Replies

1. 
   PeteMohr | Dec 16, 2009 05:48pm | #1

   I'm a fan of SYP workbenches.
   I'm a fan of SYP workbenches. You can find some good boards in the 2x10 / 2x12 pile. Don't bother with the 2x4's / 2x6's. Pick out some good ones and cut them to rough size then bring them in your shop, sticker them, let them dry a while and you'll have the makings of a great bench for little $$$ !

   pete

2. 
   DonStephan | Dec 16, 2009 08:53pm | #2

   Just don't try to rip 2x8's
   Just don't try to rip 2x8's to make a bench 3" thick. Tried that about ten years ago. About 25% twisted up like snakes on a hot sidewalk (kindling), another 25% were useable only with a lot of clamp pressure.

3. 
   benchbolt | Dec 19, 2009 01:28pm | #3

   Made mine recently out of ash. Couldn't justify the cost or need for hard maple.

4. 
   JeffHeath | Dec 19, 2009 02:13pm | #4

   It all depends on your usage. A professional typically wants a hardwood bench for a couple of reasons. As a woodworker earning a living in the craft (not doing such a good job of it, lately) I wanted a bench made from a species that would hold up very well against the rigors of hand work, planing, and especially carving and chopping dovetails and joinery, etc.....And I also want a bench with as much MASS as I can get. When doing a lot of hand work, you need the mass to keep the bench from skittering across the shop floor when you're face planing a rough board.

   My very first bench (that I made) was made from doug-fir from the home center. It was cheap, and I had no money. I still have that bench, as I use it as my finishing bench, and as my sharpening station. It is only 20 years old, but it looks like it has had the snot kicked out of it. It dents very easily, and gouges and gets marred up the same.

   My new (12 years old) bench is made of hard sugar maple. It's 4" thick, and 8' long. I don't know what it weighs, but it is HEAVY, and doesn't move when I'm working on it.

   So, if you're a hobbyist who is going to treat your bench like a piece of furniture, and be very careful with it, trying not to knock the snot out of it, then you can use any wood you like.

   If you're trying to accomplish any of the things I mentioned above, then a good, heavy hardwood would be better.

   There are lots of good species of wood for benches. Use what you can get your hands on that won't cost you a bundle.

   Jeff

5. 
   DonStephan | Dec 19, 2009 07:42pm | #5

   My first bench was 2x4's
   My first bench was 2x4's jointed and planed and glued to make a top about 3 1/4" thick. Still together, but as noted above dents easily. Second bench was Southern yellow pine mentioned above. Built a Klaus bench this summer using white ash and love it. Ash was much less expensive than maple and the grain looks great. Only regret was thickest ash was 8/4 so spent a couple days laminating to get thicker stock.

6. 
   Joe Sullivan | Dec 20, 2009 11:12am | #6

   My bench is 10 ft long and +- 22 inches wide. Until recently is was made of SYP 2x12s carriage bolted to three sets of very heavy legs. Given its size, it is plenty heavy and stable. However, it did dent and bang up too easily, and was not thick enough for some purposes -- especially holdfasts. Recently I overlaid the old bench with salvaged t7g white oak flooring formerly in my living room. It seems to be fine, is now thick enough and more dent resistant, and was of course, very inexpensive to do. I've laminated more of the same oak (after planing flat) to make a planing hook to go with the John White style planing beam with which I have retrofitted the bench as a part of this remodeling.

   If I had not already had the pine bench, I would have considered flattening the back of a lot of the oak and laminating them sideways to make a 2+inch thick oak bench.

   Salvaged flooring is available pretty much free from flooring contractors. Usually, they haul it to the dump. You have to pop it off the plywood substrate and pull the nails. It comes off VERY easily with a crowbar. I put three or four ten-year old boys to work, They thought it great fun and had about 200 bt ft of it pulled, sorted by size, and stacked in a bout a day of work spread over about a week. I pull the nails as i go. It is a simple matter of hooking a vice grips to the nail and pulling it through. No trouble at all.

   And, as a bonus, it is green, ecological and all to use the salvaged timber.

   Joe