Replies

1. 
   RANGERP75R | May 04, 2004 07:32am | #1

   Phillip

      I believe that Frank Biscardi built a bench from hickory. I used to use it quite often. Yes, you can use it for a work-bench as well as pine for that matter. An yes, it's hard and tough.

      The draw-back to hickory is the way it can splinter because of the nature of the grain and that's not a major draw-back if you select and work it carefully. I will pass to Jon Arno on the nature of it's movement compared to our traditional maple or beech which is the traditional European selection for benchs.

   Regards...

   sarge..jt

   Proud member of the :  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

2. 
   UncleDunc | May 04, 2004 07:49am | #2

   http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages/?msg=117.1

   http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages/?msg=12311.1

   http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages/?msg=14289.1

3. 
   jonsherryl | May 04, 2004 05:36pm | #3

   Phillip, as for work bench tops, you could do a lot worse than hichory, but it has a few minor drawbacks. Like other members of the walnut family, it is a semi ring-porous wood, so the earlywood tissue tends to trap dust, making it harder to keep clean...and also, it has a slightly higher propensity to wear unevenly than does maple, which is a diffuse-porous species with extremely fine and even texture. Hickory can't match maple in this respect, but it would be better than ash or oak in terms of wear characteristics. 

   Also, rigidity is important in a bench top and, while hickory is denser than hard maple, it is a much more elastic (springy) wood...However, this slight disadvantage is easily overcome by making the top thick enough to minimize flexing.

   As for stability, both hickory and maple have their problems and, in order to minimize the risk of distortion, the best approach is to construct the top as a build-up of narrow strips in the same way maple counter tops are made.

   With respect to color, blond woods make better bench tops, because they are more light reflective. So, in the case of both hickory and maple it helps to select sapwood stock. The hearwood of most species of hickory develops dark streaks that are darker than typical hard maple heartwood...but, again, this is an avoidable negative, if you select sapwood.

   Personally, I'm not a big proponent of "designer" work benches. I don't think of them as an end in themselves. They are a tool and their purpose is to aid in the making of other things. They certainly are more significant than a disposable jig, but I've never tried to make mine works of art. I use cheap materials (plyscore) and achieve rigidity via the design and bracing. I top them with hardboard and replace this wear surface when it gets too dinged up to simply seal with whatever out-of-date varnish I have on hand.

   ...But if you've got your heart set on having a bench topped with the best species Mother Nature makes for this purpose, the wood to go with is Pau Marfim (AKA; guatambu: Balfourodendron reidelianum). This South American member of the citrus family (Rutaceae) is about as good as it gets when it comes to being blond, extremely fine textured, wear resistant and dense.  

1. 
   EdHarrison | May 04, 2004 07:02pm | #5

   Pau Marfim, aye. Someday....

2. 
   PhillipB | May 05, 2004 08:00am | #10

   Jon,

   Bless your soul. I truly appreciate you jumping in on this. I was hoping that you might have the time to do so.

   You have no idea how close I was to buying a truckload of hickory for constructing my workbench. I've had to make do with a heavy laminated oak table top on saw horses for many years. The top was adequate but the lower half was pretty scary. Now that I believe we're settled in Oak Park, the time has come to build an authentic workbench.

   Today I compared a board of hickory to some hard maple that I have and because of what you said, my vision is definitely clearer on this. And yes, the grain of the maple is much tighter than the hickory, the maple much more light reflective and so on. All of which are desirable characteristics to have in a workbench or at the very minimum, the bench top.

   I agree wholeheartedly with you when you mention 'designer' benches versus the more utilitarian variety. I recall James Krenov saying in one of his wonderful books that a workbench will cost a fortune but build the very best regardless of the cost. He mentioned nothing on what it had to look like, just that it had to be flat and sturdy to do good work on.

   I have a book written by Sam Allen entitled 'Making Workbenches' in which he demonstrates the construction of a bench top made from laminated 2x4's over which is laid a sheet of masonite. This will definitely get the job done. This is similar to what you prefer except that you, in all likelihood, utilize several sheets of plywood in the creation of the top. This method seems preferable due to the ease of construction and to the resultant rigidity which is superior to the 2x4 construction method.

   The cover of FWW #167 depicts a photo of an almost perfect workbench. I say almost because I think that the space beneath should be utilized for storage. Otherwise it is a bench to be admired but one which is functional as well. So in comparison to the 2x4 model, without any hesitation at all, I'd opt for the maple marvel simply because it has what I would refer to as tradition. Without a doubt it has more pizzazz than the plain vanilla 2x4 version, but is it better? Does it possess more functionality? I think not. Will our work be better for it? Doubtful.

   I suppose all woodworker's or at least the serious ones, have to go through this age old process of selecting an 'appropriate' workbench which will serve their needs. As humans we are inundated with some much information from every conceivable source that it makes it very difficult to make a decision that we are truly comfortable with. I believe that more often that not we hear that nagging, little voice telling us that we're spending too much, we could have done better or we should wait or ... and so on. And in regards to workbenches I dare say that in all probability, the first workbench which each of us constructs will not be our last. So, we can expect to hear that nagging. little voice start up again unless, of course, we a fortunate enough to build the correct bench the first time out.

   At any rate, I'm now a lot wiser than I was before thanks to you and the others who joined in on this thread.

   Thank You! again to everyone who joined in.

   Regards,

   Phillip

1. 
   scooter1 | May 05, 2004 11:46pm | #11

   The one thing that I would add to this debate is dog holes.

   IF and this is a big if, you can make them square to eachother, you can fit two stops together at 90 degrees and use the bench for assembly. That is hard with dog strips, but darn near impossible with plywood.

   On the other a door blank over my cruddy bench is usually my assembly table.

   Regards,

   Boris

   "Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934

1. 
   Biscardi | May 05, 2004 11:57pm | #12

   Sarge mentioned my bench above. I made two bench tops out of 8/4 ash. Ash is cheap here in Virginia. It works fine.I don't know much about hickory.

   I think cherry is a wonderful wood to smoke beef/ pork and chicken.

   Frank

1. 
   RANGERP75R | May 06, 2004 05:06pm | #13

   Frank

      Ash, hickory, pine or whatever.. Turn the lights off and they all look and function the same!  he........

   Regards...

   sarge..jtProud member of the :  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

2. 
   PhillipB | May 09, 2004 05:40pm | #14

   Boris,

   'but darn near impossible with plywood.'

   What you said did not fall on deaf ears. I do see the plywood/bench dog problem. Thank you very much for taking the time to bring that to my attention.

   What I will probably do is purchase a 2 1/2 inch butcher-block style maple top from Highland, Woodcraft or whoever and just build the base myself. We seem to spend so much time making jigs and apparatus' that we have don't leave ourselves much time to be productive. That's my problem any way.

   Regards,

   Phillip

4. 
   jackplane | May 04, 2004 06:36pm | #4

   Hickory is not used nearly as much as maple because quite frankly, there's not nearly as much hickory to be had. It's been over-harvested years ago, and was almost extinct commercially in most locales. If you can find some, more power to ya.

1. 
   SDBaker | May 05, 2004 04:47am | #7

   Ask anybody from Texas and hickory is one of the best woods for smoking BBQ, so a lot of it gets burned up!

1. 
   bobhallsr | May 05, 2004 05:01am | #8

   Well, it's good to know hear that in Texas, they know what bbq cooking is.  So many folks now think that if you smear a sweetened, tomato sauce on a piece of meat you've got BBQ.  I asked the folks in Oz what Aussie wood was good for BBQing and they thought I was crazy.  They all use gas when they throw a prawn on the barbee.

   Sorry 'bout hijacking this thread but someone else did mention hickory smoke. :-)

   BJGardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland

2. 
   PhillipB | May 05, 2004 05:17am | #9

   I used to work in El Paso, the armpit of the world, and most folks said that mesquite was THE WOOD for BBQing. Never heard anyone mention hickory. Sounds OK to me though.

   I'm getting hungry.

5. 
   user-5880422 | May 05, 2004 01:22am | #6

   In Europe they use a lot more beech than maple... because that is what is available. You can make a bench out of practically anything.