Replies

1. 
   Biscardi | Jan 12, 2009 06:32am | #1

   ronih,

   You can use any manner of wood. Some folks used MDF or plywood. Hard mapel is nice. All my benches are ash- which works fine. People go on an on about dead flat benches, but wood moves seaonally and it is really hard to get and keep a bench flat. I'm a big believer in use what you have, though the short boards may be a hassle.

   Frank

2. 
   Woodman41 | Jan 12, 2009 07:20am | #2

   what Frank said. 19th century craftsman would have used whatever they had access to locally.

   My first bench was made out of home depot framing lumber that I planed and jointed for a built up top and for an end vise I used a wood clamp that I fixed in place. My lifelong best friend still has that bench in his garage shop, having renovated 2 houses with it.

3. 
   roc | Jan 12, 2009 08:45am | #3

   Oak sounds great as long as you don't try to rip saw it with a handsaw. I tried that once. Burns calories.

   As far as the 40 short sticks why not glue them up running across the bench rather than the traditional long ways. If you need to have dog holes pre drill and run " all thread " or cold rolled steel threaded on the ends and put washers and nuts on the ends to keep from cracking your bench apart with force from a tail vise. You only need one rod near the dog holes if two rows then two rods.

   My first bench I made sort of this way. Rather than power joint and thickness plane then glue ( had no powered jointer or powered planer ) I just drilled a few holes in each stick of a pile of 2x4s using a drill press (they got to be fairly consistently drilled ) then through bolted using 1/2" all thread. I ran the 2x4s length wise though not cross wise.

   The outer most layer was counter bored and a washer and nut added that was just bellow the surface. No glue at all. I tightened the nuts and planed it off flat. I still have it and still use it. This last year I built a Kluasz bench that everyone here is fed up with hearing about so enough about that.

   roc

   PS: I suppose you could run the short sticks length wise as long as you staggered the seams. They would need to be consistently thicknessed using a decent thickness planer. and aligned with cauls so they don't go all over the place during glue up. Or glue up a few at a time which is what I would do.