Thread: Questions about Workbenches

opposing wedges under the "short" legs should be enough to level the bench

best is then to flatten the top to get the properly flat smooth surface you're after -- I can't see how a sheet of ply will stay flat unless you screw it to a flat surface

Originally Posted by Wretched

Hey there,

I did a little searching but didn't immediately find anything suitable. I have a couple of questions about workbenches, namely:

1) How do you guys and girls go about levelling your benches on uneven slabs? If you use adjustable feet, where do you get them? Our local Bunnings (Home Depot for the Americans) don't seem to stock anything nearly robust enough..

It's dead easy to make your own using 19 mm diam x 100 mm long bolts and nuts.
Turn the bench upside down and drill a hole into the bottom of each leg using a spade bit to the depth and just under the diam of a nut.
Then drill a 19 mm diam hole another 75 mm further into the leg.
Screw a nut onto the first 25 mm of the bolt and coat the recess to take the nut with epoxy glue.
Bash the nut firmly into the recess and then unscrew the bolt.
Once the epoxy is dry screw a the bolts in and there you ghave adjustable feet.
If you want to you can add a locking nut.
You can also drill and tap a thread into the head of the bolt and add a HDPE disc to the bolt head. This allows you to slide the bench around without completely mangling the floor.

2) What do you use to seal your bench tops? Simple oil, wax, lacquer, enamel, poly, epoxy-type???

It depends what you want to do on the bench. I use pale boiled linseed oil on mine as it is very easy to restore back to what it looks like at the start. Lacquer, enamel, poly, epoxy etc are too much work to get back to something decent

Originally Posted by Wretched

Hey there,

2) What do you use to seal your bench tops? Simple oil, wax, lacquer, enamel, poly, epoxy-type???.

I don't seal the surface on any of the benches, can't see the benefit; when the top has served it's time and is badly stained and/or chipped and/or gouged and/or otherwise damaged and reaaly needs to go, I would just replace the mdf or chipboard surfaces that I have. Easy.

So if I was unable to get the original top perfectly square and flat and wanted to go for an alternative, what would you recommend? Ply, MDF...?

Originally Posted by Wretched

So if I was unable to get the original top perfectly square and flat and wanted to go for an alternative, what would you recommend? Ply, MDF...?

If you want it flat using MDF or ply you will need to use ~30 mm thiockness of the stuff, ie 2 x 16 mm or 2 x 18 mm sheets and you will need to support it properly underneath.

Originally Posted by wun4us

I don't seal the surface on any of the benches, can't see the benefit;

Finishing a bench with some sort of oil does have a benefit in that if glues or paints are spilt onto the surface the stuff doesn't stick as easily as to raw wood and can be more easily scraped off. Of course this is nothing a few minute with a belt sander can't fix.

Originally Posted by Wretched

So if I was unable to get the original top perfectly square and flat and wanted to go for an alternative, what would you recommend? Ply, MDF...?

it depends on how near flat you can get the pine top.
if you can get the pine top nearly flat -- square doesn't matter as much -- you could get away with using a single sheet of 18mm MDF
However, if the bench has a depression over any appreciable area, 18mm MDF will sag into the depression

It is still a little wavy at this point, but probably no more than about 2mm here and there. I've used an electric planer to do most of the hard work and have been attacking it with 60-grit and a long block whenever I get a spare 10min lately. So I'll continue to hit it like that for now and continue to improve it. Seems a shame not to try and retain that base with so much sweat put in so far, but worse comes to worse I'll rip it off and go with the 30-odd millimetre ply option without the pine underneath.

Thanks for the help everyone. Hoping to have some projects to show you in the future.

Originally Posted by Wretched

It is still a little wavy at this point, but probably no more than about 2mm here and there. I've used an electric planer to do most of the hard work and have been attacking it with 60-grit and a long block whenever I get a spare 10min lately. So I'll continue to hit it like that for now and continue to improve it. Seems a shame not to try and retain that base with so much sweat put in so far, but worse comes to worse I'll rip it off and go with the 30-odd millimetre ply option without the pine underneath.

Thanks for the help everyone. Hoping to have some projects to show you in the future.

in your situation, I'd mark the high spots and take them down with the electric plane (set to take off 0.1mm or so) before resorting to 60 grit on a long block
IMO 60 grit is for the last 0.5mm, which is probably unnecessary if you're going to top the bench with MDF

Heavy Duty Lifting Leveler - Rockler Woodworking Tools

I have used these on heavy base cabinets with excellent results. Should be OK for a workbench (see the above link "Each leveler has load-bearing capacity of 600 pounds").

HTH
Mike

Hello Wretched,

As far as the MDF the top has to be perfectly flat or over time it will sag. My first bench was not flat I didn't know it for somtime as it was my first bench. I had 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF laminated as a top and it sagged in the middle almost 1/8" which doesn't seem like much unless you want your projects to be square.

I agree with Bob on the finish. I used Poly on mine. The glue doesn't stick and it is easy to refinish just sand it real quick and brush on some more.

Bret

Originally Posted by Ekim

Heavy Duty Lifting Leveler - Rockler Woodworking Tools

I have used these on heavy base cabinets with excellent results. Should be OK for a workbench (see the above link "Each leveler has load-bearing capacity of 600 pounds").

HTH
Mike

Awesome. That's pretty much what I had in mind.

Shim the bench level then using get a block of wood, say 50mm thick mark each leg from the floor surface and cut the legs off at the marked line. This method is only usable if the bench is never going to move.

I gave my workbench a couple of coats of Boiled Linseed oil to start and then a coat a couple of times a year.

I find it helps should I spill water/paint/varnish etc on it.

Originally Posted by dr4g0nfly

I gave my workbench a couple of coats of Boiled Linseed oil to start and then a coat a couple of times a year.

I find it helps should I spill water/paint/varnish etc on it.

I did mine with a mix of boiled linseed and liquid beeswax, and it does help. I managed to put a few stains on it before I sealed it but few since. Don't make it too slick though, you don't want your work sliding around!