Wood for workbench question

wilburpan · 2006-04-18T15:09:52+00:00

I'm looking to build my first workbench. I was planning to use the BobKey style workbench plan in Popular Woodworking as a place to start.My question is what type of wood should I use. Bob Key's originalworkbench page says that he went to a home center and got pine two-bystock. The Popular Woodworking article references Southern YellowPine.I live in New Jersey, and so far I've found that the construction gradetwo-by stock that the local home centers carry are made of "GreenDouglas Fir", which is not kiln dried. The local hardwood dealercarries kiln dried Eastern White Pine, which is much more expensive,and I am on a budget for this project.My questions are:1. Has anyone had failures using construction grade type two-by stockto make a workbench, and what type?2. If I get the "Green Douglas Fir" and just let it sit around for awhile, how long can I expect it to take to dry/acclimate to mybasement?Links for reference:

Apr 18, 2006 22 Replies

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wilbur 20 years ago

I was curious, so I hit Google, and found this:

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looks like this bench is completely made of hickory.

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Too_Many_Tools 20 years ago

Thanks for posting this.

Does this bench have a downdraft tablle within it?

He mentions a pegboard insert for sanding but I don't see anything discussed about the actual mechanics (fan, dust filters, vents, etc.).

TMT

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Upscale 20 years ago

No, he didn't give specifics on the mechanics of the downdraft table (that I saw), but there is a picture of the pegboard in place if you scroll down. So yes, there apparently is a downdraft table as one of the inserts. The owner of the bench is Royce Kessler and you can email him at snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net to see if he can provide additional details.

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