Thread: Help for the next workbench

Use epoxy and wipe over and etch all surfaces with acetone before you glue up. Doesn’t matter which timber you use.

Am curious why not vic ash?

Any of those timbers would be fine for a workbench, albeit overkill, however if you've got the budget then go nuts or have access to cheap lumber go nuts. The prices i've seen for the lumbers you've chosen particularly from lumber yards unless you're buying green is quite high particularly for blackbutt.

In terms of the gluing issue, i've never really found a board that i haven't been able to glue, but then again i don't work with oily timbers. If you do pick a species thats particularly oily, i've heard of people wiping it down with turps/spirits to get around this issue.

On the other hand I've heard that using a dense hardwood for a workbench can be a bad thing, particularly if you're a hand tools person. This is due to the amount of energy being bounced back into the tool rather than being absorbed into the lumber/floor. Somewhere inbetween softwood and hardwood is the sweet spot.

Me personally vic ash/tasmanian oak fits all the above criteria.

Hi Siggy,

I concur with the posters below. Think long and hard about whether you want a dense hardwood particularly for the bench top.

It will vibrate and be "bouncey" when struck or when forces are subjected onto it, instead of cushioning and absorbing force.

You can get a lot of mass in by having very thick legs instead, or just having a very thick top. I have a bench built with Merbau posts which are extremely heavy, plus 90mm soft pine. It is a *work* bench and ugly as sin but effective.

Light coloured wood for the top. Better for light - dark wood soaks up the light.

Tassie oak makes a good top. It is typically quarter sawn and stable. My bench top is European Oak with a Jarrah base.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks for the feedback mate!

Fortunately I have access to recycled timbers of those species, but you have made a good point regarding having something too hard.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

Am curious why not vic ash?

Any of those timbers would be fine for a workbench, albeit overkill, however if you've got the budget then go nuts or have access to cheap lumber go nuts. The prices i've seen for the lumbers you've chosen particularly from lumber yards unless you're buying green is quite high particularly for blackbutt.

In terms of the gluing issue, i've never really found a board that i haven't been able to glue, but then again i don't work with oily timbers. If you do pick a species thats particularly oily, i've heard of people wiping it down with turps/spirits to get around this issue.

On the other hand I've heard that using a dense hardwood for a workbench can be a bad thing, particularly if you're a hand tools person. This is due to the amount of energy being bounced back into the tool rather than being absorbed into the lumber/floor. Somewhere inbetween softwood and hardwood is the sweet spot.

Me personally vic ash/tasmanian oak fits all the above criteria.

Hey Derek,

I was waiting for you to chime in

I did read up on your workbench posts when I built my first one. Euro timbers (as I did most of my woodwork and learning from my dad who is German) are the one's i am most familiar with. Aussie timbers are still a blank spot to me (except for Vic Ash, Blackwood and Jarrah).

Fair call on going for a lighter color, I'll most definitely do this.

I realized for practicality and the fact that I will be most definitely moving the workbench around a lot, the 115mm thick roubo top on my last bench is the opposite of practical (given my work space). Thus, I am only looking at a top around 60mm thick give or take 10mm depending on the DAR timber dimensions that I get.

Thanks for chipping in mate,

(kind of funny that as you responded to this post, i was simultaneously reading another post of your's in a different forum on your 3 ELU routers, as I'm investigating options as my Bosch router needs replacing)

Siggy

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Light coloured wood for the top. Better for light - dark wood soaks up the light.

Tassie oak makes a good top. It is typically quarter sawn and stable. My bench top is European Oak with a Jarrah base.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Solid point there mate regarding shifting the weight to the leg assembly.
I'll work that into my design.

Note, my design is actually going to be super simply as the bench is moreso about practicality than a showpiece like my last bench (or should i say table.....haha).

Thanks heaps for the advice mate!

Siggy

Originally Posted by Cgcc

Hi Siggy,

I concur with the posters below. Think long and hard about whether you want a dense hardwood particularly for the bench top.

It will vibrate and be "bouncey" when struck or when forces are subjected onto it, instead of cushioning and absorbing force.

You can get a lot of mass in by having very thick legs instead, or just having a very thick top. I have a bench built with Merbau posts which are extremely heavy, plus 90mm soft pine. It is a *work* bench and ugly as sin but effective.

Yep

I have often seen and salivated over wonderful work benches with dovetailed end pieces et cetera. And they are of course very functional. And of course anyone with the skill to build a beautiful work bench will usually know what they're doing. I'm yet to see a "showpiece" workbench that is not wonderfully practical as well.

However I have noticed that workbenches kept very nicely tend to often exist in large shops where there is room to take messy or rough tasks elsewhere. I have half a car space so I also mount my drill press and bench grinder onto the bench (they're bolted into a piece of wood with section that will drop into the front vice). I also occasionally will use paint or stain or glue or do something like try and flatten something on a granite block with sandpaper which sends metal fines everywhere. If I do something like hacksaw a section off a screw to make it smaller, it's a little metal vice on the bench and fines going everywhere.

Yes, you could always go hunt for a liner or cover of some type to protect your work bench from any kind of marring or scrape etc, but that means having things on hand and about.

The benefit of having a pretty rough top is that I don't cry if a saw accidentally scores a line in it, something thuds into it and leaves a noticeable mark, or I find a drip of glue that I missed, or a screw goes into it. I can use it for things like whacking the back of a backsaw to straighten it out without hunting for a scrap piece. I just regularly brush off the surface and vacuum the dog holes. I plane off a thin shaving off the surface if anything becomes distracting and test for flatness every so often.

I figure at the time I lose enough surface to be noticeable, it will be a good excuse to build a new one >

Actually, the Roubo that I built which you can hunt down on this forum (A Roubo of "small" stature, for the inner suburban gent.) is fully functioning as a Roubo and perhaps someone like Derek whom uses a Roubo all the time would feel right at home working upon it.
What I actually meant by practical, is something that I am more used to using, as I did basically all my woodworking and learning as a kid on my dad's Ulmia style bench.

I'll admit...i built the Roubo design purely because i saw so many on social media. Every time I use my dad's German/Scandinavian style bench it just feels much much more natural.

The Roubo i built cant yet go into the garage as i had plans to have a dedicated workspace that got quashed when we built a deck atop the area that would have housed a shed. Thus i need a small knockdown thats not as heavy amongst other things as it will be moved a lot. Oh the joys of living in a tiny semi-detached house close to the city.....which by the sounds of it you can fully appreciate too! I use a welding table with a sheet of ply on it that I clamp things like my small drill press, bench grinder and metal bandsaw to as I need them....always dreaming of a larger space......

Originally Posted by Cgcc

Yep

I have often seen and salivated over wonderful work benches with dovetailed end pieces et cetera. And they are of course very functional. And of course anyone with the skill to build a beautiful work bench will usually know what they're doing. I'm yet to see a "showpiece" workbench that is not wonderfully practical as well.

However I have noticed that workbenches kept very nicely tend to often exist in large shops where there is room to take messy or rough tasks elsewhere. I have half a car space so I also mount my drill press and bench grinder onto the bench (they're bolted into a piece of wood with section that will drop into the front vice). I also occasionally will use paint or stain or glue or do something like try and flatten something on a granite block with sandpaper which sends metal fines everywhere. If I do something like hacksaw a section off a screw to make it smaller, it's a little metal vice on the bench and fines going everywhere.

Yes, you could always go hunt for a liner or cover of some type to protect your work bench from any kind of marring or scrape etc, but that means having things on hand and about.

The benefit of having a pretty rough top is that I don't cry if a saw accidentally scores a line in it, something thuds into it and leaves a noticeable mark, or I find a drip of glue that I missed, or a screw goes into it. I can use it for things like whacking the back of a backsaw to straighten it out without hunting for a scrap piece. I just regularly brush off the surface and vacuum the dog holes. I plane off a thin shaving off the surface if anything becomes distracting and test for flatness every so often.

I figure at the time I lose enough surface to be noticeable, it will be a good excuse to build a new one >

The surface of my bench was prepared with a toothing blade, and then finished with a single coat of oil to deal with glue. Any slickness is avoided.

European Oak top (quite similar to Tassie Oak) and Jarrah base. Heavy.





Regards from Perth

Derek

She's a real beauty Derek!

And I really like that idea of yours to run a toothing plane over it before putting the oil on, that would give it some good grip!

Just wondering if when you laminate oily timbers, do you run a toothing plane over the jointed edge for surface roughness/area? I havnt actually done it yet, but someone with your thought process perhaps might have experience with it?
(Asking because I'm most likely leaning toward the Blackbutt as the price on it seems right, and ive heard its oily)


Cheers,
Siggy


Thanks heaps!
Siggy

Originally Posted by derekcohen

The surface of my bench was prepared with a toothing blade, and then finished with a single coat of oil to deal with glue. Any slickness is avoided.

European Oak top (quite similar to Tassie Oak) and Jarrah base. Heavy.





Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Siggy

The earlier build is a beauty! Looks like you've very effectively bought some skills over from your working life!

The Roubo does seem to monster social media. It does seem that you'll have no problems building what you need when you get the design fixed.

Considering what happened to the previous - Make it solid -but pig ugly -Dunno maybe barbie pink stain.

Originally Posted by Siggykc

She's a real beauty Derek!

And I really like that idea of yours to run a toothing plane over it before putting the oil on, that would give it some good grip!

Just wondering if when you laminate oily timbers, do you run a toothing plane over the jointed edge for surface roughness/area? I havnt actually done it yet, but someone with your thought process perhaps might have experience with it?
(Asking because I'm most likely leaning toward the Blackbutt as the price on it seems right, and ive heard its oily)


Cheers,
Siggy


Thanks heaps!
Siggy

Hi Siggy

I have limited experience with Blackbutt. I do not recall using anything special by way of preparation or glue.

In use, the Roubo is the perfect bench for me. It does a superb job at holding work for hand tools, and yet is uncluttered. At 3 1/2" thick, with a solid base, it is heavy - no raking, no vibration, just solid and unmoving.

Regards from Perth

Derek