Replies

1. 
   blewcrowe | Apr 14, 2007 02:13pm | #1

   Generally not if it's newer stuff. Most of the newer floorings are veneered or composited. They are step-planed on the bottoms. They are top finished.

   What's this stuff look like? What's it made of?

2. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Apr 14, 2007 02:34pm | #2

   If it's solid hardwood vs engineered (veneered) then I wonder how you plan to orient it?  Does the flooring have the micro bevels?

   Could you provide more of your intended construction?  Are you planning on affixing it to some form of substrate and installing it as one would for its intended purpose?

   Regards,

   Bob @ Kidderville Acres

    

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

1. 
   user-223998 | Apr 15, 2007 08:30am | #5

   Its solid hardwood. I plan to lay in on a substrate, maybe ply or M.D.F. I'm thinking whether to rip it so that joints would be tight and not as it would be if i just left it as flooring. Also would it make a big difference if i laid it flat or glued it up face to face?

1. 
   user-172666 | Apr 15, 2007 01:15pm | #6

   I did this 25 years ago. My wife and I built a dining room table by putting 1" oak flooring onto a 3/4 inch plywood base 40" by 72". Banded the edges with more oak. It was beautiful, and had the heft and feel of a VERY solid table. Admired by all. And built for nothing compared to the same table in a furniture store. THEN...

   we moved from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Pleasant Hill, California (Bay area)...

   The hardwood expanded, and of course the plywood did NOT. Within two weeks of arrival it had popped off the end boards, and within a month there was a 4-6" arch in the 40" width...

   I tried to draw it down flat by screwing boards and angle iron to the back, but of course it was wasted time and materials. Nothing was going to recompress that wood.

   We used it as a loading ramp the next time we moved...

    

1. 
   CoachB | Apr 17, 2007 02:11am | #14

   Great story about acclimating your lumber....sooooo true!

2. 
   Napie | Apr 15, 2007 06:00pm | #7

   If you are going to go through all that effort, just glue up a proper top that will be far more stable and you can flatten once a year.

3. 
   mike4244 | Apr 15, 2007 07:16pm | #8

   I have built many benches, mostly yellow pine for benches for manufacturers work tables. I imagine your flooring is T&G .Flatten the back by running it through a planer. This is important,check the face for flatness. Rip or joint the tongue and grooves off.Rip a straight edge on each board if they are not already straight.

   DO NOT fasten the boards to a substrate. Glue them up face to face.Hopefully the boards are at least 1 3/4" wide after milling. 3" would be ideal, any wider would be a waste of material.

   If you need any info on how to glue up a bench top ,email me or you can go to the archives and look it up.

   mike

4. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Apr 16, 2007 02:42pm | #9

   IMHO you're in for a lot of work with even more potential for prroblems/failure down the road.  Hardwood flooring is typically installed with nails over 3/4" plywood substrate.

   Your plan to rip off the T&G means that you'll have to joint each and every piece.  A lot of work.

   If it were me and I was looking for a quick simple solution I would look into a solid core door.  I have a birch solid core door mounted on a bench constructed of a double layer of 3/4" plywood.  I am going to lag bolt it to the plywood top once I have drilled the dog holes.  It is lagged to the wall studs and this thing is like a tank, NO RACKING!

   I ripped the section that had the door knob hole and I have since regretted doing that.  If I had left it, I could have mounted an electrical receptical for power tools, Duh.

   This has proven to be a quick and dirty solution that will suffice till I have the wherewithal to construct a Lon Schleining bench, which is a goal, but not the priority for me.  I am currently mounting a Verita Twin screw on the end.

   This bench has served me well for better than 10 years.

   Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

    

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

1. 
   [email protected] | Apr 16, 2007 06:40pm | #10

   I think you have the wrong mental image of what is being proposed. 

   The pieces of flooring would need to be jointed, and planed to remove the bottom relief, and the tongue and groove from the sides.  The glue up laminates them "face to face", to get the edge grain on the top surface.  This minimizes dimensional changes due to humidity. 

   I don't build "shop furniture", so a traditional bench is not in my plans.  While beautiful, they were designed to solve a set of problems, and the beauty is in their function.  Since I'm more of a power tool user, much of the function they have with hand tools, isn't applicable to my needs. 

   I agree with you that for utility it is hard to beat a solid core door.  I put threaded inserts in mine on six inch centers, instead of dog holes.  They are much more versatile.  It takes just a moment to attach or detach jigs and fixtures, or bench top tools, and stops are easy to make from scrap wood. 

1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Apr 16, 2007 07:22pm | #11

   Jigs,

   I guess the point I was trying to make is that it's going to be a tremendous amount of work no matter which way the flooring is assembled with questionable results.

   Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

    

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

2. 
   dougmeyer | Apr 16, 2007 08:35pm | #12

   Not that this is what you are planing on doing but.

   A long time ago (say 20 years or so) My dad and i took some old 2X10s that we had had around for years and used these to form the basic top of a table. (I think we used 4?) then we took some old oak flooring from when the house floor was put in and put this on top of said 2X10s (maybe they were 12s but I think they were tens) and we put it down like it was a floor. Then we sanded and finished it (we we sanded it and then did not do much esle with it but...)

   This lasted until said house/wood shop turned into a marshmellow roast about 2 years ago.  It was strong and quick and cheep. I would not do this if I had to pay for any of it but it was cheep for us and it was a tank. I used a full sludge hammer on it one time to get something to come apart and it did not even notice.

   A few years back we sanded it down a bit to get the mess off it. But even that was only a light sanding.

   Doug Meyer

3. 
   [email protected] | Apr 17, 2007 12:47am | #13

   Bob, I think using the oak flooring is preferable to starting from roughsawn hardwood stock and truing it up to accomplish the task.  And, done right the results won't be questionable at all.  Since I know a couple of guys who do floors, who would let me have a bunch if I asked for it, it is probably what I would use, were I to make a top for a traditional bench.  But, I think that a traditional bench in general, is a tremendous amount of work unless it is considered furniture for the shop. 

   The traditional bench is a magnificent solution to a set of problems, and is definitely the best possible solution to the problem set with the materials available, at the time it was designed.   

   I also think it really doesn't do the job at hand any better than a well designed modern bench utilizing properly selected engineered materials. 

   I won't even posit an opinion on which is more attractive. 

3. 
   Napie | Apr 14, 2007 05:30pm | #3

   Unless you have access to a bunch of scrap, I don’t see how it could be cost effective.  If I were to build another bench, (three are enough right now...).  I purchase one of the laminated maple tops available through many of the woodworking supply companies.  

4. 
   sapwood | Apr 14, 2007 06:48pm | #4

   Typical hardwood flooring is a bit thin to use as a bench top all by itself. It wouldn't be all that stiff to resist decisive mallet blows. But the flooring is still wood. Just because it's been milled to those specific dimensions doesn't negate it's usefullness for other purposes.