Sacrificial top on workbench? (moved from tool sec)

[Callan Campbell]

Interesting, my own experience mirrors both Prashun p. and Larry E. . My own crude affair of a workbenck is 2 sheets of 3/4 oak plywood and a 1/4" hardboard top. I have poplar banding all the way around the layered top. I've seen the 1/4" temp. hardboard lift up at the corners in my basement shop whenever the humidity gets to its worst level. It hasn't affected my woodworking since once I clamp something to the workbench, it lays flat and my work seems to come out square as I would want it to. Once the humidity drops just a bit, the corners lay flat again. I have coated both sides of the 1/4 hardboard with a mix of Turpentine/BLO . The glue drops and squeeze-outs are easily scraped off or wiped off from the surface of the hardboard. I hate working with MDF, so it wasn't a consideration when I was building my workbench. Like Larry or others, my top now has "character" all over it.....

[John Coloccia]

I figure that one day, my bench may get beat up to the point that it's no longer usable. When that happens, I'll take it to my local mill, toss it on the wide belt and flatten it again. If it's so bad that I can't do that, I'll stick a 1/2" top of something on it, take it to the local mill, toss it on the wide belt and flatten it.

To me it's like the first ding on a new car. The first one is the toughest. After that, it just doesn't matter any more.

As far as jigs and things like that are concerned, I've made some of them so that I can just bolt them on through the dog holes. The ones that I can I toss in the vice, usually just clamped between the dogs. I haven't had to drill any additional holes to hold jigs yet.

Anyhow, that's just how I work. My bench IS the sacrificial top to my floor

[Jim Becker]

My bench is MDF on top of a hollow core door, then topped with 1/4 hardboard. The edge banding holds the hardboard in place. No screws. It stays flat. My complaint with the MDF is that over time, it doesn't hold dogs as well.
Also, any vises have to be bolted through the top with the nuts countersunk; you can't use lag screws. I mean, it works and is stable and was cheap, but it's not perfect.

I possible solution for both the dog issue and the vice attachement issue is to build some hardwood into the "sandwich" to specifically address these issues.

[Larry Edgerton]

My bench is MDF on top of a hollow core door, then topped with 1/4 hardboard. The edge banding holds the hardboard in place. No screws. It stays flat. My complaint with the MDF is that over time, it doesn't hold dogs as well.
Also, any vises have to be bolted through the top with the nuts countersunk; you can't use lag screws. I mean, it works and is stable and was cheap, but it's not perfect.

Prashan

I use hollow core doors on site, and to toughen them up I drilled holes in one side and injected foam. Helped some, and is still light. On the MDF. When you drill the hole, treat it with a thin epoxy. Keep applying it until it quits soaking in, and it takes a lot. That is how I treat the edges of my patterns so the router bit does not sink in, works awesome.

[Rick Potter]

Larry,

Great tip on using epoxy on pattern edges.

Thanks
RP

[Kirk Poore]

My primary bench is a piece of 1/4" masonite screwed to the top of a layer of 2x6, applied after the 2x6's were lagged to a pair of cross members (2x6's set on edge). After 7 years the masonite's chewed up in a few spots, but it's plenty flat after having thousands of dollars of furniture built on it. Of course, I spared no expense on the paint for the bench--a couple layers of leftover white latex look great and keep the warpage down.

Kirk