I’m building a new work station to use for my hobbies. It will see use from paper work to dismantling printers, soldering, sketching, drawing, painting, etc.
So far, everything I have used has been made of some kind of particle board. I’m wondering if any of you had any thoughts or experience about using solid (hard) woods, or metal as the surface material.
Rigidity and strength being key properties that matter to me. I’m considering a metal surface as I think it would be the thinnest. I would have to properly finish it with some kind of epoxy paint and backed by some dampening material to eliminate vibrations.
I’m not very knowledgeable about wood, so I’m also looking for some feedback on the differences/benefits of solid hard woods, particle boards, engineered lumber, MDF (is this considered a particle board), plywood.
for your reference, the work surface will have a 50" gap between supports, and I would like it to be able to hold up 60 kilos without worries of cracking/breaking. Is this possible with a work surface of 1" or less of thickness?
I’m in the market for a workbench too. We could do a group build of laminated 2x4 bench tops, but it’d really help to have a planer and at least four long bar clamps per person first.
The laminated hardwood countertops from Ikea are a bargain for workbench tops even if you can’t find one in their “as is” department. In particular, their beech wood Karlby countertop is ideal for a woodworking bench as beech is very hard. For $120 you get a laminated beech wood slab 74" long by 25" wide by 1.5" thick. This is far cheaper than benchtops from Lee Valley and other woodworking stores and way more convenient that planing and gluing up your own slab.
Keep in mind that laminated 2x4 are very soft and, when you buy them, their moistue content is in the range of 25 to 30%. That’s pretty wet. It also means that, if you don’t stack & sticker them and let them dry for several month before building your benchtop, it going to warp and deform quite a bit as the wood dries out. Also, the quality of 2x4 you can get at the home centes these days is pretty abysmal. 2x6’s and 2x8’s are generally of better quality than 2x4’s.
If you’re bound and determined to build you own benchtop then you’re better off going down to PJ White Hardwoods and buying some maple boards than using dimensional construction lumber.
I like the tool tray in the middle of the bench that can be closed up by inverting the tray boxes. That will also allow me to take the trays out and put clamps through the opening. I’ve been wanting a leg vise for a while but my current workbench is too light and wimpy to add one. I’m still trying to make my mind up between the tail vise and wagon vise. Both have their pros and cons.
I have a bunch of 3" thick Western Maple that I’d like to use to build the base and the leg vise. For the top, I’ll either use the 3" thick maple or a couple huge slabs of 3" thick oak that I’ve had sitting around my shop for the past 10 years.
