Butcher Block top install for workbench..

[rwil23]

I recently picked up an 8'x2'x1.5" piece of butcher block top to install over a pre-existing workbench. Envisioned it being simple enough until the Google made me crazy once again.

Most of what I read online with actual install specs is pertaining to butcher block countertops installed on kitchen cabinets - I'd imagine my install should be very similar.

I don't need to cut it - it's the perfect size for what I need.

As far as how I am going to attach it - I've read that you need to allow for movement to let the material expand/contract - makes sense. I guess the most popular method seems to be one of these:

Any opinion as to which one of these I should be doing being that it's for a workbench? If not these, something else?

Just want to get it in and forget about it - and have it last.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[Kaizen]

Good job on your research. But that method/concern is more for tabletops imo. Doing that with a bench top that you will be banging away in will rip those screw out in short order. What the base look like? Just two cross supports? What will you be doing on it? If light duty I'd do construction adhesive and a few through bolts that sit below the surface


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[My Old Tools]

Just make your holes through the supports a little slotted across the width and it will be fine. I would not glue it down.

 

[EricP]

You might try just screwing down the middle of the top. If you sink screws towards the outside on both sides and then the wood contracts is can cause delamination.

 

[Colin Len]

I used the second method in your pic but my setup is only 4 months old so I don't really have any input as to whether it was the right/wrong choice. So far so good though, no complaints.

 

[jimreed2160]

I have a beech workbench in my garage shop where there is a dehumidifier going all the time. My workbench is 24" wide with a breadboard end so I can see the top movement. It swells and shrinks about 1/4" to 3/8" during the year.

Depending on conditions, your butcherblock should also move in reaction to moisture. For this reason, I would attach it with "Z" clips. Two on each end and four along the front and back. I have used "Z" clips for years on my furniture projects and have never had a failure or crack.

 

[ford fanatic]

Following.