benchtop

[Matt Ranum]

7 years ago I built my bench top out of 3 layers of MDF and the top and sides are covered in 1/4" tempered hardboard. Works fantastic! The size of mine is 32" x 72" and did a 6" grid of 3/4" bench dog holes covering the whole top. Sounds excessive but with some bench cleats made to fit anywhere I see fit it works great for squaring up projects.

Only problem I had was I designed it to sit on an open frame and I misjudged the allowable distances for the material and it sagged a little bit after a year, but I changed the base and it straightened itself right back out.

MDF is a great product but it has its limitations too.

Matt.

[Ray Knight]

How do i know if a board at HD or Lowe's is SYP. They don't appear to be labeled, or are they? Ray

[Lee Koepke]

How do i know if a board at HD or Lowe's is SYP. They don't appear to be labeled, or are they? Ray

they are usually marked. the tag shoud say syp or spf.

almost all of the stud grade stuff ( 2x4 or 2x6 ) will be spf. anything 2x8 or larger will most likely be syp.

big box retailers (or most places south of virginia) dont sell syp for anything smaller than 2x8s.

oh yeah ... spf is MUCH lighter and 'whiter' in color. syp is a bit heavier and definiately yellowish in color. obvious grain pattern too.

[Greg Hines, MD]

The benchtop that I built came right out of Popular Woodworking, and is 4 layers of birch plywood. It holds dog holes well, and is very durable.

Doc

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Mine is cheap, quite stable, and really massive. I got two left over 8' long piecs of 2'x6" laminated beam, and put them together to end up with a a bench top that is 4x7, and weighs a bunch. Still a work in progress, but I don't have any complaints. There is a picture of it I posted with a bunch of saws, a month ago or so.

[Steve Wargo]

4 layers of MDF, yellow glue and yes the top masonite is for ease of replacement when the top gets worn.

[Greg Cole]

At about $8 for 8 footers I have more than enough for a 7'x34"x4" benchtop for less than $100. I figure a 4" thick top of Douglas Fir will take quite a few flattenings before it's used up (it will probably out live me) and for the price, I can build several of them for the price of one Maple top.

Guess that depends on where ya buy your sticks...

Greg

[Chris Padilla]

4 layers of MDF, yellow glue and yes the top masonite is for ease of replacement when the top gets worn.

Steve,

I plan something like that for my benchtop as well. I picked up several 18"x36" maple butcher blocks for a decent price.

My plan was to laminate 3-4 layers of 1/2" MDF as the core, 1/2" ply for the bottom, and roughly 1" thick END-GRAIN maple for my top made from the butcher block and then wrap that sucker in maple. I've got a Veritas twin-screw for the end-vise and I forget what I picked up for the other vise. Veritas round dogs will dot the landscape and the whole heavy mess will sit on Noden's adjust-a-legs.

I planned to use Unibond 800 for my glue. One day I'll get to it...who knows when....

[Robert Rozaieski]

Rather than a laminated bench top, consider a top like Chris Schwarz built for his English workbench (based on Nicholson's bench). The top can be made of 2 or 3 8/4 boards. Stifness is gained by cross bearers under the top. Just let it equilibrate to the shop space and remove the same amount from each face and cupping should be minimal with kiln dried stuff. This top uses much less lumber than a typical laminated top. I've laminated 2 tops and I would not do it again. My next bench (if I ever build another) will be an English bench.

[Steve Wargo]

Chris,
I'm not sure I'd put butcher block on the top and not on the bottom. The plywood and Butcher block will move completely differently than one another. Probably be best to butcher block the top and bottom to prevent the top from warping. You can always resaw the butcher block and use it on top and bottom. Even a half inch layer on top and bottom would be nice.

[Wilbur Pan]

I often see that the rationale for using MDF over 2x material for a benchtop is the increased mass. The density of Douglas fir or Southern yellow pine, which seems to be the more common woods that 2x material is made of, is about 500-550 kg/m3. The density of MDF is 600-700 kg/m3. This does make MDF more dense than 2x material, but I'm not sure it's the huge difference that it's made out to be.

In addition, a 2x4 turned on its side should give you a top that is on the order of 3 1/4 inches thick, accounting for thickness lost by planing the surface smooth. Three sheets of 3/4" MDF is 2 1/4" thick. The mass of 3 1/4" of wood that is 500 kg/m3 is pretty close to 2 1/4" of material that is 700 kg/m3, if I've done my math right. Of course, Steve went with 4 sheets of MDF, which makes my analysis not quite applicable. But you get my point.

For what it's worth, I'm making a workbench with 2x material. I figure the weight difference is negligible, based on the calculations above, I like the look better than MDF, and since my bench is going to be a hand tool bench, I figure there's nothing better to get my planing techinque up to snuff than leveling a workbench top.

I think that the reason MDF seems to be so much more dense is that one usually works with a big sheet of MDF at one time, whereas 2x material is moved around in smaller chunks. Think of it this way: if it takes 4 sheets of MDF to make a workbench top, as in Steve's case, dividing a workbench top into 4 chunks of 2x material will be leave you with pretty heavy chunks of wood as well. But I've never seen a workbench top made of only 4 chunks of 2x material laminated together.

But either 2x material or MDF will give you a very serviceable workbench.

[Don C Peterson]

It seems that the biggest problem with MDF is it's lack of stiffness and structural integrity. Without pretty extensive bracing, an MDF top will sag given time. A bench top made from SYP or Douglass Fir is pretty comparable in price, and doesn't need the kind of bracing that the MDF top would. Ultimately that makes for a simpler design which is also more flexible to boot. Not that you can't be happy with your MDF bench, that's just the reasoning I used to decide what to make my bench out of...

[Matt Martyn]

How would a top laminated from 2x SPF spruce work? Looking to make a workbench without spending a lot. I havn't been able to find any construction grade SYP or DF aound here. Would the spruce really be too soft?

Thanks.
~Matt

[Mark Stutz]

Several years ago, there was an article in WOOD, IIRC, regarding a bench. They used two layers of MDF with solid wood banding, and a 1/2 inch top of QS Maple...flat sawn stock ripped and turned on edge. They attached it tothe top using construction adhesive to account for any wood movement, although they didn't expect much since it was, in effect, QS. Haven't tried it to know how it works, though.

Mark

[Lee Koepke]

How would a top laminated from 2x SPF spruce work? Looking to make a workbench without spending a lot. I havn't been able to find any construction grade SYP or DF aound here. Would the spruce really be too soft?

Thanks.
~Matt

personally, i think it would.

if you look for 2x12 stair stringers, and rip them to size, THAT should be SYP