Workbench top

[garybushey]

What does everyone do for a workbench top? I have seen things like using glued up strips of maple, MDF sheets, plywood sheets, even a solid core door.

It is time to make myself a new bench so I am looking for ideas. I am currently using a solid core door which has worked well for the past two years but it is really showing its age (by age I mean all the gouges and saw blade marks from slight miscalculations).

 

[FredP]

I use doors with a sheet of mdf on top. its almost time [4 years] to flip it over......:gar-Bi my benches are more assembly tables. YMMV

 

[kooshball]

I am just finishing up one out of southern yellow pine. The whole bench is SYP and cost less than $70 for the lumber (the vises and surface clamps are another story).

It might be good to pick up Chris Schwartz' books to get some further ideas for bench construction and design or check out his blog at Popular Woodworking.

 

[red]

I like MDF. And when it starts looking it's age, flip it over and it's new again.

Red

 

[ebarr]

MDF...my bench is 3 pieces of 3/4 MDF. Just get someone over to help you move itv:rotflm:

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I've got several different benches / counter areas using several different materials. If you're on a budget and your bench is likely to get dinged (like your current solid core door), then I think it's hard to beat SYP. It's inexpensive and a lot tougher than most people give it credit for.

On my primary bench I used Maple (1x3 pieces glued face-to-face) because I wanted something that would outlast me, take a beating, and still look decent. Of course, after almost 20 years it doesn't look quite as nice as it first did, but it's still rock solid and dead flat.

View image in gallery​

For assembly tables I tend to use MDF because it provides a large, flat surface. It's not as durable as SYP or a good hardwood, but it's inexpensive and easily replaced.

HTH

Bill

 

[bluedawg76]

I asked a similar question a few months ago and got great answers from the folks above like Bill and Fred who steered me to the key consideration: What "type" of bench you want/need depends on what type of work you will be doing. Does it need to be movable? Mainly assembly type work? hand tooling with chisels and planes? Need some holdfasts and vises, how many and what kind...? Chris Schwarz has a couple of nice books on the subject as does Scott Landis (The Workbench Book) that are worth a thumb through and then some. I, too, went the syp route; the top is 3 1/4" thick face glued SYP from the borg. I think I could park my truck on it and not see it flex!

Sam

 

[Canuck]

Something inexpensive, simple to build, but rock solid and should last me awhile. Built it last fall out of 3/4" plywood and top skinned with replaceable 1/2" MDF.

Difference is night and day to my old 2/4 bench!:wsmile:

Wayne

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Something inexpensive, simple to build, but rock solid and should last me awhile. Built it last fall out of 3/4" plywood and top skinned with replaceable 1/2" MDF.

Difference is night and day to my old 2/4 bench!:wsmile:

Wayne

Good looking bench, Wayne. :icon_thum

Bill

 

[merrill77]

My workbench top is particle board. I don't feel even the tiniest twinge of guilt when I saw, drill, rout or hammer into it...or drip finish on it. It is much coarser than MDF, which I've found handy for easing the edges of small parts - rubbing them on the edge of the top is almost as good as sandpaper :>

I've got about 10 years on mine and it's looking pretty rough but still perfectly usable. Probably time for a fresh layer, though.