Thread: Laminated Benches - stopping end shakes/splitting?

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?

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.

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

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

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...

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

Originally Posted by jpdv

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

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

Good point Banana - maybe it's a combination of factors just working against me personally...

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.

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.