50. This thing is far too ugly to ever take a picture of, but from the perspective of a guy with a busy shop, it's thing of beauty.

[TheRic]

Are sure of the style you want, and what you want in it?!!! Many of times we change what we want over time, or we find out that what we THOUGHT we wanted is not what we really wanted.

Bottom line I would go with something cheap for now. Maybe you find that having shelving underneath, or drawers, or cupboards, or a combination of all the above. Build it cheap, make your modifications over time. Once you are 100% you know what you want then go with the expensive wood.

It sounds like space is a premium in your situation. Having storage of some type might be kind of high on the list.

Just my 2 cents worth

[LinuxRandal]

I have a maple top, from a closed school. I was debating between those iron angle legs from Rockler, or 2x material. Due to the fact, I may change it later on, 2x are easier to cut and replace. So, if you know what size top, put a better top on.

[SARGE..g-47]

Now you've confronted yourself with the real issues! Cost saving or made solid to last. And you were just hoping that someone would post something that would be a major break-through on the issues we all face on that beggining bench. Nope... your bench and your money! :>)

I will throw a few ideas at you now. Why not meet somewhere in the middle? Cut cost, make it to last and and make it functional. Make it to fit your space in your shop. Make it for your height and your style of work. Made to accomodate what you want in a bench instead of the compromises offered by the the manufacturers or plan designer. Why couldn't you modify the plans you purchased and tailor them to precisely what you want?

A maple or beech top is perfect, but not necessary. A maple or beech base is great, but even less of a criteria than that top that needs to be flat and hard as it takes a pounding. I have made about 20 work benchs over the last 34 years. Some simple.. some complex and some in the middle. The nicest are in the shops of friends that requested and can afford them and not my shop. But they all have something in common. They are all built with wood, designed to be rock solid and the joinery was not short-cutted. They all are were designed for either the personal needs of the purchaser or my own needs.

My current bench base is made of re-covered and re-sawn Doug Fir beams from a torn down civil war warehouse here in Atlanta. Before I mounted the partial maple top, we anchored the base to a 600 lb. crate motor and attached a cum-a-long on the other side to see if we could make the joints separate. The crate motor moved, but the joints stood fast and remain steady.

The top is partially maple left over from projects, a few strips of oak for the dog hole and a quick replace birch ply insert on this one. It's flat and when seaonal changes make it otherwise, a hand plane takes it back to ground zero or just replace the insert. Life is simple.

My bench cost around $200 and that is the Veritas twin and front vise hardware. Jaws are made from left over shorts. One of maple and front of oak. Open bottom as I like open and over-lapped edges for clamping and toe room on the bottom as I hate to be distracted with a toe jamming into the base of the bench. And for some reason, it fits exactly in the space I had available for it.

Not show class.. not expensive... but she'll be around long after I'm gone and the bottom line is she "gets er done" and she doesn't know what the phrase "quitting time" means! ha.. ha...

Regards...

[Howard]

What a beautiful bench! I have been thinking about the necessity of the tool tray, not only because of it's complexity to build, but it would seem to me to be a dust collector and I like the idea of having the entire bench usable for projects. I think I can speak for everyone here - your bench is a showpiece in our book and we would all be proud to have it in our workshop. Well done! BTW, did you build this with plans or is it your own design? If plans, where did you get them?

[mikel]

Great looking bench... been thinkin I need a real bench again...

...m

[SARGE..g-47]

Thanks for the compliment from both Howard and Mike...

Howard, some folks like tool trays.. some don't. I have two wall built cabinets with work-space tops behind the bench and my morticer sits in the center. It serves the same purpose. That way I get more solid space on the bench itself. I do have assembly talbes, but I still like my main bench surface about 24" to 26" wide and solid.I put trays on some earlier benches, but decided one day that for my style, more cons than pros. One man' poison may be another's cup of tea.

Plans come from sitting in the shop with a cup of coffee and deciding what I want. The idea comes first.. then the rough drawing.. then figuring the joints and the exact dimentions. A spiral note-book and penceil produces cheapest plans. I have never to this date built anything from someone elses plans. I won't say that I haven't looked at other pieces for ideas, but the final design. dimensions, etc. comes from me.

This bench is one of my last 8 that all have what evolded into what I call a "whale-back" base. Take a look under the top of the 1st picture. Do you see a wide rail from end stretcher to end strecher. That's a 4" X 5" laminated Doug Fir "whale-back" that sits inb a lap joint on each top strecher. The side strechers tie the end's together at the bottom. I use a whale-back to tie on top instead of the top itself which can be removed by lifting it off the 4 bullet shaped dowels at at the corners of the base. Gravity holds it down.

Without the top, on this current design base... it won't budge even if it were not glued, which it is. The combination of through mortise-tenons, saddle and lap joints along with the design make the base self-locking when assembled. Just for fun.. add a little dab of glue and a pin here and there and "kiss my southern hind-side" Hurricane ...???.... ! ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..

Regards...

[JimD]

My bench which is also my outfeed table is made of plywood and fashioned after one Norm of NYW fame made. Not so pretty but works fine. There is an article in the most recent FWW shops issue about making a bench out of nothing but plywood. It has laminated legs so you can have a mortise and tenon effect with the stretchers. It is more solid than mine without a bunch more cost. If you local library or a friend has old FWW issues, you may want to take a look.

The top of my bench is 1/4 plywood. MDF would probably be better. This is over top of 3/4 plywood which is over top of a torsion box. My bench gets used for a bunch of stuff (it is supporting an old propane tank that got all rusty and needed refinishing at the moment) so it would be a problem to have a really "nice" bench.

Jim

[dabeeler]

Source for Bench Top Material

Here is a link for a pretty good source for bench top material.

http://www.perfectplank.com/maple_bu...lock_tops.html