Choice for Workbench Top
Making a workbench to house my Miter saw and my worksite table saw. I am wanting to add some T-tracks in the top for stop blocks and clamping solutions.
My current plans is to use a butcher block prefab and cut that into the sections i need. I plan to utilize the strength of the butcher block to minimize the amount of wood being used (cross braces) and make the bench have a more minimized / clean look.
Is this a good idea? Am i going to have difficulties in cutting it? If i add some polyurethane on it, will this be a good workbench surface?
Posted Mar 16, 2023, 1:53 PM UTC
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Something to keep in mind. Solid wood will expand and contract with changes in humidity. Even with a finish applied. You'll need to allow for this movement. How much movement depends on the species, the cut, and where you live.
You can still use cross braces. They just needed to be attached to the top so expansion and contraction can occur. This could be done with z clips, screws in elongated holes, etc.
Overall, the prefab laminated tops can make great workbench tops. Cutting it shouldn't be a problem. They will work like any other wood.
As for poly, I personally don't like it for work surfaces. That extends to all film finishes. They can make tops slick. I dont wamt my project moving around on me. My preference is nothing. I'll add boiled linseed oil if the top will be used for glue ups.
So for the middle section of my bench, i was going to have a 3 ft section of butcher block connected via pocket holes from some 2x4s underneath. From your comment though im guessing i should change that to z clips or something like that right?
For the finish, i was wanting something slick so the wood would slide easier through the table saw. im not opposed to using something else as the finish though but i just dont know what would be best.
Yes, you could use a z clip or you could uses screws. Screw threw the base and into the top. The hole in the base needs to be elongated like this: https://www.reddit.com/user/E_m_maker/comments/11szbg4/attachment_options/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
If you want slick then poly can do that.
Use a paste wax. If it's good enough for your saw top, it's plenty good enough for your in/outfeed tables. Also easy to maintain: just slather on another coat, let it dry a bit, and buff it off.
The concern with expansion depends a bit on whether it is face or edge grain butcher block. If it is all edge grain (the faces are glued), you won’t have many, if any issues over a miter saw benchtop width. Face grain is a bit more of a concern, but if it is edge grain, I wouldn’t go wild worrying about expansion.
I think you are slightly mistaken. Face grain and edge grain aren't distinct things. They are both the long grain fibers. Glueing boards face to face or edge to edge isn't going to determine how much that glued board will move. That is determined by the cut (quarter sawn of flat sawn) of the individual pieces.
If the growth rings of each board are oriented vertically then the glued board will expand and contract like a single quarter sawn board. If the growth rings are oriented horizontally then the glued board will expand and contract like a flat sawn board. Flat sawn usually experience more expansion and contraction than a quarter sawn board.
The width of a bench top is certainly enough to cause some splits if it is fully restrained.
No. Boards don’t expand in their thickness enough to make any real change. A board doesn’t get thick or thinner, as in, a 4/4 piece of wood, or 1.00in, will not expand to be any meaningful amount over 4/4. Unfortunately you can’t make wood thicker, or else I’d be somehow adding matter and waiting until the perfect moment to resaw my 4/4 pieces into even more veneer.
Grain matters along the width. Thickness does not change u less you, I don’t know, soak it for a week I’m a bucket of water or something, and even then it’s negligible.
An edge grain butcher block back expand in the width a bit, which becomes the thickness in a sense because you’ve flipped the boards sideways, but it won’t expand L/R much, if any.
Maybe you are confused about what an edge grain butcher block is. This is why many large, solid wood work benches are edge grained… as in the faces are glued. You buy thicker wood to use less individual pieces to create a wider bench easier, with less glue up.
QS v FS matters for width, not thickness. Edge grain flips these and the width is up/down, not left/right. Wood expands along its width. Not the length or thickness.
I have a large edge grain butcher block as the foundation of my bench with MDF on to, to be able to replace. It’s 24x48, and isn’t changing in width. The benefit of doing edge grain is avoiding width expansion and cracking.
This is where you are mistaken. Wood expands in both width and thickness. https://i.stack.imgur.com/ijnQK.jpg
For a standard board the change in thickness is not noticeable so when accounting for movement we usually only need to focus on width.
However, if you take a bunch if thin boards flip them on edge and stack them next to each other (like on an edge grain top) those small changes will become noticeable.
Ultimately, though the orientation of those strips determines the amount of movement. Not if they started as face grain or edge grain. Generally, if you buy a board it is going to be flat sawn. Flipping it on edge and gluing the faces together results in a new board that is quarter sawn. Because that glued board is now quarter sawn along its width is what makes it want to move less. However, if you took a bunch of quarter sawn boards, flipped them on edge and glued the faces together it would move like a flat sawn board along its new width.
Count yourself lucky that you're not seeing movement with a 24" wide top. For your common woods, in my part of the country i would expect to see about a 1/4" throughout the year on a top that is 24" wide. More so for the oak and birch.