Work bench top

[Tinman7783]

Any suggestions on a work bench top? I'm thinking 3/4" plywood then 3/4" MDF I need a good hardwood to lay on the MDF ? Ideas?


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[tiggi]

Check out your local CL listings, maybe you can find some bowling alley flooring. Also solid core doors are also good, I was even able to find some for free on CL.

 

[txvwnut]

I've seen a lot of guys do a plywood or MDF substrate and then top it off with a peice of Masonite. I'm fixing to build one for cylinder head bench out of maple. I also have a table I made for woodworking projects that has just MDF for the top.
So I guess the decision is really up to you and what your going to be doing on it.

 

[crab]

1/4 inch steel plate, you'll never need to replace it.

 

[chadman]

Steel plate is hands down the best workbench top IMO. My second choice would be Masonite over an OSB or plywood foundation.

 

[SeanConklin]

For my welding bench I used 3/16" plate steel, my wood (everything else under the sun) bench I used an MDF base with pine 1x3 over top, planed, sanded and sealed of course.

 

[windward]

Having just wrestled with this two weeks ago I will tell you give you my view point. As others have said, it really depends what you are going to use it for. If you are going to be welding or a lot of oily work, metal plate makes a lot of sense. My needs are more assembly related.

I found some bowling alleys about 1.5 hours away on Craigslist and drove up to take a look at them. One thing I learned is that there are nails all through the bowling alley tops. Sawing them was going to be a bear. You may miss nails on a cross cut, but you will hit a ton if you need to do a rip cut. Also, the top was not as flat as I would have expected. I could feel variances that I suspect was because they had been stored in an unconditioned warehouse. I did not want to deal the nails and refinishing the top, so I passed.

I ended up using two layers of baltic birch plywood (7-ply), topped with tempered hardboard (masonite), trimmed out with some maple. I wanted a bit thicker profile, so I
built up the front edge with some scrap baltic birch to give me 2.5" of thickness. This gave me a good clamping edge, instead of an apron. I countersunk the screws for the maple trim and plugged them with walnut plugs.

Somewhere on the web I read to use sanding sealer on the masonite. I did that and it came out very blotchy. I ended up replacing it and just using minwax poly(3 coats), which worked out nice.

 

[crab]

Well that turned out nice.

 

[Catadj78]

Having just wrestled with this two weeks ago I will tell you give you my view point. As others have said, it really depends what you are going to use it for. If you are going to be welding or a lot of oily work, metal plate makes a lot of sense. My needs are more assembly related.

I found some bowling alleys about 1.5 hours away on Craigslist and drove up to take a look at them. One thing I learned is that there are nails all through the bowling alley tops. Sawing them was going to be a bear. You may miss nails on a cross cut, but you will hit a ton if you need to do a rip cut. Also, the top was not as flat as I would have expected. I could feel variances that I suspect was because they had been stored in an unconditioned warehouse. I did not want to deal the nails and refinishing the top, so I passed.

I ended up using two layers of baltic birch plywood (7-ply), topped with tempered hardboard (masonite), trimmed out with some maple. I wanted a bit thicker profile, so I
built up the front edge with some scrap baltic birch to give me 2.5" of thickness. This gave me a good clamping edge, instead of an apron. I countersunk the screws for the maple trim and plugged them with walnut plugs.

Somewhere on the web I read to use sanding sealer on the masonite. I did that and it came out very blotchy. I ended up replacing it and just using minwax poly(3 coats), which worked out nice.

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

I just bought two 30 in solid core Oak doors for $55 a piece. A little more than building it out of Ply and MDF, but it looks great and solid as a rock.

 

[QtrHorse13]

Having just wrestled with this two weeks ago I will tell you give you my view point. As others have said, it really depends what you are going to use it for. If you are going to be welding or a lot of oily work, metal plate makes a lot of sense. My needs are more assembly related.

I found some bowling alleys about 1.5 hours away on Craigslist and drove up to take a look at them. One thing I learned is that there are nails all through the bowling alley tops. Sawing them was going to be a bear. You may miss nails on a cross cut, but you will hit a ton if you need to do a rip cut. Also, the top was not as flat as I would have expected. I could feel variances that I suspect was because they had been stored in an unconditioned warehouse. I did not want to deal the nails and refinishing the top, so I passed.

The non flat surface is because there are 15lb bowling balls being tossed on them daily. That will create quite a dimple/ uneven surface. Plus, there will naturally be a section that is worn out/ uneven because most bowlers are right handed and follow close to the same pattern on the lane. Over the years like most anything that has steady traffic, it will create a worn/ uneven section. I have never seen the under side of a lane so I cannot comment on that area.

 

[tmshort]

I agree with the "depends on your use".

I have several workbenches topped with only 3/4" MDF. I sand it lightly, then seal with several coats of polyurethane. They've held up to years of abuse, including oil and gas from carb repairs, etc. Still look good, and not too expensive.

I've built several variations on these basic plans all using MDF tops for my shop, and a couple for friends / family. Very sturdy.

http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/worktabl.htm

 

[windward]

The non flat surface is because there are 15lb bowling balls being tossed on them daily. That will create quite a dimple/ uneven surface. Plus, there will naturally be a section that is worn out/ uneven because most bowlers are right handed and follow close to the same pattern on the lane. Over the years like most anything that has steady traffic, it will create a worn/ uneven section. I have never seen the under side of a lane so I cannot comment on that area.

That may be the case in some parts of the lanes, but you could feel the changes at each of the lamination's. I suspect that when it was moved out of a conditioned space, each board moved at differing amounts (standard wood movement). The underside is very uneven and that leads me to believe the lanes were built board by board, in place, then had the tops leveled and sealed. As long as the temp and humidity was constant, the top would have stayed flat.

The more recent lanes are made of a plywood type laminate, that are probably shipped in. Just a guess.

 

[rabies]

mine are 3/4 cheap plywood. shorter bench is heavier work.
forgive the floor..was painted with house paint(disapeared within a year)
anways my bench has been severaly abused. still upright and in place. when i put cylnder heads on the bench i would put a rubber matt down and towl to catch oil. still there after 5 years

 

[QtrHorse13]

That may be the case in some parts of the lanes, but you could feel the changes at each of the lamination's. I suspect that when it was moved out of a conditioned space, each board moved at differing amounts (standard wood movement). The underside is very uneven and that leads me to believe the lanes were built board by board, in place, then had the tops leveled and sealed. As long as the temp and humidity was constant, the top would have stayed flat.

The more recent lanes are made of a plywood type laminate, that are probably shipped in. Just a guess.

They were probably very old if they were that uneven.

Most of the new lanes are synthetic.

 

[ZRX61]

mine is 2x10's topped with 1/2in plywood topped with masonite...

 

[Modern Jess]

I ended up using two layers of baltic birch plywood (7-ply), topped with tempered hardboard (masonite), trimmed out with some maple. I wanted a bit thicker profile, so I
built up the front edge with some scrap baltic birch to give me 2.5" of thickness. This gave me a good clamping edge, instead of an apron. I countersunk the screws for the maple trim and plugged them with walnut plugs.

Really nice work!

 

[mperry985]

I did 3/4 ply stained dark with 4 coats of polyurethane on each side. Laid down some stickers. Then 4 more coats of polyurethane. Use it in my snap on triple bank. Much better than payin 450 for a snap on top

 

[elronin]

Try school board auctions, I'm a police officer and have worked a couple, they sell everything from old computers to used door locks. To new toilets, old wood shop tops. the last vehicle auctions they had schools busses blue bird buses that cost 95,000 new and where only 10 years old will about 120000 miles going for 2500 to 4000 dollars at the end of the auction they had buses going for 1500 to 2000 bucks super cheap.

 

[liftoff621]

I made my work bench top out of fir framing 2x4s. I flattened the top with a homemade router sled, then covered it with cheap laminate flooring (look for the stuff the BORG is closing out). The laminate is tough, glue and paint drops scrape off easily.

 

[jeepinerdeep]

I'm not sure why it's not more popular, but 5/4 hardwood trailer flooring is an awesome material for the money. It's a few bucks more than plywood, and many times tougher.

Get it at your local semi-truck and trailer shop.

 

[Kin Creed]

Whatever you use (unless it's steel) for a general purpose bench I agree with getting some rubber mats or other protection to extend the life of the top. I use some large cheap cutting boards (wood and plastic) on top of some thin rubbery desk blotters (to keep the boards from sliding around) and that seems to keep the bench from getting instantly trashed.

The wood cutting board takes a crazy amount of abuse. I have sanded it down a few times already just to ease some of the gouges. Then I put some paste wax on it to offer a little protection, but that gets hacked away pretty quick. If that was my actual benchtop I would be bumming out. The benchtop is hard maple and has some dings for sure which is no big deal, but major holes, scrapes and gouges are better off on a sacrificial surface. You can clamp it to the bench also if needed so it really becomes part of the bench.

 

[rick carpenter]

You could easily go the same route I did. I don't know if you can see it too well, but I've got a 1-3/4" industrial particle wood door with 1/2" sacrificial mdf top. The mdf is soaked with boiled linseed oil, turpentine, and varnish or teak oil at about 1:1:1. It will flip over when buggered up badly enough, and I can replace it cheap.

In case you're wondering, the pic shows the end where a smaller vise once was. I routed in a hardwood plate and knocked out some of the bottom to fit the vise mounting screw.

 

[rharman]

I have butcher block with a ~24" square metal plate at one end where I mounted my vise.