Better use of the maple plank?

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  • hophop
    Forum Newbie
    • Aug 2009
    • 59

    Better use of the maple plank?

    I plan to build the workbench with limited fund. I have a bunch of short 3/4 ash floor stips that I can glue together for the legs of the base. I have a few old 8/4 Douglas Fur that I can rip to thickness and re-glue for the top. I also have a 6/4 x 10" x 8' maple plank. I can either rip the maple in half and use them as the long stretchers for the base or I can rip them the same way as the Douglas Fur to be used for the top where the dog holes are. What do you think is the better use of the maple?

    Thi
  • Joe DeFazio
    Forum Newbie
    • Jan 2006
    • 78
    • Pittsburgh, PA
    • BT3100

    #2
    Originally posted by hophop
    I can either rip the maple in half and use them as the long stretchers for the base or I can rip them the same way as the Douglas Fur to be used for the top where the dog holes are. What do you think is the better use of the maple?
    Hi Thi,

    To answer your question directly as you asked it, I would use the maple on the top where the dog holes will be. Dog holes can be stressed/compressed, and the maple should stand up to that better than the douglas fir.

    You say you have a bunch of shorter 3/4 ash strips, but you don't say how many. Any chance that you have enough to make at least a layer of the top out of the ash? Workbench tops get pretty beat up in a hurry (at least mine do), and that douglas fir is going to be a little soft for that purpose. But, if you use the douglas fir, every time a chisel slips or a peening hamer misses its target, your benchtop will acquire a little more "character." Whether you want it to or not.

    Good luck with it, and do post a picture once you complete it,

    Joe

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    • pelligrini
      Veteran Member
      • Apr 2007
      • 4217
      • Fort Worth, TX
      • Craftsman 21829

      #3
      I'd save the maple for a better project, especially if this is your first bench.

      I did my bench out of Southern Yellow Pine a couple years ago. It has held up pretty well. I ripped up several 2x12s for everything. My dogholes are still in great shape. I'm not using a traditional holdfast much though. I use my Veritas holddown most often.

      How are you planning on flattening it? Using different hardness woods might make handplaning more challenging. It would make for a good looking bench though.
      Erik

      Comment

      • hophop
        Forum Newbie
        • Aug 2009
        • 59

        #4
        Joe,

        I like the idea. I have enough ash strips (leftover from my wood floor project) to laminate the top but since they are short (2-3 feet), I am not really sure if I can glue them end to end very well. Perhaps I can glue them length-wise and then glue across the top. Either way, this does present a challenge for a beginner to make them flat.

        Erik,

        I have the Delta lunch box planer, so my plan is that I would glue the top so that they are 12-inch wide at a time, feed them through the planer, put them together with glue and biscuits and handplane the whole thing afterward.
        Last edited by hophop; 03-06-2011, 10:32 PM. Reason: typo

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        • pelligrini
          Veteran Member
          • Apr 2007
          • 4217
          • Fort Worth, TX
          • Craftsman 21829

          #5
          There was a fairly recent post on Sawmill Creek from a guy who did a long countertop out of cherry segments. His boards were wider, but he did half lapped joints with some pins. Not sure if the photos will show without being registered. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ong-countertop
          Erik

          Comment

          • hophop
            Forum Newbie
            • Aug 2009
            • 59

            #6
            Thank you Erik for taking the time to search for the thread. From that I learned a few things which will certainly be applied in this project and future ones too. I hate to see the wood being wasted.

            ~Thi

            Comment

            • Joe DeFazio
              Forum Newbie
              • Jan 2006
              • 78
              • Pittsburgh, PA
              • BT3100

              #7
              Originally posted by hophop
              Joe,

              I like the idea. I have enough ash strips (leftover from my wood floor project) to laminate the top but since they are short (2-3 feet), I am not really sure if I can glue them end to end very well. Perhaps I can glue them length-wise and then glue across the top. Either way, this does present a challenge for a beginner to make them flat.
              The half-lap will work, as Erik suggested, but you will have to glue each strip separately, since the half-laps need end-to end clamping to butt up nice and tightly (in addition to the top to bottom clamping), or they need pins, which should also be done before your big glue-up.

              An even better solution, if you have a router table with a lock miter bit and enough power, would be to use a lock miter to join the segments end to end. If you are stacking the flooring so that the skinny side is up (making a thick benchtop), you wouldn't even have to glue them beforehand; they can be buttered up with glue and will self-align, and if you stagger the joints (as you should, of course), they will self-clamp as well. I would use two straight pieces of your other (flattened) lumber covered in wax paper as a clamping caul. An "ash sandwich"....

              You could do, say eight or ten inches at a time (the stuff will get heavy really fast), and then run those through the planer. Then glue the larger segments together with biscuits or dowels for alignment.

              That is a lot of work, so, if you go with the douglas fir, it will be OK as well. My most used workbench has a top layer of birch plywood, and it has gotten pretty dinged up over the years, but it still works fine. Character....

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