Great-Grandpa was a railroad engineer back when steam was king. In his inimitable way, he made a work bench — not for woodworking — out of some sort of very hard 2 X 11 X 75, white colored wood, sitting on a welded steel angle-iron frame. Not only the table top, but the bottom shelf is made of this wood. (I dunno, maybe he was planning to mount a bogie on it.) The assembled bench has to be at least 100 years old; and would probably survive a small-scale thermonuclear blast.
Now I have the table, and I’d like to salvage the wood to make a woodworking bench. I plan on stripping the paint, adding vises, dog holes, etc. and mounting it to a to-be-built wooden frame.
So, couple of questions: About every workbench I’ve seen here has been made either of hardwood laminates, plywood, or MDF. I see how those materials would yield a flat, smooth table, but wouldn’t planing the planks from the old table do just as well? Should I put a skirt around the table top? Do I need one to mount the vises? Assuming the carriage-bolt holes are not where one would want to put dog-holes, what should I do about them? Any one have any tips, or other ideas of what I should do?
Thanks!
Randy
Replies
respect the bench
As far as possible I'd keep the integrity of the old bench top. You'll need to add a skirt for the vises, but I would suggest you do that (and the base as well) in an entirely different wood, or paint it white, or do it in some way that doesn't try to blend with the old wood. I would want to let the old top be itself, even allowing (up to a point) boards that are not perfectly planed. And of course leave the old bolt holes just as they are. On the occasions that you need a perfect surface to work on you can just lay a piece of ply or MDF on the bench. The slight inconvenience that it causes is more than offset by seeing the original bench top every day.
That piece has already survived 100 years. Don't mess with it.
Unless there are structural issues with the angle-iron frame of the old bench, I think I'd try to use it largely as-is. You might need to add spacers, for example, to mount woodworking vises, but I don't think Great Grandpa would mind you doing that. Dismantling the old bench just to use the wood might be another matter, though.
You could use Garrett Hack's bench as a starting point
Randy:
In the FWW Winter 2009 Tools & Shop Issure #209 there is a workbench by Garrett Hack. He has a unique way of building the top by laminating three layers of boards that may be helpful to you. I agree with David Ring, make the apron with some contrasting wood and maintain the intergrity of the top you have as much as possible (great suggestion David). You may want to do an internet search on Roubo workbench for additional ideas. I wouldn't mess with what you have until you have a firm plan in mind.
Some pictures of your Great Grandpa's bench would be of interest to several of us here on Knots.
gdblake
Wood is our medium.
"About every workbench I've seen here has been made either of hardwood laminates, plywood, or MDF."
There's a good reason for that - we are most familiar using wood. Metal would work fine, but we are used to working wood.
And I agree with the others.
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