Solid wood bench top rather than laminated boards
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18 March 2018 at 6:26 am #499326
Hello all.
I visited our local wood recycling centre to scout wood for my new bench. I’d planned on following Paul’s designs religiously (I have nowhere near the skill to improvise yet!) but was pointed at a 9″ x 4″ block of 100 year old pine. It’d be plenty long enough for the bench I want.
To bring it to width I thought I’d laminate two 1 1/2″ x 4″ boards either side, also using similar aged recycled pine.
I’m a green novice: is there anything I should be aware of if I take this route? I worry slightly that a piece that large might split or warp over time but I assume – very possibly incorrectly – that wood, like people, moves less the older it gets 🙂
Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you.
Chris, I used solid planks of Douglas Fir, 4″ x 12″.
The wood was stored in my garage about four years before I started building the bench. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and our humidity level is usually very low because we are in a high desert environment. The wood originated from coastal California. I did not experience splitting during the drying process but I stickered the planks and sealed their ends. The planks did cup and there was a small amount of twist when I started working the planks. The net thickness of the planks were 3 1/2″ after flattening.
My bench is 21″ by 6′ so I cut down the width of the planks, glued them together and also laminated a 1 3/4″ stick of Ash to the front of the bench. I thought the Ash would make the front edge of the bench more durable than the DF. I did not build in a tool well or add skirts. Douglas Fir is a stringy wood and added challenges to plane because of several dead knots and contrary grain. I suspect older pine like you are considering may be straighter grain and you will not encounter the flattening issues I dealt with. Using thick planks for me required repairing the dead knots but it is a workbench and not fine furniture. But the bench has remains stable, flat and quite serviceable.
Ray
19 March 2018 at 4:31 pm #500976Chris,
If it truly is 100 year old pine it has probably already ‘moved’ as much as it is going to. Let it acclimatize in your own shop for a few weeks and then proceed with your lamination. Pine is generally very stable (moreso than many other woods) and will make a remarkable workbench. The key to using a full timber like that is to select a part of the timber where knots or other inherent defects do not become a liability in the future. Pine knots, IMO, can be some of the hardest softwood knots you will encounter, second only to white spruce knots. Just make sure to consider the workbench layout when you finally cut the timber to size. Also I suggest you try to find material that is quarter sawn when you select the 1-1/2″ laminations. You might try buying a big box 2×12 and rip the edges of it into two 4″ pieces. I find most big box 2x4s to be mostly crap wood to be avoided. Generally that width (2×12) of dimensional lumber will be quartersawn on the edges–at least you should be able to get 4″ of quartersawn material from each edge.
Good luck, post pictures.
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