Thread: general woodworking questions

Hi Trav,

Nothing wrong with pine, particularly for a bench. It has the advantage of being relatively cheap (so if you stuff up, it doesn't matter too much), fairly stable once dry and forgiving of mistakes. It's also softer than the wood you'll probably be using for projects, so the bench, rather than the project will get the dints and dings.

The main woods I've worked with are redgum, pine, tassie oak and blackwood; each of them has their own idiosyncrasies, but the skills I developed on pine transfer over pretty well. Reading the grain is reading the grain, regardless of the wood. Measuring is measuring, joints are joints.

Danaher's Timber and Hardware in Heidelberg is my local hardware store and has a decent enough range of woods; plenty of sizes of DAR pine and tassie oak, and a selection of DAR jarrah, redgum and sometimes other woods such as sassafras or blackwood. Their DAR tassie oak is a level above the stuff you find in bunnings - I have had no problems finding fine-grained quartersawn wood in 19 and 32mm thicknesses recently. They're open on weekends, if it's anywhere near you.

Cheers, Mike

If you do make it out of pine or other softwood, and don't want to risk damaging the top surface too much, a good tip is to buy a sheet of masonite (or similar) and just tack that to the top. It will hold up better against everyday abuse and if it gets chewed up or damaged, just remove it and replace with a fresh sheet, all while your softer pine surface underneath remains nicely protected. You will need to keep it away from excessive moisture however as it can swell. You can buy a fair sized sheet for around $20.

What I have been using for a work bench is a fold up table. Not the best thing for doing much hand tool work on so I also have a fold up workstation, which is basically a copy of the Black and Decker Workmate.

I know I will have to build a work bench eventually just trying to get the other stuff on the list done first. My personal thinking is to have this on the smaller size but heavy enough to use hand tools with. Again space is of concern.

Regarding timber, there is a place in dandenong south called brittons timber that stock all sorts of presentation grade timber ... Check their website.

I recently purchased 40 lineal metres of Sydney blue gum ... But they had a wide selection of others.

2 of the boards had checks in them ... And they offered to replace ... no questions asked. Very nice to deal with.

But they are not like a yard where you go pull your own. Ring and tell them what you want .. they will prepare, stack and wrap, then drop onto a trailer for you.



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Originally Posted by Christos

What I have been using for a work bench is a fold up table. Not the best thing for doing much hand tool work on so I also have a fold up workstation, which is basically a copy of the Black and Decker Workmate.

I know I will have to build a work bench eventually just trying to get the other stuff on the list done first. My personal thinking is to have this on the smaller size but heavy enough to use hand tools with. Again space is of concern.

Another option (although perhaps not heavy enough for hard hand-tool work) is a solid-core, flat faced external door clamped or secured to a couple of homemade break-down saw horses. Easy to put up and take down and stack against a wall when not in use. Not ideal, but a good portable solution at least.

Work bench: Metal frame (Handy Angle) with particle board top. Bench top is crowded so use two saw horses and an old hollow core door.

Timber:A. Lewis in Tucker Road Ormond. http://www.alewistimber.com.au/ Open on Saturday morning.

Also consider a fold up/down workbench hinged to one of the walls, something like this would do the trick: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/view...ing-workbench/



No end of plans and ideas out there, search for "small shop solutions" or "garage workshops". Here is a whole tonne of links to plans: http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2008/03...orkbench-plans

I like the idea of cabinets on lockable casters that can be bolted together in different configurations to form a big work space or a few smaller benches to span things between.

Cray, my thanks to you. On one of those links I came across this one:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...orking/4219723
(hope I'm allowed to put links in, if not my apologies...)

Its of similar dimensions to what I'm planning to build so with a small amount of modification gives me a really good sense of what to do.

Incidentally that fold down bench in the first link looks pretty good. I just figured if the bench is going to be small I'd be better with something that I can at least maneuver around and out of the way if necessary.

Might even fit some dolly wheels to one side of it as one of the other examples had done.

Thanks to others that have made suggestions too - and I'm definitely going to check out that timber place in Ormond as I'm in Highett so not far away at all...

Cheers,

Trav

Good choice, glad I could help.

Make sure to take some piccies and start a build thread in THE WORK BENCH forum.

Good luck!

Rather than create a new thread I thought I'd drop yet another question in here for those that can help.

I've not yet made my way across to any of the timber yards mentioned, but I was wondering if F17 would be a suitable choice for a workbench for the top and stretchers?

As I said, I've not yet been to anything other than the big box stores, but I noticed that I can get this in suitable dimensions and its not too expensive. Perhaps I can do better at a proper lumber yard, but keen to get some thoughts on this.

Getting a little frustrated, I can't make a start on the workbench until I shift an old motorbike of mine. Thought I had a sale on ebay the other week and the bloke has completely flaked out. Its taking up valuable timber storage and workbench construction space! Hopefully I can get it sorted this week.

Cheers,

Travo

F17 would be fine, maybe a bit OTT strength wise, but otherwise fine

just watch the grain direction when gluing up the top, grain running in the opposing directions on adjacent strips will be a bugger to flatten

I'll second the suggestion for the horses and door approach. If you don't have any permanent space, then this gives you a portable and temporary solution to having a workbench. I have a couple of permanent benches in the corner of the garage, and these are what I use most of the time, but if a project is bigger than will fit in the corner of the garage, or if I want to work outside, I have a sheltered spot under the deck where I can set up my saw-horses and an old door on top, and a clamp-on vice system that I can add if I need to. Sometimes I'll drive out the car and set it up in there. It's a bit low for comfortable work on small projects, but does the trick as a flexible moveable solution for larger work.

For the bench top on my main workbenches, I've always used melamine. It's not as nice to work on as a beautiful polished ash worktop with accurately space dog-holes, etc, but it's cheap and easy to build, and cleans easy. I can get oil or varnish or stain or glue on it, and I really don't care. Stuff just wipes off, and I have a paint-scraper handy to get off glue and varnish. It's lasted 15 years so far and still fine, but in a year or two, I'll buy another MDF sheet and replace it - real easy.

For a workbench frame, any sort of wood is fine, but you need a good solid support under the front of the workbench. Find or source an old hardwood beam for under the front edge of the benchtop. If you are going to put a vice on the bench (which you should if you can), then make the desk as heavy as you can, or bolt it to a wall.

Don't get too constricted by plans. Making a nice bench from plans is a nice project on it's own, but don't let that get in the way of making a good bench that works for you, with the budget and tools that you have available. Just get some wood and make it all fit together. If you get a vice, it likely won't be the same size as the plans anyway, so you're going to have to make it work based on what you have.