Thread: Work bench advice please?

It's a worry when I am being quoted

Now that I am using the bench I don't regret the mass for a second (haven't tried to move it yet). It is just great to work on as it does not move. If you can get heavy and dry timber to build up to larger beams then go ahead.

If I had not had the option of the timbers that I did use then I would have probably done the same. You won't regret a good solid bench.

Originally Posted by Groggy

It's a worry when I am being quoted

Now that I am using the bench I don't regret the mass for a second (haven't tried to move it yet). It is just great to work on as it does not move. If you can get heavy and dry timber to build up to larger beams then go ahead.

If I had not had the option of the timbers that I did use then I would have probably done the same. You won't regret a good solid bench.

I was wondering how long before you noticed your name in my post!

So you don't think that gluing the 1500 lengths together to make up the entire top will pose strength problems?

Funny tho, when I told the salvage yard man how thick I was making my work bench, he kinda had a little stroke!

Ta

Originally Posted by johnredl

So you don't think that gluing the 1500 lengths together to make up the entire top will pose strength problems?

If you prep and glue correctly the top will be plenty strong enough, don't worry about that. You may need to plan ahead on how you are going to move and flip the top though!

That sounds like a good price for that timber.

If your just looking at a flat top then you may not even need to glue them. I've made a similar bench out of pine and just screwed the lengths of the top down (145x45 I think tho), while bolting the base together (95x45). I've had some minimal movement but nothing thats caused me any problems. I had intended to plane it flat but got distracted into buying lots of planes, rather than actually using them. If I need a perfectly flat top, then I lay a supported sheet of 19mm ply over it. You'd need to stagger your joints as you've suggested, and a quick squiggle in sketchup seems to suggest a 1400/700 overlap would work well, look good, and be a good use of your timber (p'rhaps - depends on the ends I suppose).

My father has a 'carpenters' bench with a well in the middle (he is a carpenter) and he's lamo'd two lumps of 100mm jarrah together on each side of the well. Been that way for nearly 30 years now if I remember correctly. The well itself is jarrah floor boards, and the main body is all 100mm same as your looking at. Sez he's going to will it to me, but i doubt I'd be able to move it or disassemble it, so heed Groggy's warning if you do glue it! .

Oh, and I'd suggest bolts for the base and robertson or similar drive screws for the top and any side bits. These can all be removed for easy dissassembly so you can move it, and it'll let someone reuse your be-u-tiful jarrah in a hundred years time

Cheers
OG

Originally Posted by Old gunnie

That sounds like a good price for that timber.

If your just looking at a flat top then you may not even need to glue them. I've made a similar bench out of pine and just screwed the lengths of the top down (145x45 I think tho), while bolting the base together (95x45). I've had some minimal movement but nothing thats caused me any problems. I had intended to plane it flat but got distracted into buying lots of planes, rather than actually using them. If I need a perfectly flat top, then I lay a supported sheet of 19mm ply over it. You'd need to stagger your joints as you've suggested, and a quick squiggle in sketchup seems to suggest a 1400/700 overlap would work well, look good, and be a good use of your timber (p'rhaps - depends on the ends I suppose).

My father has a 'carpenters' bench with a well in the middle (he is a carpenter) and he's lamo'd two lumps of 100mm jarrah together on each side of the well. Been that way for nearly 30 years now if I remember correctly. The well itself is jarrah floor boards, and the main body is all 100mm same as your looking at. Sez he's going to will it to me, but i doubt I'd be able to move it or disassemble it, so heed Groggy's warning if you do glue it! .

Thanks for ur advice Gunnie. The 1400/700 sounds like what I'm after. I'm a long way off assembly, so I'll definitely give the bolting idea a thought.

Re weight, I have a 50mm bluegum outdoor table that threatens to put ur back out when u think about moving it, so I'll definitely consider a removable top

2100x600 should be plenty big enough from what I'm reading?

Make sure you get all the grain running in the right direction so you can plane the top to flatten it and also clean it up every few years. Jarrah does not like being planned against the grain.

Regards

Originally Posted by Polie

Make sure you get all the grain running in the right direction so you can plane the top to flatten it and also clean it up every few years. Jarrah does not like being planned against the grain.

Regards

Great idea, thanks Polie. Might end up being a mixed top as salvage yard had fair bit of jarrah, but also fair bit of other mixed stuff included.

Would it pay to biscuit joining the top, or is 100mm with good glue sufficient?

I am right in assuming that pine is a bad idea aren't I? Too soft? I also found some really big Oregon boards at same place.

Originally Posted by johnredl

2100x600 should be plenty big enough from what I'm reading?

I had the room in my shed (6x4.5) so went for 2200x1050 to hold larger sheets, engines, the waldown drill press I'm refurbishing , and the interior of my car, but I'll be making my next one slightly smaller at about 900 wide so I can reach over it.

For a general purpose bench 800 would be the least I'd go to, otherwise stuff hangs over and gets pushed off. I do think it depends entirely on how much room you have though and what your going to do with it. Some of the smaller woodworking benches are absolute marvels, but I suspect they are also supplemented with other workspaces.

Cheers
OG

Originally Posted by johnredl

I am right in assuming that pine is a bad idea aren't I? Too soft? I also found some really big Oregon boards at same place.

I haven't had any problems with my (entirely) pine bench. 9 years now and going strong. Dunno how Oregon would go.

Originally Posted by Old gunnie

I haven't had any problems with my (entirely) pine bench. 9 years now and going strong. Dunno how Oregon would go.

Has anyone used Oregon?

Second post here shows Burnsy making a jarrah top. Seems to know what he's doing

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/greater-things-51594/

(hope I'm allowed to do this )

Originally Posted by johnredl

Great idea, thanks Polie. Might end up being a mixed top as salvage yard had fair bit of jarrah, but also fair bit of other mixed stuff included.

Would it pay to biscuit joining the top, or is 100mm with good glue sufficient?

I am right in assuming that pine is a bad idea aren't I? Too soft? I also found some really big Oregon boards at same place.

what I don't like about Jarrah is that it is dark and I prefer a lighter coloured surface -- but that price would sure make me think again

the desirably of pine depends on what you will be doing with it.
it's too soft and easily dented for some tasks, for others the softness is not an issue.

Oregon is fine for a bench -- dad's is oregon at least 65 years old and apart from some dings in the primary work area -- fixable by swapping the boards around -- it's still going strong

100mm is a more than sufficient glue surface for strength -- provided you can produce good matching glue surfaces. If you can't biscuits wont help to make it stronger.

Biscuits will help with aligning the boards, but IMO theere are other, easier ways of doing this.

Hey, all you BIG BENCH fiends, before you all go off to construct your behemoths, can I ask why they have to be so monsterous???

The work surace of my bench is 1900 x 500, with a full-length well at the back that is 160 wide. It is mostly about 55mm thick, but has a piece 75mm deep for the dog holes and the apron & skirts are also fairly susbstantial. The wood is Sugar Maple (because that was the only suitable wood where I was at the time) which has a density of approximately 730 Kg/M(cubed), cf Jarrah at 820Kg.M., and if I recall correctly, weighs about 160lb in old money, sans vises. It sits on a reasonably solid set of legs - haven't ever tried to weigh them, but they would weigh a good deal less than the top. So the whole thing must come in well under 150Kg.....

My first point: I'm sure this bench is as solid as you could wish for - I do a LOT of hand-planing and I have never had even a hint of movement under the most severe provocation. I made sure the undercarriage was solid & not likely to wrack, and at 25 yrs plus, it remains as solid as the day it was finished. I have had to move this bench quite a few times, and as I got older, was grateful the sucker doesn't weigh a single gram more! when I first made it, I could lift the top on & off by myself relatively easily -but it's a struggle now .

My second point: Think carefully about what you really want your bench for. A bench is primarily a holding tool, and I would think hard about what holding functions you need. (Groggy has done that more than anyone I've ever seen before - there can't be a single object of any shape or size he can't hog-tie on that monster of his! ). I do mostly free-standing furniture type projects, so I need to be able to work comfortably on pieces that are mostly less than about 1.5M long. The tail vise & bench dogs are the mainstay of my bench - I would use them 80% of the time, front vise 10% and other hoding methods (clamps, dovetailing vise, etc.) the remaining 10%. The dogs can hold pieces up to 1.9M long (only once or twice in 25 years have I wished I could squeeze in a longer piece). The 500mm wide work surace has never been a limitation, because the actual area of bench in use at any one time is really quite small. The rest so easily becomes a repository for the junk that accumulates during any sizable project. My toolbox is right beside the main work area, & I try to put tools back as a I finish with them (so I can find the darn thing next time it's needed!). But I am not always diligent, & they, plus offcuts & other stuff often pile up & start to get in the way.

So, advocates of monster benches, think: (a) You may have to move it, and you will never become younger. (b) The bigger the surace, the bigger the pile of stuff they can accumulate! If you are pushed for space, as most of us are, benches have to serve multiple functions, & need to be reasonably large, but ideally, it ought to be a work-holding station, not just another flat surace to pile things on. Better still, it should be approachable from all 4 sides (mine isn't - just don't have the room). If I had enough floor area, I would have my work bench in the middle of the room, my tool cupboard beside it, and a nice, flat, assembly-bench a couple of steps away.

I've often advised folk not to fuss too much about their first bench - just build a half-decent one & get on & make things. After a 5-10 years, you will almost certainly wish for something different. Then you will know exactly what you need, and you'll have a half decent bench to make it on.

Just one point of view.....
Cheers,