Top for Workbench

[Rick Hubbard]

I’ve been considering building a more functional (and solid) workbench. I think I have pretty well figured out what I want to do, except for the top.

I have a supply of oak that has been laminated into 12 inch wide by 1 7/8 thick planks. I’d like something a bit thicker than 1 7/8 thick for the top so what I’m thinking of is laminating 2 pieces of MDF then gluing and screwing the planks for the top onto them (after they have been planed and jointed).

How many things could go wrong with this?

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I do not like the idea to laminate different wood... probably they will react differently to air humidity variations and thus can warp the top of your new workbench...

[Phillip Mitchell]

The oak will move seasonally (expand and contract) a lot more than the MDF will, which will almost certainly be an issue. Do not glue and screw solid wood (more than ~ 1/4" thick) to a substrate (MDF, plywood, etc) that doesn't have the same expansion and contraction qualities as solid wood. Researching wood movement to gain a deeper understanding of how wood changes in temp and humidity will help you incorporate that knowledge into any design you have concerning solid wood, whether it be a workbench or furniture.

When you say laminated into 12" wide x 1 7/8 thick, do you mean it's a glue up along the edges (to make it 12" wide) and a lamination glue up along the faces (to make it 1 7/8" thick?) or is this 8/4 stock that has been edge glued to be 12" wide?

If 8/4 stock, I would consider ripping the 12" boards down to around 3-4" wide, turning them on their sides and laminating them together (face to face) to make a 3-4" thick bench top x however wide you want it. You will want to consider orienting your boards so that the grain along the edges (which will be the bench top) is running in as much the same direction as possible to make it easier to joint, plane, flatten and re-flatten. You can do the lamination in stages by gluing up a width of bench top that is easily handled by your jointer and planer in order to square up each laminated section of your top after the initial glue up. Then you can glue up those initial laminations to form the whole bench top and will likely have less stress and more success coming out square and flat than try to glue up an entire bench top in one session and hoping that is comes out flat and square.

Hope this helps.

[Rick Hubbard]

Hi Phillip

To answer your question, yes the oak is 8/4 that has been edge glued.

Your response confirmed what I already suspected DON'T DO IT I was just trying to get someone to encourage me to be lazy.

As long as I'm going to go through the lamination process I'll probably use SYP 1X8, (ripped and planed) just because the SYP is easier to handle.

[David Eisenhauer]

I'm thinking you may mean 2x8, not 1x8? I ripped 2x10's and 2x12's to get better lumber and also be able to eliminate a few more knots.

[Prashun Patel]

I'd go with Philip's suggestion. Your resulting top will be thick, stable, and pretty.

Take care to orient the laminations in the same direction so that if you ever need to reflatten by hand, you'll resist tearout.