Replies

1. 
   user-64052 | Feb 09, 2013 07:23pm | #1

   what do you

   mean by butcher block. perhaps it should be put this way. what is your definition of a butcher block?

   ron

1. 
   joelj136 | Feb 10, 2013 04:28pm | #2

   Worchbench Top

   By butcher block I mean mill the log into 3" thickeness and then glue them together so the end grain is the working surface of the benchtop.

2. 
   joelj136 | Feb 10, 2013 04:28pm | #3

   Worchbench Top

   By butcher block I mean mill the log into 3" thickeness and then glue them together so the end grain is the working surface of the benchtop.

1. 
   user-64052 | Feb 10, 2013 05:44pm | #4

   that is not

   required for a woodworking  bench. resaw and laminate up lengthwise as boards and will give you better stability and strength. end grain is desirable as a chopping surface as it will absorb the hitting action and should have depth so as to not split the grain. I also doubt that your end grain pieces will be dry enough. there is rational as to why things are made the way that they are; or used to be!

   ron

2. 
   roc | Feb 11, 2013 12:56am | #5

   Nah

    I was going to ask you if you had ever seen a butcher block style woodwork bench; I have not.

   Then I started thinking, and googling, and I now think it is obvious what happened.

   The term is misused lately and what is actually "long longitudinal strips stood on the narrow edge and laminated in glue up to make table and counter tops are CALLED butcher block but is actually laminated timber construction.

   That is probably the case here.

   ACTUAL butcher block is like this

   see photo bellow marked "True butcher block".

   . . . the small short blocks are stood vertically on end and then glued up into small thick blocks to chop stuff on.  If you use that for a work bench with dogs and a tail or end vise the bench might get ripped apart when you crank the dogs against a plank of wood.

   Now . . . here are some things to know and or think about :

   Lumber trees are selected for straight grain, or grain that is stable.  The loggers can tell a great deal about the final usability and stability of the wood a tree will provide just by looking at the tree before cutting it down.

   Taking a random tree, which I assume yours was not chosen for quality out of a forest of trees, and having it milled into planks is a crap shoot.  Meaning the wood can be full of reaction wood, shakes etc., that is twisted and under tension from trauma the tree had to deal with while it matured.  If this is the case the reaction wood will be twisting and untwisting with changes in atmospheric conditions for the life of your work bench.  This means an unstable work bench.

   It can take years, perhaps many years for these freshly milled planks that you will be getting back from the sawyer to dry out and stabilize in the best of circumstances.

   THICK, SOLID wood work benches (meaning 4 to 8 inches thick or more) are of questionable usefulness , in my view (see Roubo) because they tend to split open and also go out of flat.

   A work bench for FINE cabinet making must be as stable and flat as possible because it is used as a reference for making and checking the parts for furniture.

   If you have high quality wood to start with that is well seasoned and the grain is appropriate meaning quarter sawn then . . .

   the bench can be remarkably stable.

   Wood species has something to do with the stability as well.  Maple is a fairly good choice but there are even better choices as far as stability. 

   NOW

   if you were to saw up the planks you are getting into basically bench long two by four like strips and glue them up into a laminated slab then you will have one heck of a stable, and heavy work bench.  This is called laminated timber construction or at least that was the best term I could find.

   SO

   To answer your question finally yes this is the reason for laminated table tops when questionable randomly selected long, narrow strips of wood (read inexspensive) are used to make countet tops.  They are more stable and a cheeper way to make a big slab of wood.  The trade off is all of that resawing or at least ripping and then they must be jointed to fit together face to face and then lots of glue and gluing up to make this juggernaut of a structure.

   If you are up for all of that and if you like the stripy look then yes build your bench that way.

   I am including a few photos and links to discussions of benches and advantages of my bench.  I wasn't going for pretty I was going for STABLE, HEAVY, HARD AND STRONG/RIGID.

   It may look like I laminated the middle section but that is a plank on the order of ten quarter.  On the left side where you see the dog holes that is laminated up but just because it is easier to cut the dog holes with a stacked dado blade then glue the side of the bench on.  I added a thick fancy veneer layer on to that because the straight grain side was so plane looking and uninteresting and I had more of the figured wood than I needed.

   As it turned out it is actually quite lovely to look at especially in person.  There are areas in the grain that light up just exactly like a humming bird's throat, when the light hits the wood just right.

   Again . . . I didn't pick the purple heart wood for the look I chose it for stability and strength.

   For my choice I first went with the best work bench design I could find and that was the Frank Klausz work bench.  I followed closely his design which did not include a laminated top.  He uses a solid wood plank top.

   To quote Mr. Klausz "This bench has a thousand years of design refinement behind it.  I could not improve it.  I simply made one for myself as well as I possibly could".  Well that is the gist of the quote anyway; not word for word.

   What is good enough for Frank Klausz is certainly a stellar work bench and I am not going to second guess it.

   In my book a Roubo is for crude woodworking such as working the smaller parts in timber framing  or farm construction barn building; basically old time getterdone type stuff.

   A great example of what I am talking about is . . . build a fine hand cut dovetailed drawer on a Roubo and then again on a Klausz or similar European cabinet maker's bench, including cutting half blind drawer front dovetails and hand planing the sides to fit the opening in the cabinet .  You won't keep using the Roubo if you have a handy choice of both benches.

   http://forums.finewoodworking.com/fine-woodworking-knots/general-discussion/scandinavian-vs-roubo

   http://www.workbenchdesign.net/frankbench.html

   Final answer : depends on the quality and stability of the wood you choose whether or not you need to use the laminated timber construction.