Workbench Wood

[Jamie Hargrave]

Hi there guys, this is my first post in the Neanderthal Forum. I thought I would go to you for some direction in the area of wood species for workbench. I'm leaning towards building a English style workbench as outlined in Christopher Schwarz's book. Because this will be my first serious bench (other than plywood on a construction lumber frame) I want the materials I use to be worth the effort going into it. At the same time I can't really afford to spend hundreds of dollars on Maple or another hardwood.

Schwarz recommends using commonly available construction grade lumber such as Southern Yellow Pine or Douglas Fir. The problem I have is neither of these are available in my area. What we do have commonly available is White Pine and Spruce. I'm pretty sure that the Pine is to soft, but what do you think about the Spruce? It is the premium construction lumber at the lumber yards here and I can get nice clear lengths of it.

That said, Maple is easily available from small local producers, however it is all roughsawn (which makes it cheap) as well as all in 4/4 thickness, 5/4 if I am lucky. I'm not sure I want the work of prepping all that stock from roughsawn, as well as the associated cost if Spruce will serve.

What do you think? Thanks in advance for your replies and advice.

[Johnny Kleso]

I can't believe you dont have Douglas Fir in your area but Maple is better yet but now that I have a few loads of rough sawn wood pre planed would is a lot less work..

[Charlie Kocourek]

Maple is great for benchtops. 4/4 would be a lot of gluing, but you will have a more stable top than with wider boards. If it's readily available and inexpensive, then I would say go with the maple.

[Ken Pywell]

What about getting a top from Grizzly or another company and then using a less expensive wood for the base? I bought a maple top and then used birch for the base. At the time birch was half the price of maple and the base isn't subjected to the abuse that the top is.

[Robert Rozaieski]

The pine or spruce would be fine. I like soft woods for benches. They will dent or ding before your expensive furniture woods will when you inevitably bang the part into them. They are also much less expensive to build, and I find the softwood tops to have a bit more grip to them than hard wood tops, which tend to burnish and get slick. Hardwoods are stiffer, but if you are going with the English style bench, that won't matter, because the stiffening comes from the support structure under the top, not the thickness of the top itself.

I'm blogging and podcasting my English bench build now. It's my third bench and my favorite (to build) so far. It's only been one real weekend of work and the entire base is done. I'm using locally available construction lumber; doug fir 4x4s for the legs, and hem/fir 2x12s for the rest. Really, any wood that is locally available, inexpensive, and relatively easy to work with will make a good bench.

I say go for the pine or spruce. It's only a work bench, not a piece of furniture. It WILL get damaged and worn if you actually intend to use it, so better to be inexpensive, quick & easy to build and cheap and easy to repair in my opinion. Softwood English style bench is a good fit if you ask me, but I'm a little biased .

[Jon Toebbe]

I'd go for the spruce. There's one school of thought out there that a soft top absorbs all the dings, leaving your workpieces less marred. Especially since you mentioned you're planning a Nicholson-style workbench, the thicker construction lumber will give you a stiffer bench. Plus, one of the advantages of the English workbench: it's relatively easy and cheap to remove the top if it gets too worn and replace it with fresh lumber.

As far as softwood for working surfaces go, I'm planning to build a Japanese-style trestle and planing beam for my "workshop" using western red cedar. Definitely not a typical choice, but it has to live outside year round, and I'm not planning on living in this apartment forever. It should make a decent experiment, at any rate.

[Jamie Hargrave]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'll go with the spruce as it is cheap and readily available (never even crossed my mind to replace the top later as it gets beat up!)

[michael osadchuk]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'll go with the spruce as it is cheap and readily available (never even crossed my mind to replace the top later as it gets beat up!)

Jamie

Spruce is fine but I suspect that what you are calling premium grade construction lumber may have significantly more moisture content than its eventual equilibrium level (which is 6 to 9% moisture content where I am north of Toronto)

Here is a thread on the Canadian woodworking forum on variations of "Bob and David's Good, Fast and Cheap Bench", a classic beginner bench.

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com...ad.php?t=32258

Consider posting your query on the Canadian forum.... you may get more some good suggestions on wood sources local to you.

good luck

michael

[James Carmichael]

Jamie

Spruce is fine but I suspect that what you are calling premium grade construction lumber may have significantly more moisture content than its eventual equilibrium level (which is 6 to 9% moisture content where I am north of Toronto)

Here is a thread on the Canadian woodworking forum on variations of "Bob and David's Good, Fast and Cheap Bench", a classic beginner bench.

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com...ad.php?t=32258

Consider posting your query on the Canadian forum.... you may get more some good suggestions on wood sources local to you.

good luck

michael

Sound advice.

Any lumber should have time to accilmate to your shop before milling and use. I don't know what, if any, drying time is given to construction grade softwoods, but it's guaranteed to be wetter than kiln-dried hardwoods.

I'm extremely leary of CG SYP. Nearly all the 2 x stock I've ripped, even after months in the shop, have been so full of tension they bowed up on cutting and pinched on the splitter on my saw. I now rip on this stuff on the bandsaw.

[Frank Drew]

In the almost 25 years I used my maple bench I never regretted its hardness; I don't remember dinging a piece I was working on just because maple is harder than mahogany or whatever -- if it happened, it was so infrequent and minor that it never registered as a problem. Knocking something over, dropping it on the floor, sure, that stuff happens, but that was my fault, not the bench's.

More of a potential problem for denting your work can be those missed little dots of hardened glue, fixtures and fastenings, anything, really, that sticks up on what should be a smooth bench top.

Hard bench top, soft bench dogs, I guess that's how I'd put it.

[Robert Trotter]

First off, I have a soft wood bench (and it does ding easily if you drop something heavy on it) but I don't have many dings at all in my top after two years. But I take care, and am mindful that it is softwood. My bench is here.

Secondly, I think this is your first major bench and the the English style bench is a little different, so keep it cheap and see if you like the way you work with it. As has already stated you can change the top, so you can either change it cheaply for another softwood top if it get beaten up too much, or if you like the way you are working with the bench then you can always upgrade to a hardwood top later if you really wanted. And if you don't really like the way it works, then you can change the bench style cheaply.

And you may just like it and not have any problems with the softwood.

One thing with the softwood, buy it and let it sit for a while in your workshop. And it will move a bit through the season but if your bench design is OK then it may not be a problem anyway.

If however, you are sure this is a keeper and long time user, and the maple is not expensive (just prep time) then a maple top could be the way to go. But you may not have the time so then go for expediency. Save the work of art bench for after a few years of getting to know what you really want in a bench.

Anyway just my two yen adn it may have just made you more confused.



Rob