workbench top

[newtowood]

I am going to make a workbench, and for the top i was considering Jarrah, which is about the only hardwood we can buy up here. I was going to use planks biscuit joined together. Any comments or assistance would be appreciated.

[Bob38S]

G'day newtowood,
depending on what you are wanting to build on your bench - ie flat surface or a traditional recessed centre panel etc --could I suggest that you use 17 or 19 mm form ply. It's strong, straight and is coated on both sides, easily screws to your frame and when you have "used up" one side you can flip it over and start again.
All the best and welcome - as a fairly newcomer myself - let me say you are joining a nice, humourous and helpful group of people.
Bob

[MajorPanic]

Welcome Newtowood!

Jarrah would be an ideal top for a bench.
Before you start designing a bench read ALL you can get your hands on about them.

Ply might be fine for a first effort but if you are going to build a real bench do a lot of research first.
Concider what you are going to do in the woodwork field & you will find a certain design that handles your requirements.

A bench is an extension of you, it should be built with all the care & finesse you can muster. Just remember it will be an example of what skill & passion you can bring to a project.

[newtowood]

further to the benchtop, does anyone know any timber sellers that would transport to Darwin. Our timber supplies are limited to mainly pine and ply.

[Bodgy]

Save the Jarrah and make something out of it. Yr benchtop will get rooted quick smart. Ply or MDF should be fine for your first go. Next time around you can make an informed choice, Jarrah if you so choose.

[Cliff Rogers]

At the risk of being sent to the orange room.... :cool:
PS. What bodgy said. (2nd sentence)

[redwood]

Think im in luv ^ my kind of gal:cool:

[zenwood]

Classy stuff, Cliff, real classy.:p

[LineLefty]

Mum! how could you!

[Clinton1]

But could you identify the species that made up the table top from the "imprint" if you looked at the "front side"?
You might have to look real hard.

[Muddy]

I don't think SWMBO would let me have a benck topped like that in my shed.

[Iain]

THat was the end of the day after Cliff came to Melbourne, even I don't remember it:p :p :p

[Barry_White]

At the risk of being sent to the orange room.... :cool:
PS. What bodgy said. (2nd sentence)

At least she looks like she had a good time anyway.

[Auld Bassoon]

At the risk of being sent to the orange room.... :cool:
PS. What bodgy said. (2nd sentence)

:D :D :D

[Auld Bassoon]

THat was the end of the day after Cliff came to Melbourne, even I don't remember it:p :p :p

What! That was at Rob's place!? Cor, must have had more red than I recall :eek:

[Iain]

must have had more red than I recall :eek:
Can't remember, but remember that used to be a female impersonator before he got into WW:rolleyes:

[Cliff Rogers]

Can't remember, but remember that used to be a female impersonator before he got into WW:rolleyes:

STRUTH!!! & you blokes had the hide to call me Aunty Jack when Daz stuck me in Ginger's body.... :rolleyes:

Can you imagine it? :eek:

She/he'd have been one MEAN Dame Edna. :D

[cellist]

Hi New2wood. Here in the hills outside Perth, Jarrah is also the go for things like this, although you should know that the price of the stuff has skyrocketed in recent years. Not much in the way of wide boards still available at all, but you can get rough sawn or skip dressed jarrah from what is now Gunns in Welshpool. Be that as it may, I'd like to share some thoughts about your benchtop.

Jarrah is great, but what are you going to be doing on that benchtop? If it's going to be carefully treated, that's fine. But if you are going to be using it for all and sundry projects, my thinking is, why jarrah?

I have exactly what you are thinking of building in my workshop now. I built it out of 50mm boards, 180mm or so wide. The bench is just under 2 metres long. I joined the boards using not biscuits but an 8mm plywood spline. I simply ripped a groove in the edge of the boards (always making sure to use one the same face for the fence!) using an 8mm bit in my router. I stopped the groove about an inch from the ends of the boards, so the spline is completely concealed.

For glue, don't mess around. Make it epoxy imho, and when you are clamping and gluing, you'll want to clean it up as you cramp it using metho. Hardened epoxy is a pig to remove later, although a good file does the trick best.

I always had problems using my vice and bench dogs though. the stress that you put on the work is transferred to the dogs, which relies purely upon the glue joint. Some thoughts: Make a top out of some hardwood ply and fit it over your jarrah. You can always replace that, and your precious bench can be reserved for work that won't hurt it. The ply will help the dog problem as well, though I recommend adding a cross-piece under the bench where the vice is fitted, so that the boards are mechanically fixed together. In that way you can use the bench dogs fearlessly.

Make sure that if your wood isn't close to quarter-sawn (if you look at the end grain, the rings are almost vertical in this case) then you should be careful to alternate the arc of the grain so that cupping isn't a problem in the future.

One other idea: You can get hardwood flooring quite easily these days. I laid a lot of metres of it in our home recently...blackbutt. It's much harder than jarrah, and if you laminate the 90mm tongue and groove boards to a plywood slab, it will look fantastic and you'll never regret it.

Hope that helps!
Michael


I am going to make a workbench, and for the top i was considering Jarrah, which is about the only hardwood we can buy up here. I was going to use planks biscuit joined together. Any comments or assistance would be appreciated.