Workbench top suggestions

[John Timmins]

Go on Craigslist and look for Bowling alley lane in Materials. I've seen 10' lengths for $300

 

[My Old Tools]

It's not something you can duplicate cheaply, but I used school lab class black composite tops that were being scrapped. It's not as gentle on finished parts as a wood top, but I love being able to use a torch right on it and clean it with brake cleaner...

Tommy

Our lab tables were soapstone.

 

[My Old Tools]

I bought 8 foot beech butcher block countertops from IKEA. It's been a couple of years and they are holding up fine. Don't know if they have 9'.

 

[My Old Tools]

I haven’t built my benches yet, but I found a guy on Craigslist that was salvaging an entire bowling alley. I got 4 sections of lane 10’ long by 42” wide for $100 each. They will make very rugged benchtops.

Be careful cutting it. Those are usually full of metal.

 

[97tj-neil]

Be careful cutting it. Those are usually full of metal.

Yes, they are. Lots of nails. I bought a diablo “demolition” blade and threw it in the scrap bin when I was done.

 

[lowside67]

I am personally going to build a 1.5" plywood top by laminating 2x 3/4" sheets (I have an L configuration so will be staggering the joint) and then having a 16ga steel top fabricated to drop on top of it.

The cost was less than I expected for my 8'x7' "L" and given that a lot of work is automotive, deal with a fair bit of fluids so I didn't want raw wood.

-Mark

 

[Lucky13driver]

I picked up some steel in the surplus area of my local steel yard to finish my workbench build. 12'x34""x5/8" thick I payed $289 for it.

Here's a link to my build:https:
//www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=408820

 

[69supercj]

Find some used solid core doors and be done with it. Cover them with your metal of choice.