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13th October 2021, 08:46 AM #1Senior Member
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Laminated Benches - stopping end shakes/splitting?
A quick query for the team: how does one avoid ends splitting/warping etc on a laminated style benchtop?
There's a variety of opinions on surface finish, and I tend to minimalist/a quick buffing. Idly thinking about it last night, I remembered that a number of pundits favour 'no finish' for some good reasons - how then do we cope with the ends? I'm a little puzzled, because up here in QLD, untreated timber - even when laminated - starts to check and split within about 48 hrs... I've tested this (the hard way) with hardwoods, pine, and everything in between.
I came up with 2 options, if one wants no finish on the top
1. Paint ends, possible where the legs are painted - would work aesthetically/functionally, I guess. But goes away from minimalist look
2. Seal with epoxy resin (a la boat building...) Might look a bit odd, but would definitely lock the ends down.
I discarded oils, as that would presumably leach inwards, and then contrast with the rest of the top?
Am I missing something blindingly obvious? End caps would need to be on some sort of expansion joint, and weren't used on the Roubo/Moravian styles...
Grateful for comments...
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13th October 2021, 11:41 AM #2SENIOR MEMBER
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Not discounting your personal experience but I've got a pine workbench in my garage that's untreated, made from structural timber, and hasn't developed any cracks after about 6 years of use. Do you have any photos of the checks/cracks? What moisture content does your timber have before and after milling?
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13th October 2021, 11:56 AM #3Senior Member
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Not specifically mate, but.... Example 1: structural (KD) pine use for a set of farm gates - these were actually laminated up from 90 x 30, so very similar to the end of a pine bench. In the time it took me to make 4, the first one was developing cracks...So about 4 days. Example 2, I have some outrageously seasoned red and grey ironbark (30 years in QLD weather as deck balustrades.) Dry as a bone, no longitudinal warping or twist, but when I cut off the ends to square up, they develop splits within 'about' 1 to 2 months. I've made a great mallet out of some, and soaked it in BLO (literally - in a bucket overnight.) It needs regular re-application on the end-grain, or it starts to check.
But it's odd, because I don't hear a lot of people complaining about the issue, and I can't see old timers would have designed something that wouldn't work, or that needed expensive solutions. Like you, plenty of people seem to have no issues. I might do a quick and dirty Moravian style where I can swap out the top if it's an issue, and see how we go...
The issue for me, is that although I don't mind end checks/splits in terms of aesthetics, there are really only 3 core things I expect from a bench: sturdy enough, a flat enough top, and work holding. I would be nervous about that flatness if the ends were going all over the shop.
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13th October 2021, 03:48 PM #4China
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Sounds like the moisture content has not stabilized, when using recycled timber it is wise to allow a period of acclimatisation before use, in it's intended location, what was the moisture before and after
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13th October 2021, 04:42 PM #5
It's not been an issue with the 2 pine top benches I have had. I think if the wood used in the build is stable to start with and you keep the bench indoors things will be fine. I used BLO on both so ends were coated.
Both were made with well dried old/recycled wood.
Regards
John
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13th October 2021, 06:37 PM #6Senior Member
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Thanks guys - John, I think I may just BLO the whole thing if I do it.
It's plainly not a common issue (or, if it is, people don't own up to it online!), but there are an awful lot of novices out there documenting builds who use bog standard big green shed (or worse) lumber without apparent issues.
It just struck me as an interesting point, given my experiences in our climate. I have a huge score of old cypress pine, so I'm contemplating using that for it... May just dimension and let stand for a month in stick first...
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13th October 2021, 10:51 PM #7
Yes letting it sit in your workshop for for a month or so to acclimatise is always a good move.
BLO is a very good choice and is easy to touch up down the track as required. Great after using the benchtop to glue up a project as the glue beads simply pop off with a light scrape. What a bench should be finished with.
Regards
John
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14th October 2021, 11:02 AM #8Member
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this struck me (i'm one of those novices, though i'm not documenting). maybe, with our lesser skill, toolkit, and confidence, we're just moving slower (i know i am), and we're getting lucky in that our timber has much more time to acclimate to our workshops before getting used. i know it was probably a year between me buying my bench timber and actually laminating up the top slabs, and it's been another year since then -- still haven't started on the legs, but the slabs are fine
i guess we're also more likely to be making do with whatever working environment we have, and less likely to be working in a well designed and humidity controlled workshop, and maybe that puts us closer to the bunnings environment that our timber was already acclimated to
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14th October 2021, 03:44 PM #9Senior Member
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Good point Banana - maybe it's a combination of factors just working against me personally...
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15th October 2021, 08:54 AM #10GOLD MEMBER
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Hi JP. When you refer to Cypress Pine do you mean the Callitris genus? I have used plenty of this and it can move around a bit. Checking is common but settles down eventually. It will make for a solid bench though.
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15th October 2021, 12:31 PM #11Senior Member
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Wouldn’t have a clue mate, but the query was more a generic one than specific to the wood. But yes, it looks as though it’ll make a good basic bench. I will report back idc.
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