Thread: The workbench top finishing debate!

'Best' is so personal. How do you want it to look, how often do you want to refinish it, what do you do on your workbench?

Asking everyone for their opinion will definitely re-open a debate. I know I came to watch the fur fly just from the title.

Give everybody more info about your needs, and they will give you a better answer.

Nothing. There you go, that's the easiest answer.

Originally Posted by Eli

'Best' is so personal. How do you want it to look, how often do you want to refinish it, what do you do on your workbench?

just built the workbench - pine, very basic (first ever project and as i have been warned previously, will now surely be looking at upgrading soon!)
not fussed as to how it looks - plan to making children's toys/smallish furniture ie bookshelves/coffee tables etc - so anticipating many glue/paint marks to come.
how often to refinish? less is better i guess but don't mind if it's an annual job (is that realistic?)
cheers
steve

Some people put a sacrificial top of MDF or masonite which you can replace when it gets chopped up. Might not be a bad option with a pine bench, because it will mar very easily.

Originally Posted by silentC

Some people put a sacrificial top of MDF or masonite which you can replace when it gets chopped up. Might not be a bad option with a pine bench, because it will mar very easily.

another option could be melamine, you can wipe most things off it, easy replaced, the only issue I could see would be its slipperiness

My bench top is a 30mm thich piece of particle board with Melamine each side. Picked it up for peanuts years ago. I don"t have to worry aout paint , glue etc as I wipe it off ( See Silent C ). Every so often I get to it wit achisel as a scraper and the limps o goopthat I didn't clean up successfully come off easily.I screw Jigs to it and generall y don't look after it that well and it has stood 12 years of that!

The above suggestion about a sacrificial top is a good suugestion too.

Thanks to all for the advice...truly appreciated.
cheers
Steve

The best (I suspect only) reason to finish a workbench is to protect against water and movement caused by changes in humidity that might make the bench go out of square.

On that basis what you need is a finish that will stop the bench taking up too much water from the atmosphere.

The good news is that that is what they all do - so my finshing tip is to use up the scrap of paint, linseed oil, danish oil, shellac, polyurethane that you have already so long as it will give you 2 coats. if you have more than one of those scraps - build another bench or use the one which otherwise will go off before you get around to using it...

Originally Posted by jmk89

The best (I suspect only) reason to finish a workbench is to protect against water and movement

I don't like things sticking to mine, so I waxed it originally with U-Beaut traditional (after a few coats of NC lacquer to seal it first). It looked pretty flash at the time, but it's a bench top.

The wax does give a slick surface, but nothing a clamp or two doesn't fix, and water, glue and paint can be wiped off, or in the case of glue "popped" off if it has already cured.

Cheers,

P

and apologies for posting this in woodturning forum...oops
will remove my L-plates soon, promise!
cheers
steve

Originally Posted by SteveAdelaide

and apologies for posting this in woodturning forum...oops
will remove my L-plates soon, promise!
cheers
steve

No worries, thread moved

I'm with Midge. Oil it so glue doesn't stick to it.

Don't you guys read the paper?

I'm with the oilers. Boiled linseed oil protects against moisture, inhibits glue etc from sticking and is relatively cheap. I slap it on using the excellent premise of a little and often.

Jerry