Workbench timber choices

[yoboseyo]

I am building a hardwood workbench. I'm planning on using up my hard timbers, in particular non-interesting ones that are hard to work like ironbark, to save me from having to pay for timber or using up the good stuff.

The problem is now that I have selected all the long pieces for the top, I have a mish mash of leftover pieces for the legs that aren't regular sizes or types, so I have to wing it a bit. I want the legs to be 100*150 thereabouts, which will involve a lot of laminating. The pieces are mostly recycled 2x3, 2x4 and 3x4 from construction

My questions are:

1. Is it ok to use different types of timber for the legs, if they are all similarly hard and dense, e.g., blackbutt, ironbark and spotted gum? If so, is it ok to laminate these different species for one leg?

2. Is there a rule that workbench leg timbers should be more solid than the top? Say in a pickle can I make them out of Vic Ash, or even pine if the top is ironbark?

3. If I have to laminate in both length and width directions, say in 2x2, will that compromise the strength compared to laminating in one direction or having a single piece?

Tell me if I'm overthinking it, as it is a just a workbench

[DomAU]

First of all - 'just a workbench' - Blasphemy! Haha :laughing1: No such thing as overthinking it.

As for the base vs top timber I don't think it matters at all. To me the top timber would be more important. Something with tight closed grain, hard but still easy to plane flat and light in colour is ideal IMO. Hence why Maple is widely used. I'd be concerned Ironbark would be difficult/hard work to hand plane flat in future.

As for mixing species in a lamination I wouldn't. If you do, then looking at (and trying to match) the radial and tangential movement of the timbers and the orientation would be more important than the density IMO. You might get away with it, but it depends on how much the humidy varies in your workshop/area. Other than visually I don't think laminating pieces together to make them wider would be an issue. I'd also be thinking it's a heap more work to laminate so many pieces. Depends on your priorities I guess.

Finally, depending on your design, consider the trade off between the time spent to build it (which can be considerable) the cost of timber along with your priorities/preferences/personality. I am glad I sourced nicer timber for mine as after the investment in time and energy and the fact i will only ever make one bench would have had me regret trading off on the timber.

Cheers, Dom

[Tom trees]

I've done that with with my entire bench, as long as it's not going outside, or getting wet, should be more stable, in regards to movement and ripping itself apart, well....compared to stock that is that thick and not dried correctly or still wet.

498582

If you're going to do racing stripes, I found it much less faff to laminate first and then rip afterwards for the centreline.
498583

Do you have enough stock is the question, I've got loads of reclaimed stock, can barely move in there.
The trouble is...I want everything even, so I don't really have loads of stock in that regard, well not now anyway, especially after cutting four big strechers too short.
Likely something is going to be tight regarding dimensions,
so I wish you Good luck on your venture.

Tom

[Biggus]

I'm kinda with Dom on this one, not entirely surprising given that we've both just made maple top Roubos, but I wasn't set on Maple for my top and would happily have gone for Vic Ash or Tassie Oak had I been able to source some but Maple was all I could get easily. There's a lot of work in making one of these things and it would be disheartening to put in anywhere up to 100 hours of work into a bench and have it start to delaminate after all that.

Others scoff at spending big money making a bench, but if you're going to build a Roubo I reckon you need to do it properly, buy once, cry once and all that, just like with other woodworking gear.

[Tom trees]

Robbie O'Brien's bench (luthier tips du jour) might be of interest, if wanting to see what mixing contrasting species on a base looks like.
Hopefully this picture is large enough to see it.
498598

[yoboseyo]

Thanks for all your input!

It seems like there are conflicting philosophies to this, and I'm glad that proponents of both exist. I've spent more free time than I care to admit thinking about which bits of timber I'm going to use. Try as I might, I can't disregard timber choice altogether, but at the same time, I don't want to have leftover pieces that were going to go into this work bench but now are unlikely to get a guernsey on any project.

I've tentatively decided that it's going to be grey ironbark top and red ironbark legs. I couldn't bring myself to use a softer timber for the legs than the top. And I'm ripping up some ironbark slabs to do it. I still won't have enough, so I'm going to mix in a contrasting species for zebra pattern legs, but I'll try to keep the pattern consistent. The piece right under the leg vise will be different again, as that's the best place I can think of to hide a non-matching piece.

I'm dressing everything square and letting the pieces climatise with the environment before cutting them to size, so I still have time to change my mind.

So much for not overthinking it!

[orraloon]

I dont think that mixing the leg woods would be a huge problem provided the jointing and glueup is done right. A wipe down with acetone before gluing helps a lot. Other option is have each leg a different wood. 100x150 are huge legs. Perhaps the one that takes the leg vice that size but 100 square is plenty. Pine would also make an OK undercarriage and I have noted some people who do use pine for this paint the leg assembly for contrast. Anyhow as you will have noticed I am in the functional workbench camp.
Regards
John