Hardwood Workbench top

[AAvK]

BugBear, I have no input on the US Oak but, love your website and thanks for having it out there, it is a great resource and I will build your bow saw one day. And the links to bench pages are a great help, it helped me discover what type of end vise I will build, which is a combo of tail vise and long end vise as one solid unit operated on a double sized sliding frame system with two bench screws.

As far as an opinion on a bench top, I think American Ash would be great as it is not a brittle chippy wood, I have done a little chiseling and sawing of Ash and it has a rubbery tough resistance, as well as being softer than Oak, it will not damage edge tools. Pro baseball bats are made from Ash. On the California coast, $3.95 a B/F.

[Brooks Moses]

Well, I've got some bookshelves that I made five and a half years ago out of oak; they're mostly held together with finish nails (I was young and didn't really understand how to use wood glue at the time), and there's no blackening around the nails at all. They have been inside all this time and never wet, though. (Someday I'll get around to sanding and finishing them, but I'll have to find a place to put the books that are on them first!)

On the other hand, I've got some oak boards recovered from a barn that was put up in the ... I honestly have no idea, but the farmhouse on the property dated from the 1930s, and the barn is probably contemporary with that. In any case, the wood is black in a region around the nail holes for about an eighth-inch away from the nail in the cross-grain direction and nearly a half-inch each way along the grain. But those were boards that were out in the weather for six or seven decades....

(Hmm. I wonder if it would be possible to ebonize oak with some variant of this process....)

- Brooks

[bugbear]

Thanks, I'm flattered.

BugBear

[George]

Yep. The vinegar and iron elixir. Reacts with the tannins.

[else24]

"Yep. The vinegar and iron elixir. Reacts with the tannins."

Blood! Good ol Roy showed us a black spot on the oak workbench he was copying, and said "This is what happens when you bleed on oak. It turns black reacting with the iron in your blood." SWMBO was watching, shook her head and walked away, saying that was a little more than she wanted to know.

So, that's what you gotta do. Put a little more of yourself into your project. ;-)

[Bill]

I used 3 layers of 3/4 MDF. Did it about 3 years ago. I followed the Shopsmith plan.The top is starting to show wear, but I can always flip it over. It is really flat which is great. Of course, you can't pound on it like you could maple, for example. It works for me.

If you use MDF put quite a few coats of poly or varnish on it to protect it from solvents, and so glue won't stick

I'd do it again. It was fun making the bench and it was one of the best things that I did in the shop.

Good luck.

[Bruce T]