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I love Black Locust. It is hard, dense, and as we say in New Hampshire, "one black locust fence post will outlast 3 post holes." A friend built a strip sailing dinghy out of it with a mahogany transom and a a centerboard trunk. I got to help some and found the wood reasonable to work with. I also scooped up the cutoffs and made a bunch of file handles and other things. I found Black Locust wonderful to turn, hard but well behaved to chisel and plane, and gorgeous in its variations in color.
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Trevor,
Nothing wrong with locust as a benchtop material, and, however this turns out, it will be a good learning experience for you.
Do you know when the slab was sawn?
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Light is important....
Black locust is not as light colored as rock maple ( for example ). When you evaluate the BL slab be sure to consider if there is sufficient light from the work surface to be able to see the adjustments you will need to make with hand planes and other cutting tools.
A single slab in my opinion is not as good as a two part or three part edge glued work surface. The grain patterns as pointed out impact greatly the stability and maintenance flattening issues. The drying process for such a big slab is also an important consideration. Such thick massive wood is never dried enough by any supplier now a days. I built a red oak slab coffee table with a 6 foot length, 2 inch thick and 2 foot wide dimension. I had to let it acclimate for almost 2 years and once completed, it still has some unplanned movement. Luckily does not affect the piece but a work bench is a different animal. A work bench has heavy duty stresses that a coffee table will never have.
Just some thoughts.
All that aside, it would be great to have a single slab big enough, thick enough, and dry enough to do a work bench out of. Maybe if you lived in South America and could get access to some old growth lumber that had been sitting and waiting just for you. Lets hope !
Enjoy the process...it's the best ! Good Luck and keep us posted.
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I tend to think the benchtop should dent before whatever piece of furniture you're building on top of it does. So maybe a really hard top would be a bad thing.
Then again, I am currently lusting after two large solid slabs of Live Oak to make a split-top Roubo, so what do I know? :)
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I suppose the best lessons are learned the hard way, but notice that wide, thick slabs are used by Nakashima, Maloof, Krenov, et. al. largely in pieces that don't have to remain absolutely flat. Mainly because they absolutely won't remain flat.
http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists_wood/pic_18.jpg
Work bench and assembly table tops need to remain sufficiently flat to use as index surfaces for glueups, and are most often made using kiln-dried 4/4 or 5/4 stock either glued or bolted up on edge like another surface intended to remain flat...a bowling alley surface.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/.../271071449.jpg
And accordingly, even these tops need to be soft-mounted so they don't cup as the humidity changes from season to season. Plus however many coats of finish are applied to the top also need to be applied to the bottom.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/...5/36332508.jpg
All this is boring, conventional wisdom...but it didn't become that without reason.
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I'm sorry to say my original plan might need some thinking over, the largest slab they have will just clear 17" after squaring. I was hoping for 20-22" I'm getting some information about 12" wide stuff that would glue up (Walnut bench?) but the price plus shipping is going to kill me. The BL slab was going to run $450 with $400 delivery from NC to PA. A two board top in and of the woods they had was going to cost more than the single slab... I'm in the process of finding out just how much more (this just in the walnut they had is curly and would run $2500, aka not walnut, maybe cedar or soft maple what will they say?). I may go with a reclaimed pine top. Thanks for all the advice, cautions and reminders guys.
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Trevor, This might be a blessing in disguise. As others have mentioned, there were some potential problems with your plan to use a one piece slab top of unknown dryness. Add to that the high shipping costs from North Carolina... IMO you're better off going to Plan B, finding some material locally and laminating your bench top. I understand why your original ideal appealed to you, but a workbench is primarily a tool and as such has to be predictable.
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Yes Drew, I think I went a little overboard when the one piece seemed possible to acquire, the practicality of the though just got left behind. I should be able to find some barn beams ad a local reclaimed lumber place, I might be able to go a 2 or 3 board top from some mid 19th C. factory building wood. Then option three would be a 2by lamination.
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It is a shame to make a wooden bench top so thick just to get mass. If you want mass, use concrete, and save the wood for the furniture you're going to build on the bench. Seriously. Make the top a couple of inches thick. Fasten concrete to the underside to increase the mass. Concrete's weight/dollar is way better than wood.
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For that matter Trevor, you should eventually be able to find some reclaimed old beams of oak even. Lots of old post and beam buildings used oak as it was much stronger and considered a reasonable structural timber. I've seen many adds for reclaimed oak in the past couple years in the local classifieds. I personally should have gone this route.
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Trevor - If you want oak of large dimensions, and are willing to pay shipping, you may want to give Scott T Smith a call (he's an SMC forum member). He typically has oak (both white and red) in enormous sizes. His website is:
http://www.quartersawnoak.com/
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I'll check that out David, thanks for the link.
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You might just go down to your local full service lumber yard and take a look at Glulam beams. They are beams made by gluing up 2x4 SYP, or 2x6 SYP boards on edge. You can get these in a variety of widths and up to 24" wide. Thicknesses are usually 3-1/2" and 5-1/2" thick. You just tell them how long you want your piece and they will cut it to length for you. These things are flat & straight. They can be bought in architectural grade which is clear SYP for the most part, or the normal construction grade which is the easiest to find and might suit you even though it will likely have some small voids from wane contained on the individual boards used in the glue up. You won't likely find these at the Borg. I know this isn't as sexy as your original idea, but this route saves a lot of trouble doing the glue up. My local supplier usually has some returns, or damaged beams that can be picked through for smaller pieces suitable for a workbench top. I went this route for the top on my tablesaw outfeed table. I bought two short scraps both 8' long glulams 18" wide and 5-1/2" thick for $150.00. BTW, you can also buy these things 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" x 10' long and 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" x 10' long which can be cut to length making great legs for your bench.
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Trevor,
If you want to stay fairly local, try one of these guys,
http://www.barnyardboys.com/index.html I've gotten a lot of reclaimed lumber from these guys, great to deal with and reasonable prices.
http://www.lioncrestlumber.com/ I've dealt with Dave and Vanessa a bit. They can not only get the wood for you, they have a pretty complete millwork shop to surface and dimension. They'll also mill wood that you don't buy from them at a reasonable price. And they're really nice people who are great to deal with.
No affiliation with either, just a happy customer.
Hope this helps,
Paul
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Thanks Paul, I'll add them to the search.
Trevor, I have seen 2by gluelam at the borg... But I didn't know (now guess it whould) that gluelam could be had in 5 1/2" thicknesses. we have a Tauge Lumber pretty close, but they might rape on price... I'll do some digging on that end. As long as I'm planning on gluing, I guess gluelam is okay too. I might go the architectural route. I have some salvaged 8x6 beams I intend for the legs, the running joke for a while was to use a double tenon and dovetail...but that is too much work, even for how funny it would be.