Thread: Benchtop...What Timber??

Hi Skippy,
I have been pondering the same thing myself. I am on my second temporary bench and it is all made of demolition yard pine. This has done me ok this last 15 years but like most on here I yearn for a wow factor hardwood job with all the clever bits and bobs. It will probably be another couple of years when I retire as I would rather not have to move one after building it in place.
As we are blessed with plenty of hard woods here in aus I will most likley be back at the recycled wood yards. Blackbutt or bluegum are on my possable list but I think there are pleanty of woods to choose from.
Regards
John

I've also been in the formative stage for a while. I purchased some vices some time ago. I was fortunate yesterday to acquire a bench kit.

Luckily the instructions are pretty basic.
1. Cut away everything that isn't a bench.
2. Assemble
3. Enjoy

I scored this timber from a house demolition. If you have a look at the first photo you can see tennons on some of the pieces. All the wall studs were morticed into the top and bottom plates . They don't build them like that any more I didn't grab any of the wall plates because they had a big mortice every 18"
Anyway, back to the OP's question. Any hard wood is good. Might be worth trying the recycled building materials yards

Micheal Connor has recently switched from Silver Ash to a PNG timber called Garo Garo. I saw some of his benches at the recent Bungendore tool event, and they are absolutely spectacular. I think he said that Silver Ash is becoming hard to get in the sections required for benchmaking.

Workbenches and Accessories

The Garo Garo is a light-colured timber, fairly hard, and apparently planes very nicely when flattening the benchtop. The light colour does have benefits when you are sighting down a plane to set the blade.

Only problem is, I'm not sure where he gets it from. A google search didn't throw up much in the way of local suppliers.

I was also considering Rock Maple, but it wouldn't be cheap. Tas Oak is quartersawn by definition, so should also be reasonably stable. Won't look as pretty, but it might be an option if price is an issue?

NC Archer.
Some nice looking timber there for sure. It should dress up really well and i reckon you have enough to get started with for sure.

Mr Bush
Well price is always an issue, but for this project i might be able to find the extra few bucks for a nice top. The base will probably be standard hardwood type blue gum or spotty or what ever i can score as seconds from the mill up the road. The top however will need to be
1. Hard. and Stable
2. Relatively easy to plane in order to flaten it
3. Not splintery (Is that a word??) or brittle
I havent seen rock maple but it sounds right "ROCK" and yes the Demo yards will certainly be a source alright. The trouble will be finding one who knows what timber is what. Plus there is a severe shortage of good recycle places with any variety around Gympie.

I went to see that exhibition and thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are a few pics of his benches. Phone pics only, sorry about that

Groggy - that little bench with his own vice hardware fitted was a beauty.....started me thinking that maybe I don't need such a huge bench after all. Even 1500mm long would be a good size.

That's the one made from Garo Garo, I think all the others were Silver Ash.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Groggy - that little bench with his own vice hardware fitted was a beauty.....started me thinking that maybe I don't need such a huge bench after all. Even 1500mm long would be a good size.

Maybe not heavy enough for planing though a great little joining bench to be sure. He had me wondering where the hardware came from, the vises bore similarities to the Benchcrafted vises; not as high a quality but certainly a serviceable and probably cost effective alternative.

Did you make the trip from Melbourne Greg? Very keen of you!

I'm thinking of driving down and stopping past the Sturt gallery and then the Bungendore tool event.

I was in Canberra on business and managed to squeeze in a mach run to Bungendore between the completion of meetings and the flight home.

Groggy - Micheal said that the vice hardware was his own, locally made. The first ones off the production line are on that bench, so it may be a while before he is offering them for sale.

The Benchcrafted ones are nice, but the prices are a bit steep. You could certainly have the screw thread and fittings manufactured locally for a fraction of the price, add a chromed handle off just about any metalworking lathe (do H&F sell spares...), and you're there !

Don't know if you tried picking that small bench up, but it was surprisingly heavy. I went on the first Saturday when the makers were there - that bench was covered in HNT Gordon tools for people to try (not to mention a generous coating of drool ).

Andy - I went to the opening of the 2010 Sturt Graduate Exhibition on Saturday.

Some spectacular pieces - well worth a visit (it runs until Dec 12th).

Cheers.

Ok so is queensland Maple the same as rock Maple??? If not is rock maple difficult to find and is it exxy? This seems to be the timber of choice by the media experts on the videos and articles i have read

Nope, completely different I'm afraid.

Rock Maple isn't that hard to come by though - most larger timber sellers would have it in reasonably large sections. For a benchtop you would want maybe 30 x 70mm (dressed) to laminate up.

Good Morning Skippy

Chris Schwarz's book is a great start, and early in it he includes a great analysis on how to chose the best timber for a benchtop, and finally settles on southern yellow pine, whch is readily available in the states and cheap, and which has similar properties to radiata pine.

Schwarz's concerns about weight and stiffness can easily be addressed by making the benchtop thicker. His issue about toughness (read dent resistance) is in my opinion quite critical. Hardness is measured in Janka and the metric janka for some relevant woods are:

6.4 Rock or sugar maple - acer saccharum
5.8 European beech - fagus sylvatica
3.1 Southern yellow pine - pinus palustris
3.3 Radiata pine

6.5 Cypress Pine
8.5 Jarrah
8.6 Kwila/merbau
11.0 Spotted Gum

Australian timbers tend to be much tougher than American and European timbers. It comes down to a trade off between price, dent resistance, stability and woodworking ease.

Two other books that are worth a visit to the library are:

Lon Schelling. "The Workbench" and
Paul Landis. "The Workbench Book."

Keep us posted as there are many of us planning this project.

Cheers

Graeme