I used southern yellow pine 2 by 12s that I cut up for legs 3 plus feet and top 8 plus feet and split to 2 by 6 on table saw for my Roubo. Like someone mentioned it is a good balance between harder and softer woods at a great price
Roubo Top - 1.jpg
I used southern yellow pine 2 by 12s that I cut up for legs 3 plus feet and top 8 plus feet and split to 2 by 6 on table saw for my Roubo. Like someone mentioned it is a good balance between harder and softer woods at a great price
Roubo Top - 1.jpg
Happy 2022
The year of rmbench build. My 1st workbench build.
Shop is a small area (15×20 )in my 3 car garage Need advice on wood and style..
TOP - 6/4 BEECH or other and why not Beech (I have some I bought years ago at McClendons in Atl.
BASE: Oak or other and with just stringers or a solid tray base ( My current Grizzly bench is just a place to accumulate small tools and shaving/dirt
Any advise is greatly accepted and appreciated.
BTW - At least 1 vise is a 20" InKline turbo I'm excited to incorporate.
I built mine out of an Elm tree that came down on the back of the family farm. It is quite ornery to work with (twists, moves, a lot of residual stresses), I do not recommend.
But such a bench takes a fair bit of lumber and once I got it together (with some walnut and cherry contrast), it looks good and functions very well. I can not imagine what it would cost paying retail for hard maple. But those are beautiful benches.
I am of the camp: build it from the materials you can get your hands on.
I was planning to use a 6" X 12" gluelam for split top bench. They are typically built with doug fir.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
I think most people who were going to the trouble and expense of building a split top Roubo with $1000 of high-end Benchcrafted vises wouldn't cut costs on the lumber. Beech and maple are the standard species. Lumber prices and availability may dictate your choice. Currently, ash is less expensive than all other hardwoods and even eastern white pine where I live so if I was building right now I might consider ash. Fir is too prone to splintering IMO but obviously some guys on this thread are loving it. My bench is rock maple, my dad's is beech, and I like them both. I can't seem to find a fir bench on the Benchcrafted or Sjobergs websites.
I figure that whatever wood I use for the top, I'll need to flatten it. My initial thought was to use a router sled.
The idea to use a gluelam came to me after reading Christopher Schwarz's book THE ANARCHIST’S WORKBENCH (great book BTW, and the can be downloaded for no cost). He goes into great detail about wood to use and two he recommends using are yellow pine and doug fir. Buy good, dry construction lumber. Preferably 2x12's and rip them in half, machine them and then laminate them. That's basically what a glulam is, and it's dry.
I'm very curious why you think this would be more prone to splinters?
I used Hard Maple, easy enough to flatten with a sharp hand plane.
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I made this 3" hard maple bench about 25 years ago. It has been my primary work surface all these years.
I flatten it with a No. 7 every five years or so. And I don't notice it's not flat.....it just seems like it's the right time to do it.
I've tried different finishes over the years. The last time, I used a water based General Finishes product. No other reason than I had some on hand...and I like the non-ambered look of the maple.
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