Thread: Bench Construction

One day when my pile of round tuits is high enough I'm going to build a shelf to demonstrate just how strong wood posts are in compression.

35 x 70 is plenty strong enough to support your bench and the included hanging space.
However, by itself the 35 x 70 frame won't be stiff enough for you to do much with your bench.
but there are lots of ways to make the supporting frame stiffer. To some extent it all depends on how good looking you want your bench to be.

A bench for what? To do woodwork on?
To place things on?
Within reason I think you want your woodwork bench to have a lot of mass. I E more timber.
Also I agree that it would be easier to make it rigid with 45 x 90.

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I think if you glue 3 or 4 pieces of the 35x70 together to make thicker legs and rails it would be solid but that's extra work. It would be quicker and easier to get bigger stock. If you have a big pile of the 35x70 already then that would be the deciding factor.

Pete

Originally Posted by QC Inspector

I think if you glue 3 or 4 pieces of the 35x70 together to make thicker legs and rails it would be solid but that's extra work. It would be quicker and easier to get bigger stock. If you have a big pile of the 35x70 already then that would be the deciding factor.

Hi Pete
in OZ, common stock sizes for "construction" pine are 35 x 75 and 45 x 90 -- larger stuff like what is common in Canada is hard to come by and expensive to boot.

If the OP can tell us what he wants to use the bench for, it's possible to suggest a design that will be stiff enough.

Mass is another issue, but there are ways and means of adding mass -- a shelf loaded with bag or two of sand or cement is one way.

He could just glue a pair together to make "L" pieces that would stiffen things up a lot too.

Pete

Hey Guys,
I've been reading this thread and the one about bench top thickness but thought I would wait until I have something to say before replying.
My question about bench top thickness is because my line of thought is that if you need that thick you go steel - I've never seen a bench top thicker than 25mm.

Design criteria for the bench was determined by the top I got for free - 2300x600x30. This is just a pottering bench, hopefully some woodwork but mainly just pottering and storage.
I would have liked to go 90x45 on the frame but finances just don't allow it so 35x70 it was - I ended up using 13 lengths of 35x70x2400, at $3.50 a length from bunnings the spend was $45.50 plus about $10 for bolts.
A couple of oddities of this bench is that I have made the back legs 2200 high with an extra two cross beams so I have lots of hanging space, I've also made the bench 1100 high plus the top, this is to suit back issues I have. Although now it's together it does look a bit high - I'm not going to disassemble it and shorten the legs, I'll see how it goes and if need be jack it up and take 100mm off the legs.
As you can see in the pics, I have put two doublers on the back rail - this is because I chose not to recess the top in to the back legs so those doublers are extra supports for the top. That cross rail will have another length of timber put on it so stuff can't drop off the back. The back edge of the top which is curved will get filled in with silastic or something so I don't need tweezers every time a screw or nail goes in there.
At this stage bench is together less the two back rails and the top, I may add extra bracing if I think it needs it. Eventually it will get a wood vice and I'll mount my scroll saw on the end.
Two other pics I have added, the joint I used (the beam is tilted for clarity) and a square I bought from bunnings - empire brand, US made from machined aluminuim, thick enough to use as a router or saw guide and less than $20 from bunnings.
Thanks for all the advice and information guys.
4.jpg5.jpgsquare.jpg

It looks like a neat job as long as you are aware it's a light weight frame and we still don't know what you will be using it for?

At 1100 mm high this means you probably won't be planing often on it as. To do that efficiently requires being able to get some weight over the top of the work otherwise it results on putting more strain on arms and shoulders. Some power tool use may also be more difficult.

Its easy to say in hindsight but given the lap joints used, I would have recommended making at least the top part of the frame using 90 x 45 mm, and suggest putting two more cross pieces in the middles of the top open part of the frame. I would also have made the front top piece of the frame out of something larger still, maybe two 70 x 45 laminated on edge to make it extra strong strong front since this is where 90% of bench action takes place and its where the vice goes.The nice thing about your bolted together structure is it's relatively easy to replace some of these pieces if you wanted to.

Not sure about hanging stuff off the back of a bench, it might be better to simply hang tools on the wall behind the bench so you can pull the bench away from the wall and overhand workspaces over the back if needed. The two such benches we obtained at the mens that were like this have had their backs taken off.

Anyway much of this is just speculation until we know the bench's intended use, oh and you still have the future option of removing some often bottom of the legs.