I’m a relative novice woodworker, and I’d like to make a laminated hard maple top fopr a workbench, and my intention is to use 8/4 maple, milled to 1 3/4″. I have a JET 1.5 hp contractor’s tablesaw. First, I’ve read that even a more powerful table saw can be stressed by cutting 1 3/4″ hard maple. Is it practcial for me to try ripping the maple (about 20 strips) on my tablesaw? Is there a particular blade I need to use? I had planned to use a Freud, 24 tooth ripping blade. Second, the boards I would use would be 8′ in length. I wouldn’t be able to crosscut them on the tablesaw, so I plan to use a circular saw and crosscut the boards with several passes each – a little over a 1/2″ in each pass. Is that practical, and, again, should I look for a special blade?
Thanks for your help.
Replies
Knicks,
Your Jet 1.5hp tablesaw has enough power to rip the maple and your Freud blade is a good choice. Just make sure you go slow and use Board Buddies (if you own them) to keep the wood against the fence to prevent binding on the 8' lengths. Cross cutting the maple with a circular saw is fine as well. Try to find a circular saw blade with as many teeth as you can for cross cutting so you get a nice clean cut. Even if you used a contractor grade blade you can always clean up your cuts afterward.
I'm curious as to why you're using hard maple? Hard maple is an excellent choice for bench top material but imo, it's a little overkill. If you pick up the latest book Workbenches by Chris Schwartz, he makes a very good argument about making benches out of southern yellow pine found at your local big box store. The money you save making the bench out of southern yellow pine will pay for your vise.
mike
Thanks, Mike. What about ash? My local yard has ash for about half the price of hard maple, but I'm not sure that they have southern yellow pine.
Thanks again. This site is terrific.
Ash will work fine as well as Red Oak. I'm not sure where you live in the country but my local Home Depot and Lowes carries Southern Yellow Pine as regular 2x4, 2x8, 2x10, etc... building material lumber. If you have one close by stop in and talk to the lumber dept manager and ask what their building material lumber is made of. Chances are it's southern yellow pine. If you do decide to go this route make sure you let the wood acclimate in your shop before you start cutting it. This way if the wood warps on you a little you can always size the lumber square. You made need to buy a moisture meter to determine the woods moisture content but ideally you want your lumber between 8-12 percent moisture content.
Again, I recommend taking a look at the book Workbenches as it's invaluable in the information it provides in building a workbench out of southern yellow pine.
http://www.amazon.com/Workbenches-Design-Construction-Popular-Woodworking/dp/1558708405/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216758240&sr=1-1
Tha nks for the help.
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