Thread: Timber for cheapy bench

Stu - don't you have salvage yards in Wellington? Surely there must be sources of recycled wood somewhere near you.

Apart from the hidden hardware, which can be rather unkind to planer blades, salvaged hardwood is a great choice for bench construction. It has more heft, and doesn't crush as easily as softwoods do. If you use bolted joints for future portability (always a good idea), they tend to work loose more rapidly & more often in softwoods.

Another good source of bench-making material is old pallets - you get some interesting exotics from those. Again, the ironmongery can be a nuisance, because they are usuually pretty green when assembled, so the wood shrinks down on the staples & nails & really hangs on!

Cheers,
(from a dedicated wood scrounger)

Hey NZStu,

Wot's wrong with Pink?? Don't you have any other colored paint over there??

Like Ian said there must be some salvage or demolition mobs over there, recycled = cheaper (Most places)

HazzaB

Originally Posted by HazzaB

Wot's wrong with Pink??

Is Man bench. Man bench not pink.


And I really can't be bothered painting it. I hate painting. Recycled wood might well be the best option at the moment, but the vast majority of the stuff available here is Rimu, which tends to be in quite high demand and not always as cheap as you'd think. I'll have a poke around a few recyclers this weekend and see what I can find.

Yes, I realise that this is an entirely irrational problem, but what can I say?

Originally Posted by NZStu

Yes, I realise that this is an entirely irrational problem, but what can I say?

Nope, quite reasonable - pink is definitely NOT what we want to see in your shed, Stu....

Pallet wood, if you can get your hands on it, is usually free (broken ones). Takes a bit more cleaning & laminating, but can be quite good stuff (for benches).

Pity you aren't over this side of the ditch - old hardwood is a little earier to come by, round here...

I'm well ahead of you on the pallet front. Some cable contractors left a new, but slightly broken pallet on my street a few months ago and didn't ever collect it. So I went out one night and dragged it home under cover of darkness... It's only nasty pine unfortunately, but I'm sure it will prove to be a useful source of scrap timber!

hi
Keep an eye on this auckland trader they have alot of 1$ reserve auction and can be really cheap

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Building-re...-297621281.htm

Andrew

Hey NZStu,

I was trying to say that the color isn't the priority it's the Price that is, I would use Puce colored wood if it was the right price

No body that would make a comment on the color is allowed in my shed anyway. and I have a Pink tape messure. I'm also 6'4" (190cm) and weigh 13 stone and a bit (Big Bit) (120 kg) and color blind, so I don't care.

HazzaB

Target specific business for pallets. I raid a bin at a bike/boat/jetski place and found frames imported from Canada. Was loads of (best guess) western hemlock. Thicknessed it down and 1/2 was pretty straight. Try glass and aluminium dealers and ride on mower shops.

Also recyclers at rubbish tips are good (don't know if they are over there).

Russ

If you end up using treated pine for your bench, you will have to use galvanised (decking) screws - regular hardware screws (shiny zinc plated is NOT galvanised) will rust out in a year or two as they react badly with the preservative chemicals.

If it's LOSP treated you may also have problems getting glue to hold well also.

I'm currently looking at recycled Rimu - it is a bit more expensive than framing pine, but probably worth it in the long run. I'm following up a few leads to get some as cheap as possible. I might try and track down a few pallets as well.

I used Oregon (everybody else calls it Douglas Fir) framing timber. 2X4s from a local yard that sells on Trademe at $2 a meter. Used glue to make 4X4 legs, 2X4 rails all round top n bottom and laminated a top using a lot of glue, then screwed plywood on top of that. Then bench oil everything. 2400 X 750 just small enough to fit through the shed door. Munruben has seen it when he visited and he didn't laugh so it must be OK.

Originally Posted by NZStu

I will soon be building myself a workbench, but on a pretty tight budget. I have done a design for my bench based around using 4x2, 4x4 and 6x2 radiata framing timber, which is inexpensive and readily available. However, the only stuff I've been able to find so far is dyed pink - something to do with the treatment (H1.2).

I don't really want a pink workbench. Do they still make non-pink framing timber? does anyone have any suggestions for other well-priced timbers to use?

I'm in NZ btw, so my options are probably a little more limited than for most of you on here...

Thanks

Stu ,
the pink dye is only on the surface , and it fades . The pink denotes that boron is the treatment agent.
A source of good workbench timber are old bed-spring frames .
They used 4x2 rimu , beech , matia etc .
Laminated , they make excellent 90 mm thick workbench tops , and 90mm square carcass timbers

Originally Posted by seanz

I used Oregon (everybody else calls it Douglas Fir) framing timber. 2X4s from a local yard that sells on Trademe at $2 a meter. Used glue to make 4X4 legs, 2X4 rails all round top n bottom and laminated a top using a lot of glue, then screwed plywood on top of that. Then bench oil everything. 2400 X 750 just small enough to fit through the shed door. Munruben has seen it when he visited and he didn't laugh so it must be OK.

That would be ideal - especially at that price! Shame it's on the wrong island...

Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

Stu ,
the pink dye is only on the surface , and it fades . The pink denotes that boron is the treatment agent.

That's good news too - I wasn't sure if the pink was part of the treatment and penetrated the wood, but if it's just on the surface it would probably be easy enough to remove from the visible surfaces.

Shame it's on the wrong island...

Hmmmph.....this isn't the wrong island.

What size bench? The bed rail idea is good but it can restrict the length of the top unless you want to get tricky and glue pieces lengthways as well as crossways. Also, don't expect these pieces to be straight.....there are some very heavy sleepers out there.