When to get the wood to build my bench

[Greg Parrish]

I used a mixture of similar hardness woods on my recent bench build. I already have a bench top out of hard maple and decided to go with soft maple as my baseline for this one. The vendor didn’t have enough soft maple on hand in 8/4 pieces so I supplemented with walnut and cherry. When I purchased last year, the price difference between them wasn’t that much like it is today. Regardless, it’s harder than pine/fir and softer than hard maple/oak/ash. The hardness level runs around 950 to 1050 I think for all 3 woods.

That said, on my vise chops, I decided to go with even softer Poplar. It’s around 540 I think but I was able to find a 3”+ thick slab of it that was kiln dried and intended for a fireplace mantle or something. It worked perfect for my vise slabs and my theory was that its softness would help protect work pieces somewhat when clamped. We will see if that theory holds true over time I guess.

This was my first real workbench build. I followed the Hybrid Workbench plans from The Wood Whisperer Guild. Sort of a short Roubo of sorts. Their plan called for face vises but I altered it to use a leg vise and sliding tail vise. I bought my wood last December and let it sit stickered until March of this year in my workshop. Started construction in March and here is where it sits today. Still needs the lower shelf, the center fill piece and hold fast holes drilled in rear slab but otherwise functional. Overall I love it so far and have used it on a couple of projects already. Only thing I may do differently if building again is leave the legs a little larger. I started out with 5” wide legs following a roubo plan but cut them down when I settled on this bench plan. I think it would have worked fine to leave them larger.

Good luck on your bench which ever way you end up going! Share pictures of your build progress.

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[Joe A Faulkner]

You might check around for hardwood suppliers in your area. I’m fortunate to have a couple of local mills within 15-45 minutes of my house and another within two hour drive on a route that I frequent several times a year. I can sometimes source local, dried hardwood at prices competitive with construction grade lumber. I don’t think there is any shame in using construction grade lumber. For some, their first bench is their last bench. For others, they may build multiple benches for their shop. My first bench served as a stationary out-feed table for my craftsman tables. It was built with construction grade 2x4 posts, 2x6 stretchers and a repurposed laminate covered desk top. I threw on a used 7” Wilton quick release face Vice. This bench is ugly, but it is solid, and serves a purpose. If you build the AA bench, I am sure you will be pleased with the result regardless of wood species. As noted, in your shop environment, you can expect some movement. If after the first bench, you find yourself loving the craft, but unhappy with your shop, that may motivate some rehabbing of your space to make it less susceptible to the climate. Be sure to share your progress. Have fun with the build.