Best kind of wood for a work bench top? / Poll

[richard poitras]

Best kind of wood for a work bench top?
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There’s a guy on another forum that is selling custom made butcher block tops and I am ordering a 32’’x 72’’x 2.5’’top but I am not sure if I want hard maple or hickory? Both woods are the same price of $150.00 for a top. From a hardness factor the hard maple is rated at 1450 and the hickory is rated at 1820. Which do you think would be the best wood for a workbench top? Please pick one .
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Thanks Richard

[Kevin Bourque]

Maple splits and chips easily, hickory does not.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Maple because it won't splinter on you.
Salem

[David Kumm]

Hickory is stiffer although that is probably irrelevant in butcherblock. I prefer a softer wood as I'm clumsy and would rather dent the top than what I drop on it. You won't be able to tell the difference but either will be a to flatten. Dave

[Guy Belleman]

Well, I have two work benches, one was roughly made out of hickory to provide working space as I made a more formal Roubo style bench out of oak. I got the oak beams off the local penny ads paper, which were left over from a construction project. Both benches were fully constructed from the same wood, so no mixes.

I like both benches and both woods, both are enduring well. A couple of the glue joints between hickory boards have come apart slightly, and the hickory top has warped more, but I think that is all due to buying the boards new, in other words, wet, and they are still drying. No problems with the oak boards, but they were kiln dried, fully 4S finished, and sat in the garage for a year before I got to the project. I did make a router table with a maple butcher block top and it although it is only 30" across the grain, it swells and shrinks in size almost a quarter of inch with the annual changes of humidity. Which is okay, except that the change is different in the other woods used and of course, the metal t-tracks don't change at all.

I love hickory. My neighbors kitchen cabinets are made out it and they are gorgeous. So, I am kind of partial to the best use of hickory, and a nice bench would be a great use of the wood. Although many article writers suggest that building a heavy duty work bench is a good first project, it may not be, depending on the type of bench attempted and the skills of the builder. I am glad I practiced building a couple of benches first before attempting the Roubo with a 4 inch top and 5" square legs. A lot of the work was by hand.

[Howard Klepper]

Hickory's pores will hold more dirt and crud.

The bench meisters hang out more on the Neanderthal forum.

[Mel Fulks]

There is widely sold brand of top that you rarely see develop any cracks and there are some custom ones that I have seen start to crack as soon as they got a sink cut out.Ask for a couple of references. Price certainly sounds reasonable ,but you seem to be particular. Either wood is fine if it is dried well and he has warm dry conditions to store it and glue it. If you won't be happy with a good sturdy top that starts to open up some , better be careful about where you buy.

[Rick Fisher]

Maple of Beech ..

[ray hampton]

do anybody fill the pores up with a sealer ? I am talking table tops , unless you plan on pounding on the top either wood will do, a steel plate will made a good pounding surface

[Mike Heidrick]

Did not see laminate as an option. Cant seem to kill mine off to warrant creating a new bench. Takes a beatings, cleans up with chemicals or a quick ROS pass or two. I love it. Was a n extension table from a PM66 and the top got a new base and a Wilton Vise when I got it 10 years ago.

[Clint Olver]

I like the light colour of maple to work on. It's also has very tight grain and cleans more easily.

C