Workbench top

[Julian Amin]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to build a workbench in the upcoming weeks. I bought Chris Schwarz's book and have been adopting some ideas from it. He suggests Southern Yellow Pine, and I think also recommends Fir as a substitute for those out west. I'm in Maryland and the home center stores around me don't have SYP. Can anyone recommend an alternative that I could easily find around here (also, I'm a jobless student on an extremely tight budget)?

One more thing, I notice most of the laminated tops are made from glued 2x4s. Is there any reason not to use 4x4s, with half the amount of boards?

Thanks!

[Aaron Rappaport]

The home depot down here in Bowie, about 30 miles south of you, often has mixed lots of #1 and #2 Doug Fir 4 x 4s. There was a lot of discussion a few months ago here about the benefits and drawbacks of 4 x 4s. My take home lesson from that was that if one is going to use 4 x 4s, it really pays to cull through the stack at the lumberyard/borg to find the ones that are quartersawn. More recently, Wilbur Pan started a thread over on the woodnet handtools forum about repairing his bench top - made out of DF 4 x 4s, because the front top corner got well out of square, probably because the front 4 x 4 wasn't quartersawn, so moved into a parallelogram cross section as it dried.

On the other hand, Wilbur's repair was successful and didn't seem too onerous to make, so there's an argument for using 4 x 4s, even if the only ones you can get are rift sawn. In the thread I linked to, well-respected boat-builder Bob Smalser warned about twist in 4 x 4s, which is certainly advice to take into consideration as you make your decision.

[Jeff Bartley]

One of the problems with 4x4's is that they can be too wet. If I was looking for bench top material I'd start asking around, might even check the woodmizer list to get the numbers of any local woodmizer operators. There's a guy in northern Harford county that my Dad took some logs to years ago that has a stash of air dried lumber. The bottom line is to ask around. Don't look for FAS lumber, try to find 1 or 2 common. If you're really serious about finding lumber and hit a wall PM me and I'll call a couple folks up there. Oh, and you also might check a place in Timonium, can't remember the name, it's off Padonia Rd and is a high-end lumber supplier.....they might have something cheaper but the last time I was there (4 yrs ago) their prices were really high. That being said it's a candy store for woodworkers!! So much to see!

[Michael N Taylor]

I buit mine using 2 4x12 laminated beams used for structual headers and beams in home construction. Mine were pretty wet but I let them acclimated until they were at a good moisture content. I had to saw 3 inches off one side and 1.25 inches off the other on both beams to eliminate 80% of the cupping. I ran them thru the planner to get them fairly flat then gluded the 2 together and ended up with a top 3' thick and 21" wide befor I put a 13/4x51/2" apron on it. The top was easy to hand plane flat and has stayed that way for over a year now. It really made it easy since I did not have to rip and glue multiple pieces together. If you can find some that has been stored inside and is not wet it should eliminate most of the cupping.

[Julian Amin]

Oh, and you also might check a place in Timonium, can't remember the name, it's off Padonia Rd and is a high-end lumber supplier.....they might have something cheaper but the last time I was there (4 yrs ago) their prices were really high. That being said it's a candy store for woodworkers!! So much to see!

Jeff,

Might you be referring to FreeState Timbers? I've been looking at their website and may stop by this weekend.

That being said, I'm a little unsure of the acclimation process. I don't have, and probably can't afford, a moisture right now, so how will I tell when the wood is acclimated? Does buying kiln dried lumber make acclimating unnecessary?

[Sean Richards]

I wouldn't get too hung up on using SYP or whatever just because someone wrote about it in a book - use what you can source locally. Pretty much anything that is not too soft, not too knotty, and reasonably stable will do for a bench top. Not sure what the situation is in the US but I can always get cheaper better timber from a dedicated timber supplier than at a home center type outlet. If you are on a tight budget demolition sites can be a good source of cheap dry timber.

[Michael N Taylor]

I have never heard of Free State Timbers but you can look up 2x4 Glu-Lam beams and see what I am talking about. The accclimation process was just to place them in my shop with good support and air flow and let them dry out. By the time I had the framing member cut and glued up, planed to size and cut to final dimension the beams were at 12% moisture which is good for Nashville, TN. The beams I got were yellow pine but I think that any good pine, fir etc would be a great top for many years.

[Jeff Bartley]

FreeState Timbers! That's the one. Acclimation is when you bring lumber into your shop to acclimate to your shops humidity level before working. A week or two is usually good for me. Don't confuse this with drying lumber from green! Green wood has 50% plus moisture content.....kiln or air dried you want your lumber to be somewhere around 12%. If you're buying lumber from a place like FreeState, or any mill that dries lumber, they'll have a moisture meter and can verify moisture content. I don't have a moisture meter either but my local mill (which is great) has checked lumber for me in the past.

[Julian Amin]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Initially I thought I had decided on douglas fir. However, the lumber yard that I contacted was charging 5.85/lf for 2 x 8s, which I'm not sure I can afford.

My home center has fir for cheaper, but its either "white fir" or just "fir". My home center also has tons of spruce for cheap.

So now I have to decide between this white or ambiguous fir and spruce. Thoughts?

[Paul Incognito]

If you feel like driving north to Wilmington, I can get you a great deal on some old growth yellow pine or some fir 3x12 beams.
I have a bunch of reclaimed beams in my shop you can help yourself to free of charge.
Paul

[Julian Amin]

If you feel like driving north to Wilmington, I can get you a great deal on some old growth yellow pine or some fir 3x12 beams.
I have a bunch of reclaimed beams in my shop you can help yourself to free of charge.
Paul

Thanks for the kind offer, Paul. I'd prefer to find a cost-viable option closer to home because I don't have the best truck to haul a lot of lumber, but I will keep you in mind.

Anyone ever used spruce for a bench?

[Johnny Kleso]

Its better to pay a little more and use 2x12s ripped to 2x4s as the wood is much cleaner..
When I made my bench about 8-9 years ago I just glued up 2x4s no jointing or planing before gluing..
It has been tarped out doors where I work that whole time and is still in good shape..
new.jpg

[Jim Matthews]

Get a couple laminated tops from Ikea.

Glue two of these together, to get a substantial top.
Spend your time on the base, where there's interesting joinery.

Drill some holes, hang a vise and off you go...

[John Coloccia]

I'm with Jim on this one re: buying a top. When we do the workbench building class, we have the main bulk of the top built for us. It's uninteresting work, it requires a lot of time and effort, and did I mention it's very boring? Then the tool tray gets added, and the face/square dog holes are built and added. It's actually just a small part of the bench that's pre-made, but it saves a tremendous amount of time and effort and you can get on to the more interesting parts. Your local mill may even be able to toss it together for you. Not sure what they would charge, but it will be flat and ready to go.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

As someone who did pretty much all of their bench with handtools, (out of lack of proper tools) from a combination of rough lumber and a poorly made slab from craigslist, I have to say, anything that saves you time is a god send. If I ever do it again I'm going to suck it up and buy pre-surfaced lumber, and/or find the use of a proper jointer and planer to prep those boards. Truing up the top now (which I have to do again at some point) isn't too bad (although with the original pre-made slab I bought, half the strips want to be planed in the other direction, which is annoying) but all the prep work was a pain in the rear, and took up valuable time I could have been making something on the bench, not making the bench.