Workbench for dirty stuff

[Jon_E]

I am a woodworker and my work mostly involves clean wooden workbench surfaces or cast-iron machine tops that typically accumulate sawdust. However, I know a lot of you guys are wrench-turners and most of your work involves grease, oil, and other engine fluids. You're the ones I want opinions from.

I have a fair amount of power equipment. More than some homeowners, less than your average landscaping company. I want to build a workbench that is suited specifically for working on this stuff, something easy to clean. Also needs to be super-heavy for anchoring a couple of vises and take the occasional beating.

What would you guys recommend for a work surface for something like this? I was thinking a plate of stainless steel if it can be gotten inexpensively enough, but even primed and painted carbon steel, or a heavy wood bench with a tempered hardboard top that is replaceable? I don't want anything that will absorb oil or grease, but it won't be babied either.

 

[PhysicsDude]

I think stainless steel is the best option. If you can find a place that sells used restaraunt equipment you can usually get a good deal on some stainless countertops.

Another source is this stainless top (stainless sheetmetal around a wood core) from Newage that you can order through Home Depot:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/NewAge-...6-in-Stainless-Steel-Work-Top-36756/204858344

Otherwise, a stainless work surface gets both very expensive and very heavy.

 

[Jhoff310]

I think stainless steel is the best option. If you can find a place that sells used restaraunt equipment you can usually get a good deal on some stainless countertops.

Another source is this stainless top (a relatively piece of thin stainless around a wood core) from Newage that you can order through Home Depot:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/NewAge-...6-in-Stainless-Steel-Work-Top-36756/204858344

Otherwise, a stainless work surface gets both very expensive and very heavy.

I second everything he said.

I have an old restaurant work table in my garage with a stainless steel top. It is super easy to clean, very durable, and takes a beating.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I was thinking a plate of stainless steel if it can be gotten inexpensively enough, but even primed and painted carbon steel, or a heavy wood bench with a tempered hardboard top that is replaceable? I don't want anything that will absorb oil or grease, but it won't be babied either.

Any of those three will work just fine, it comes down to your preference and budget.

 

[TLCObsession]

My main bench has a sheet of galvanized steel on it. Doesn't rust, cleans up easily. I don't weld on it. I have a small amount of corrosion by the vice from some battery acid but otherwise it looks like the day I built it 15 years ago.

 

[sberry]

Common plate steel.

 

[BillK]

Common plate steel.

This ....... I have three at my business and they are great. They dont rust and they are very easy to clean. If you have the money and want to waste it I guess stainless would work too.

 

[biggziff]

I use an old commercial bar sink with left and right pitched work surfaces. The drain empties into a 5 gallon pail.

 

[Boilerhouse]

I have galvanized sheet metal 30 inch deep x 5 feet long over a plywood core. I would like to upgrade, so if and when I do, it will be 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel plate.

 

[ItsNemo]

Sanded plywood with many coats of spar urethane on the top...wipes up clean, doesn't absorb, cheap, and still soft enough surface that you could use for woodworking.

 

[TractorJeff]

Common plate steel as SBerry suggested, never know when you are going to need to clamp the Welder Ground Cable to it to do a "quick" fix!
It won't rust over time do tot eh fact that you will be wiping up oil spills from it.

 

[larry_g]

I have in my shop steel, stainless, wood, and Formica benchtops. For the lighter duty greasy dirty stuff like saws, starters, carburetors, and the like the Formica bench is the goto. It cleans to like new with simple green. It is an off white color that makes things really easy to see and is on 3/4" pressboard that is on 2x boards.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[bdbecker]

Another option, perhaps in addition to the others listed, I keep a heavy rubber door mat on my bench. I picked one out that wouldn't trap small parts, but would still catch any oil/grease. Clean up is simple with a little dish soap and a garden hose.

View media item 84986

 

[James-W]

I have a hardboard bench top and it can be replaced when needed. I do mostly woodworking but on occasion I work on a small gas engine when I need to. I just worked on one a week ago, a neighbor was mowing lawn, hit something and stopped the engine. Then it wouldn't start. He brought it over to me to look at.

He had sheared the key on the flywheel and his blade was super dull. I checked the oil and it was low and super dirty. I replaced the key, sharpened the blade and changed the oil. Worked really good after that. I should have charged him, but since we are neighbors I didn't.

 

[matt_i]

A36 which is the "common steel plate" is good with welded legs. 1/2" thick is a nice place to start.

Another option in wood is to joint or rip the radii off 2x4s or 2x6s. Drill each of these the same for threaded rods to go thru the face. Now glue it all up as a panel. At the end install the threaded rods and it should stay together for a long time. If you find the right shop you may be able to get it wide-belt sanded. They might go a little nutty if they metal-detect it but once you explain what's inside there and they can see the construction it should be OK.

Fit a sheetmetal or hardboard cap and it should be good for a long time. The biggest advantage of the thick steel imo is that it takes hammering better and is also good as a welding surface should you get into that business in the future.

 

[GrayFlattop]

Another vote for plate steel. We fabricated a bench iin our shop~30 years ago with 4 x 4 x 1/4" tubing legs and 2" x 4" cross-pieces. The inspiration came from a industrial fabricator we had been doing business with as they had a perfect top - a piece of 3/4 A-36 that was just under 48" x 72". they even hit the top with their big blanchard grinder. so it was dead-level.

Completely indestructible. Spilled oil wipes right up, and we made a lot of weldments using that base as a FLAT starting point. Drilled and tapped a dozen 1/2" holes over the years for hold-down clamps beyond the reach of other clamps.

That's probably overkill for most shops, but something similar - even if it's 1/4" plate will serve as a perfect surface.

Yeah stainless looks good, but I'd worry that I had to be careful. With a steel plate as your top - no worries at all. And if water ever gets on it and it looks rusty, just get out the disc sander and clean it up.

I wish I had a bench like that at home...