Thread: Joining Workbench Top

sounds reasonable advice, but never been in the Darwin region.
Over the past 50 years I have never had my worktop on bench other than boards fastened to leg frames.

Others like to have the workbench top looking like living room furniture so no doubt others will adviswe you differently.

Movement of boards was one of my issues which is why I decided to take someones advice (sorry mate cant quite remember who it was that told me but it was here and thanks be to whoever you are )

Ive cut the planks down to 2in and 2 1/2in boards and so far Ive simply jointed and thicknessed them and glued them together... HANG ON!!!... Ive drilled 3 sets of 1/2in holes through each section of the top (cut down planks are joined on their wide edges so the top will end up 2in and 2 1/2in thick 6 t0 8 per section for ease of weight and clamping in the build up process) these holes line up in three places along the boards... now what Im about to do is get some 1/2in threaded rod and slide them into the prepared holes and with trusty knuts in hand will bolt the whole thing together (as well as a final glueup)

I reckon this will stop forever any movement of the boards and any issues with glue breakdown and thus eradicate any consideration the top will have to come apart... the heads of the nuts will be hidden iwthin the outer skirt that Im putting on the edges and that will be bolted onto the edges with those wee hole covering bits being cut out of the same timber which will cover any sign of the bolts.... and thus shall it be

With the humidity issues up in the Territory and most places above the 26th Id suggest it would be a good idea that one should bolt the top together so the issue doesnt occur.

Cheers!!

Jow... Darwin as with most places above the 26th here in Aussie gets bloody seriously HUMID and temps fluctuate from extremely HOT and DRY to WET and bloody HUMID... and can change within a day several times... so the joining boards on edge may work for a bit Id think there would be some serious issues over time... the only out I could imagine is either aircon the shed not bloody likely every flamin Bwoothy an Theral (thats Bruce an Cecil without the lisp ) will be there in a right flash so its tuffen up in the shed ...so otherwise Id be making sure it hasnt got any way of moving anywhere ala the threaded rod and knuts evenly spaced along the top... England and the UK as we all know gets wet wet then even wetter with short periods of damp and moist between

The threaded rod in combination with the tongue was also suggested. Do you think i should just go with glue and threaded rod.

Gidday Newtowood
I think WildDingo is referring to my post

Originally Posted by McFly

Say for example if you want the top 2 inches thick. Rip your 1 inch thick boards so they are 2.5 inches wide. Turn them on edge so the 1 inch dimension is pointing up and down (like a 4x2 joist or a beam). The 2.5 inch dimension will be the thickness of the top.
If you glue the faces together rather than an edge joint like a traditional table top, then the thickness will be more than the 1 inch you started with.
See Sketchup drawing attached.Attachment 43975
In the picture I have used 3 inches as the thickness but same idea.

By using the threaded rod only the boards will be aligned well without the need for splines or biscuits. I have used 5 threaded rods along the length of my 1800mm long bench. I used 10mm rod but drilled the holes 11mm diameter so there was a little bit of room spare for the rods to fit. 1/2 inch holes with 12mm rod should work OK too. You don't want the hole and rod exactly the same size as it can be a bugger to thread the rod through the hole.
Good luck.

Shouldn't the rods be a stainless steel if humidity is that bad?

Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

I reckon this will stop forever any movement of the boards and any issues with glue breakdown and thus eradicate any consideration the top will have to come apart...

WD - many an optimistic person has thought to 'stop wood movement' - can't be done. Wood is a hygroscopic material - it takes up & gives of water depending on ambient humidity. Through bolts will hold things together, but seasonal movement is going to cause the boards to swell & contract whatever you tell them they're going to do. As they swell, the fibres under the nuts will crush, so you'll have to twitch 'em up now and then. No big deal, but it's a clumsy way to solve the problem, and not very "wood-sensitive", IMO.

If you build your bench with the inevitable seasonal movement in mind, you can easily cater for the annual back'n'forth. Be bold! Glue your benchtop together (it makes for a much better surface, on average) but attach it to the legs/underframe in a way that doesn't prevent a bit of seasonal movement.

I've got a 20 year old benchtop, made of not particularly stable wood, that is still happily stuck together, despite spending its first 5 years in a climate with even more severe annual moisture swings than Darwin could imagine, and the rest here in Brissy, where we probably get just as much of an annual moisture cycle as you do in Darwin.

Let the debate begin.......

Originally Posted by newtowood

I have some hardwood planks I am going to use to edge join as a workbench top. I have had it suggested that instead of gluing (because of the humid changes up here) I rout or saw a kerf in the edge and join the planks with some of that plastic plywood flooring tongue. I was advised not to use glue due to the humidity in Darwin.

Any comments or suggestions?

Hey New ,
I'm just a little south of you ,I am also building a bench at the moment ,I'm using a solid core door for my bench top , also entertaing the idea of gluing two doors together to get a thicker top. Hope fully it will be a bit more stable than a planked top .
I am also using a steel frame 65 x 65 x 3.2 RHS.

So some say yea and some say nay for the rods... no worries thats as it should be

Using the wooden block method of hold downs to the sub frame of the workbench to the top as you say that could work as well... Going on the one I made previously fair enough I did just place the 2in planks side by side but then again I did bolt the whole under table together with lag bolts and bolts and nuts... I have had occasion to go back and tighten everything up as the wood mooved not a big issue and Id thought it was mainly due to the bench being made within 3 months of the trees being dropped... but still that has held together pretty well

So Id think either way would be good to go

ahhh choice choices choises eh?

Originally Posted by Woodlee

Hey New ,
I'm just a little south of you ,I am also building a bench at the moment ,I'm using a solid core door for my bench top , also entertaing the idea of gluing two doors together to get a thicker top. Hope fully it will be a bit more stable than a planked top .
I am also using a steel frame 65 x 65 x 3.2 RHS.

I got some painted timber from a second hand building supplies, SE Asian hardwood. Very heavy. My frame is made from the old favourite up here, pine, but laminated by me. Will be about 35mm thick.