Is pine too soft for workbench top?

[Barry Lennox]

There was a cheapie just like you describe in FWW a while back (I can dig out the ref if you want) I built one and it's great. Solid like a tank. I finished it with several coats of shellac and a lot of soya-bean oil. No glue ever sticks to it. I drilled a grid of dog holes in it, but add more as I need them. I did not keep track of the exact cost, but it cannot have been more than $50-$60.

For the moment I have only 2 Chiwanese vices fitted, one on the end and side. That will change, but it's OK for the moment.

I also built a lot of bench accessories from "The Workbench Book" and "Making Workbenches" Both are must-reads.

Barry Lennox

[Frank Shute]

What you could do is use hardwood just for the areas that see heavy action eg. dog-holes and the front of the bench.

My bench is a mixture of 4x2 pine, some 4x2 oak, some 4x2 ash, some

1" ash and a few other bits:

you look carefully you'll see a slab of 10x1" ash at the front with the rest of the surface doubled up 3/4" ply. Have also put some 1" oak supports under the ply where I've got dog-holes.

I'll take some better pictures of my bench sometime.

I don't know about laminating pine & hardwood together though - differing rates of expansion/contraction could spell problems.

[Fred the Red Shirt]

Compared to no bench at all it'll be great. COmpared to a bench made from kiln-dried maple, beech, or birch it'll be cheap.

If you can get Southern Yellow Pine or Douglas Fir cheap where you are located, then it'll be about as good as any hardwood bench.

[PC Gameplayer]

I'm the OP, and your answers (plus those of others) were what I was looking for. My plan is to use 2Xsomething's, get them to about 3" thick, and laminate them together. And it won't exactly be "butcherblock" like I said...I'll use just about the full length of the 2Xsomethings...in other words, my plan for the bench top is to take 10-12 1.5X3 (finished length) boards, laminate them together so the benchtop ends up being 3" thick, and cut it to a 6 ft. length.

I'll look for SYP first, and settle for pine/whatever if I can't find it.

And I've gotten similar replies from other folks--along the lines of "it'll do do until you can upgrade to something better". That's all I'm looking for right now--something that I can use for a few years, (potentially) beat the crap out of, and not feel too bad about it. :-P

Thanks, all...

Jim

[Patrick]