I am thinking about using a Douglas Fir Glulam beam as a workbench top. I can get a 3 1/8″ deep X 22″ wide X 8′ long from a local lumber yard. I plan to rip off the rounded edges, add a 5″ deep skirt all the way around, and flatten the top with a router. Adding two high-quality vises, boring bench dog holes, and mounting on a sturdy base, I think, will produce a fairly serviceable bench. I know that Doug Fir is not hard maple but it is a lot less expensive.
In your opinions is this a worthy endeavor? What pitfalls should I anticipate? Will Watco oil or equivalent seal the Doug Fir well enough that I don’t have pitch oozing on to the working surface? Will the Glulam’s moisture content pose a problem?
I am new to serious woodworking so any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
James
Replies
You could easily cover the top with maple or some other hardwood. How would the cost compare? A lot of glulams have a crown in them.
I made a workbench top out of old doug fir roof rafters and it has worked fine I think your gluelam should work well also, just check it for flatness. I saw a 24" wide Oliver Jointer on e-bay that would make quick work of flatting it;) or you could use a jointer plane.
happy holidays and all of that
troy
I just finished a 36" x 102" edge grain 8/4 Maple top for my new bench. It is BEAUTIFUL but I have $800.oo in the darn thing.
Edited 12/26/2006 6:52 pm ET by mbcabinetmaker
Firstly, let me thank you all for your replies.gb93433 - I am pretty sure that one can specify that the glulam not be crowned.Troy - The 24" Oliver Jointer would do the trick. Got an appointment with my banker tomorrow. mbcabinetmaker - Maple would be my choice but I need to do this on a tight budget.Keep the info coming.James
I used to work at a glu-lam manufacturer. Glu-lams can be specified without camber (crown) although depending on where you live, there will only be between 1/32" - 1/16" of camber in an 8' length. It won't affect the beam in terms of surface flatness since it will be lying on it's side. While I was there, I had a desk/hutch made out of glu-lams and it was very nice. I had it planed down to just over 2" thick and it served me well. I just had them apply some regular varnish and it made for a cool looking desk. The moisture content of glu-lams at time of manufacturer is typically around 12% and the only time you normally see a lot of checking is in the very dry climates such as Denver and Phoenix.
You can take your piece of glu-lam to a cabinetmaker's shop and run it through their drum sanderas I did- Quick, inexpensive and flat-
James,
Maple would be my choice but I need to do this on a tight budget.
Since maple is your choice, I will tell you how I made mine, and you can decide for yourself. I too was on a tight budget but desperately wanted a maple top.
I took 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood, ripped them to the bench width (24" in my case) and glued them together. I didn't want to put screws or nails in the top because of drilling for the dog holes later. Then I took a 8/4 hard maple board and ripped 3/8" strips from it. A 3/8" thick strip will take 1/2" width from the maple board because of the 1/8" kerf. You will net 2 strips per inch of board width. A 8" wide board will give you 16 strips. Plane these strips down to clean them up (with a planer), you probably can end up with 5/16" thick strips if you are careful. I glued these 1 at a time to the plywood with a special jig I made. Then I faced the entire bench with 3" wide X 2" thick solid maple so you couldn't see the plywood. The top came out very flat, and wears like a solid bench because of the thickness of the maple on the top of the plywood. All I had to do was some light sanding to flatten the top. The individual pieces pulled together very tightly - make sure you have no snipe on either side of the board you are using before you rip the strips, that will show up as a gap when you mate the strips together. Also, my boards were flatsawn which yielded mostly quartersawn strips for the top
Total cost was 2 sheets 3/4" plywood and 2 - 9" wide 8/4 maple boards 8 feet long. My bench is 30" wide (24" for the top and a 6" tool tray) by 7 feet long.
I am enclosing a pic so you can see the finished product.
Lee
I kept my eyes open in the classified ads for bowling alleys. People seem to sell this stuff around here about every six months or so. I went and purchased a 7' x 3'-6" x 2" thick section of solid hard maple. I purposely requested the front portion of the bowling alley because it has the alignment arrows in it, and they are inlaid walnut. I thought it looked cool. At any rate, the piece weighs hundreds of pounds, and makes a fantastic bench top. Be careful though, because only the first 25' of a bowling alley is maple (where the ball impacts). I got it for $15 per linear foot. I later bought some of the softwood portion of the lanes ($10/l.f.) to make assembly tables for my shop. Just don't ever relocate...too heavy!
For my top I contacted a door replacement store. I asked if I could look in their dumpster for a door that could serve as a workbench top. I found a very heavy steel, firerated door that used to be the entrance to a movie theatre. It was dead flat,thick,and long. I covered it with baltic birch. It's been in use for 35 years now.
I also saw, in the dumpster, several other particle board type doors that would have worked fine.
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