Building a long bench - advice wanted

[Markymark]

Hi All

After my first successful post. Here goes my second. I am making a bench for my new workshop. What material would be best for the top. The top is 900mm deep x 5000mm long. It will be a multi purpose bench and so needs to be tough but cost effective. Any advice, please.


Markymark

 

[mailee]

If it is a general purpose bench I would use ply one or two layers of 18mm. Not the smoothest of surfaces but fine for most of the jobs. Maybe someone else here has a better suggestion. It does all depend on the use it will be put to of course. :wink:

 

[DaveL]

How about glueing 2 or 3 layers of 3/4" MDF together for the top and covering it with hard board as a replaceable wear surface? A solid wood front lip wold give a stronger edge that looks nice as well.

 

[Paul Chapman]

My bench is about 7'x2'. I made the top by lipping three sheets of 18mm MDF with softwood then glueing them together. Two Record 52D vices, one on the front left, one on the right end. Four rows of dog holes for Veritas bench pups. Treated the top with Sadolin Classic and I periodically wax it with Liberon Black Bison wax. Had it several years now and it's still as good as new and the top is still dead flat :wink:

Paul

 

[DomValente]

Make sure it's as flat and well supported as possible , curved bechtops don't make for good work.

 

[Anonymous]

I have just been building a bench, a tempory one which will be used initially to chop big mortices and tennons for a timber framed building during the winter. I went for a more traditional type of solid wood top. I put a 6x4 "beam" vertically positioned right at the front to absorb extra energy where the mortiseing will be done. The rest of the top is made of 6x2's. They are all joined with biscuit's, glued up and cramped, although I used a full length 12 mm plywood spline to join the front beam to the 2" thick remaining section. I didnt put a tool well, the top is flat. The underframe was made of various odd 4x3's joined with draw-pegg'd mortics and tennons, including angled braces to prevent the bench creaking and racking when planing. Its a sort of souped up joiners bench. I was able to select good dense swedish stock in the yard (good bloke there!) for the top, I made sure the growth rings were placed alternately up and down to lessen the risk of the finished top cupping. The top is fixed securely only at the front (pegged) the rest is coach bolted in over size slot holes onto small "floor joists" to allow for a little movemet.
Hope this helps, cheers Jonathan

 

[jasonB]

What about a couple of door blanks. either rip the edge off 8x4 ones or if you come down to 4260 long you could use a pair of 7x3s for about £35 each.

I have a couple of benches made from old firedoors that came out of an office refurb, 54mm thick blockboard core, nice and solid

You could also go for 900mm double post formed worktops maybe even pick up a damaged one cheap.

Jason

 

[Freetochat]

How about glueing 2 or 3 layers of 3/4" MDF together for the top and covering it with hard board as a replaceable wear surface? A solid wood front lip wold give a stronger edge that looks nice as well.

This is the way I went (not as long though), but keeping it straight is important IMO.

 

[Markymark]

Make sure it's as flat and well supported as possible , curved bechtops don't make for good work.

Hi
Thanks for the advice. What framework would you advise? What I was thinking of was,(excuse the lack of technical words, cos I am a beginner) 4, H sections made from 4x3" pine with 1" mortice and tenoned rails. extra side rail near base of legs. I was playing with having some diagonal timber at the back to give it extra rigidity. I will probably be using the 2/3 3/4" MDF option as it is cost effective. My only doubt is that the MDF may sag as my workshop is a garage and we all know how cold and damp they can be.

Please can you critique.

Regards

Mark

 

[Paul Chapman]

Mark,

How I did mine was to have four substantial legs about 3"x 3". I fitted rectangular pieces of 18mm MDF between the back legs and side legs using these cross dowels, 6mm threaded rod and brass heads http://www.woodfit.com/product_info.php ... +14mm+long

http://www.woodfit.com/product_info.php ... Brass+Head You can buy the 6mm threaded rod from B&Q and cut it to whatever size you want.

I fitted a shallower piece along the front, and cut holes in that so that I can get my hand in and push the bench dogs up from underneath.

The whole assembly is very rigid and the top is well supported. It doesn't move at all under vigorous planing and takes at least a couple of people to lift it. By finishing it with Sadolin Classic and wax it is well protected from damp.

If you go for a glued together MDF top, you will need several G-cramps and slightly curved wooden cauls to make sure that you get an even cramping pressure over the whole top. You might also want to use a couple of biscuits or dowels for location purposes so that the component parts of the top don't slide about when it is covered with glue and you are cramping it together.

The bench has lasted well - and even if it hadn't, it didn't cost much.

Hope this helps :wink:

Paul

 

[Evergreen]

Mark

You've got plenty of good advice here already so I hope you won't mind a slight hijack...

Paul
How do you get on with the Veritas bench pups? I've often looked at them in the Rutlands catalogue and fancied that they might be a bit useful?

Regards.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,
If your worried about the mdf top sagging you need to make sure you have plenty of horizontal support (same way as a floor joist supports the floor boards and pevents them sagging) You have a good plan to use 4x3 h frames, and I would say definately include some diagonal bracing, its as strong as houses, even small 2x1 brace's add considerasble rigidity but the heavier the better. I would put a 4x2 preferabaly 6x2 "joist" the full length of the bench to support it entirely, especially if you have any machines like drill press lathe etc the weight soon adds up. You must be doing OK if your confident enough to cut mortice and tennons! Go for it and good luck with your project whichever way you eventually go!
Cheers Jonathan

 

[Paul Chapman]

Paul
How do you get on with the Veritas bench pups? I've often looked at them in the Rutlands catalogue and fancied that they might be a bit useful?

In my view Veritas bench pups and wonder pups are two of the best things since sliced bread. They are not only good as bench dogs but for making up all sorts of cramping jigs. And being round rather than square sectioned I think makes them far more useful for cramping up non-square pieces. Get some - you won't regret it :wink:

Paul

 

[Adam]

Paul, How do you get on with the Veritas bench pups? I've often looked at them in the Rutlands catalogue and fancied that they might be a bit useful?,

Doing a double hi-jack! I also find mine excellent. One of the most versatile and useful items that i own. Even more so if used in conjunction with the hold downs....

Regards,

Adam

 

[Markymark]

Hi Mark,
You must be doing OK if your confident enough to cut mortice and tennons!
Cheers Jonathan

Thanks, But I use the term loosely.

Lets hope the H frames are not too loose, plenty of glue and shims.

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

Chop your mortice's first then cut your tennons. Do the tennon cheeks (with the grain) first, then the shoulders (across the grain) second
Set a mortice guage to the width 1" width of the mortice and mark the positions off your good face sides for both conmponents.
Use it to mark both mortices and tennons with the same setting then they WILL line up .
You could do a draw pegged mortice and tennon to make a self tightening joint; or a through wedged mortice and teenon which is also self tightening.
There may well be info on these methods already in the archives? Try search or google search for "draw pegged" or "through wedged"
My own bench's mortices and tennons are just draw pegged, no glue or shims and it is solid as a rock

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Paul, How do you get on with the Veritas bench pups? I've often looked at them in the Rutlands catalogue and fancied that they might be a bit useful?,

Doing a double hi-jack! I also find mine excellent. One of the most versatile and useful items that i own. Even more so if used in conjunction with the hold downs....

Regards,

Adam

Going on Pauls suggestion for my new bench I've bought a Veritas hold down, it was bought to use not only for the top (it works in square 3/4" holes as well as round) but to use as a support on the leg when planing long boards or doors etc etc. Typical of anything Veritas it's finnish is second to none.

 

[Markymark]

My own bench's mortices and tennons are just draw pegged, no glue or shims and it is solid as a rock

Nice Job.

I think mine will be a little experimental.

Thanks for the advise. Could you tell me one thing, is the mortice and tenon on the diagonal bracing running at 45 degs as well or is it cut horizontally?

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark
Experiment is ok but believe me as I have discovered sometimes (in fact generally) the tried and tested methods are best in the long run
Heres a small diagram to show the brace set out that I used (derived from timber frame house constructon):-

Its next to impossible to undercut tennons at a 45 deg angle so the solution is to cut them square as you see in the diagram so one end of mortise slopes down at 45 deg, the other vertiacl at 90 deg. This also gives good flat bearing surfaces for the braces to push against. I used a full size drawing on thin ply to set it all out; I took my time and it went together perfectly first time (mini "raising"!!) It took about a day and a half to complete he bench, although I still need to find a 1 1/2" beech bench screw to make the leg vice :roll:

 

[engineer one]

given that you have 5 metres maybe there is something to be said
for building the bench on two levels.
one for hand work,and maybe assembly, and one for machine work.
also you could have different faces for holding down etc

then in the middle, you could put an scms which would actually be out
of the way, yet still able to cut almost along a 2400 board.

paul :wink: