Alternate Workbench Materials?

[Steve Mathews]

I was fortunate enough to purchase a very nice workbench from another member on this forum that has temporarily replaced the need to make one. But I still find it enjoyable continuing my research on workbench designs and construction. After reading The Workbench Book by Scott Landis and part way into Workbenches by Christoper Schwarz I was surprised by the limited mention of materials other than wood being used. As an alternative to the traditional approach in making a workbench a YouTube video (link below) by Jeremy Schmidt describes using a concrete core wrapped in wood for the top. Comments? What about using steel in some parts of the workbench? How about some of the dense polymers available today for the top?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSJEy35J5vg&t=902s

[Jim Koepke]

Another recommendation often heard is to use locally available wood or material.

Being a woodworker it is only natural to consider making a work bench out of wood. Of course it doesn't really matter much until you think about using holdfasts, bench dogs or other bench accessories.

Mounting a new vise might be a bit tricky on a bench made with cement in the core.

A wood top allows one to place a new dog hole in a handy spot if so needed.

just my 2¢ Two Cents.png.

jtk

[Steve Mathews]

Jim - Good point about adding future dog holes in concrete. How about High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)? It's typically more dense than hardwoods used for workbenches and can be just as easily formed, maybe more so. Maybe one of the reasons it hasn't caught on is the price, which after doing a little checking can easily exceed the cost of hard maple.

I'm still surprised that in both of the books mentioned above how little attention is given to materials other than wood for the construction of workbenches. Does tradition play an inordinate role in this?

[Jim Koepke]

Tradition is certainly involved, It is kind of like being a high end cabinet maker but going to Home Depot when your kitchen needs new cabinets.

Wood is what woodworkers work. We can hone our joinery skills while making our own benches and tool storage units.

After a few years of nicks and dings a wooden bench can be cleaned up quickly with some hand plane time.

jtk

[William Adams]

There was a very interesting design a while back in a woodworking magazine which used pipe clamps and their fittings for much of the structure.

When I was very young, my father picked up a bunch of angle iron w/ slots and holes and some sort of not quite corrugated sheet metal (Marston mat?) and made a workbench out of it --- which unfortunately was left behind when we moved. I still have a short length of the angle iron, and have pondered making such a bench again.

[Ron Bontz]

I just made ( a quicky ) a 63" x 34" work bench out of laminated 2 x 4s and 2 x 6s for the legs and two sheets of laminated plywood for the top and bottom. The top is about 2.875" thick and has three jorgy vises mortised into the top. I only spent about $50.00 on plywood and what ever the contact cement cost. It is heavier than anticipated and rock solid. My main bench top is in the re work stage. Still nothing fancy, but quite functional. Some day I may even build a really nice bench complete with bench crafted vises. oooooo aahhhhhh.
Well, a guy can dream, can't he? IMG_3623.JPGIMG_3624.JPGIMG_3628.jpg

[Bill Houghton]

My bench top, made as a temporary bench when the boys were entering the teens*, is a commercial (thus, heavy) solid core door. The boys are now 45 and 40 respectively; maybe I should be thinking about a new temporary bench.

*I figured, why get fancy if the boys will just mess it up? I was right; removing the lake of glue from one son's project took a while.

[Steve Mathews]

Ron - Nice workbenches!

OK, here's my idea. Make a slab out of ground up HDPE (milk containers, etc.). There are plenty of how-to videos on YouTube. Something with a dimension of 36"x72"x4" should weigh around 400 lbs. Any cuts, holes, etc. that can be made on wood can be done on HDPE.

[Ron Bontz]

Well I will have to research that one. I have never heard of it. Any reason so wide? I work on mine from all sides, and wanted to be able to have more than one person working on the bench at once. Beyond that, they are just too heavy to move.

[Keith Outten]

If your already going to have a wooden bench in your shop and need a second bench you might consider metal. I have a steel bench with a 1/4" thick stainless steel plate for the top and angle iron frame and legs. I welded 2" receivers at both ends under the top so I can mount grinders, multiple vises and a host of other tools like benders, etc. This one is perfect for wet work like wet sharpening planer blades and chisels. I also need to polish Corian using wet sandpaper on occasion along with other chores for welding/grinding jobs and working on machines.

I have in the past placed plywood on top of the Stainless top when if fits a project. Because the steel table will handle more weight than most wooden benches and is lighter I use it to stack lumber on top and place it beside my planer when I am planing lumber. I also use the steel bench for lots of painting jobs, any paint that gets on the bench top is easily removed with a scraper or my ROS.

In the picture below I put a plastic sheet on top of the stainless plate and put my large heat press on top for a big sign project I was working at the time.

[Steve Mathews]

Well I will have to research that one. I have never heard of it. Any reason so wide? I work on mine from all sides, and wanted to be able to have more than one person working on the bench at once. Beyond that, they are just too heavy to move.

The size mentioned was just arbitrary to calculate the weight of the top using HDPE. The same size wood top would weigh about 100 lbs. less. I think HDPE for the top offers a lot of advantages in ...
Weight - It is more dense than wood.
Durability
Shape Retention - Once the top is level and flat it should stay that way as opposed to wood, which is affected by moisture and will move in time.
Repairability - Material is relatively easy to repair with plastic welding, etc.
The only disadvantage I can see is the cost, which can be more expensive in manufactured sheet form than wood. The idea of using recycled HDPE to make a home brew sheet was to reduce cost. I really don't know if it's possible on that scale.

The whole point of starting the thread was to explore alternative materials in making a woodworking bench, a topic surprisingly lacking in both of the books mentioned above.

[Brett Luna]

Christopher Schwarz described building a bench out of laminated veneer lumber (LVL, Microllam, Glulam, etc.) in Popular Woodworking a several years ago and I've read other articles about it as well. Interesting stuff with some advantages but me, I'm for natural wood. I think it's most amenable to the tools and techniques we know and use in terms of both construction and maintenance. Re: HDPE, I don't weld plastic, I wouldn't want to learn just to rehab a bench top, and if I did, I don't see myself appreciatively running my hand over it when I'm done.

[Ron Bontz]

I must confess. I do like running my hand over a freshly finished table/ bench top. Even the plywood made bench is nice and smooth. But for how long. Who knows. I am not sure I would want a HDPE top for a work bench, but I would think it would make an excellent glue up table. Nothing would stick to it. Interesting bench top idea, anyway.

[James Waldron]

I rather suspect that we won't soon see a 4" thick, 72" long bench top formed of recycled HDPE milk bottles. Particularly not as a small shop or garage or basement project. No matter how much milk your kids drink.

Debate is futile. (Apologies to Captain Picard.)

[William Adams]

I used an HDPE cutting board as the spoilboard (and for threaded inserts for workholding) on my Shapeoko 3 for a while --- it worked well, and had all the noted advantages, but one disadvantage which I worried about was it being slippery and increasing the tendency of things to shift (which fortunately never happened).

They do make large chunks of this stuff for making park benches and such --- might be more affordable (and are often made from recycled plastic bags).