Thread: Formply for Workbench Top

My previous workbench I had for 20 years had a sheet of formply for the top and the point about the dark colour is valid - can be a PIA! I now have one of Cadaghi timber 90mm thick and love it to bits because I can now hammer stuff without everything bouncing off the bench and the lighter colour helps a lot. Going for two sheets thick will help you but you will still get some bounce I suspect

It is too dark and slippery is subjective - good for outfeed
bad for holding work still to sand, drill etc.

How about 18mm MDF with a 3mm sheet over top which can be replaced as required?

If you're not using hand tools, eg. chopping mortises or hand sawing, you probably don't need a great deal of heft to the workbench. For a budget option, MDF sheets finished with shellac/oil/poly would be fine and adhesives won't stick to the finished surface. As Sam said, you can always use a thinner skin and replace it after a few years. For a heavier option out of plywood, you can cut the plywood into strips and laminate the faces together, so you have an end grain work surface. It'll stand up to a decent amount of abuse and can be planed/sanded down if it ever gets too beat up. Again a finish over the top would make it reasonably easy to clean.

If it's purely an assembly table and place to put power tools, the black surface probably doesn't matter too much. For hand work, probably a bit dark to and the reflections would be annoying.

There's also the important factor that if you gaze into that abyss long enough, what if the abyss gazes back at you? Probably more of an existential problem than one would like while woodworking.

the big green shed has a dark red coloured form ply which might be slightly better then the black.

its still formply but its just not rated for outdoors/cement work like the proper black stuff is, but its also cheaper. I'd say give it a go and if you don't like it after a while just replaced it.

I prefer a solid timber top but there’d be nothing wrong with 25 to 40mm muck (MDF) covered with Masonite.
Good Oz formply is now very expensive but would make a great glue up bench.
H.

Another option if you want slippery/ smooth is a sheet of melamine.

Like others have said it will be great as the saw table outfeed but not so good for other woodworking. Formply would also be good for a router table top. Building a saw into a bench has become popular on line but it means clearing the bench every time you want to cut something. That could get to be a pain after a while. Fair enough if space is so limited you have to but it would be a last ditch resort for me.
Regards
John

As I've posted several times before, a solid core door is sufficiently flat and heavy to make a good bench top. Made in volume, so cheap as chips from Bunnies, no laminating of sheets required. If you're really keen, attach a sacrifical layer of 18mm ply to the top to bring total thickness up to about 50mm.

Just a moment...

Or there is even a 40mm thick version for a few more $$. Bosh.

what is the solicore made of? Pine or MDF/particle board type product

WD,
I had a workbench once with a build in Tablesaw,(Dewalt), an I unfortunately found it a pain in the A, ever time I wanted too use the saw, an the bench as an out feed table, meant moving everything else that ends up on Benches.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by qwertyu

what is the solicore made of? Pine or MDF/particle board type product

The ones I used to make benches years ago were definitely tree wood cores, not MDF. My latest bench has been made using an old IKEA melamine benchtop which I had lying around (32mm thick and very solid/heavy) as the bottom layer, with one of Bunnies many timber panels laminated on top of that (screwed through from underneath).

Just a moment...

Total benchtop thickness almost 60mm, very heavy, very flat, pretty cheap. Frame underneath is made from reclaimed 100 x 100mm hardwood that a neighbour was throwing out - looked grey and crappy, but machined up very nicely on the jointer/thicknesser. All joints mortice and tenon by hand, pulled in tight with drawbored dowels. It'll see me out.

Originally Posted by qwertyu

what is the solicore made of? Pine or MDF/particle board type product

I cut a large hole for a dog door in one of those recently. The very broad rails and stiles were pine, and the infill was thin stacked laminated strips. All covered with a wood veneer of a few mm

I used to have a paulk workbench with 17mm form ply top and it was great, especially for gluing, nothing sticks to the stuff.
I currently have a workbench with a formply top on the patio and it seems to handle the weather OK