Poplar for Workbench base

[AHill]

Poplar will work fine, but since it's soft, it'll accumulate dents, scratches, and gouges pretty easily. Don't use it on the workbench top. It was one wood Schwarz specifically mentioned he would NOT recommend for a workbench top.

[iclark]

Leave the tongue and groove on enough boards to use them for a lower shelf. Run the boards the short direction. The colored woods could look really good for that shelf.

If some of the boards are face grain (90* off of cross-cut), then those are optimum for legs that you would use for a leg vise. Orienting the grain in the legs to match the grain in the top will reduce any problems from seasonal expansion and contraction of the woods.

[kdouglaslee]

I was thinking of laminating 5 or 6 or them together to give me a 3.75 or 4.5 square leg.

Laminating that much wood is a whole lot of work, why not just make the legs hollow boxes?  It's a whole lot easier to just join four boards together like a box, it's a very strong construction technique, it's how all of the wooden columns at my house are made (although with 1.5" thick boards instead of 3/4").  A 4 inch maple top is heavy but nothing that 3/4" thick poplar legs can't handle, frankly laminating them is overkill.

[Rob Young]

Laminating that much wood is a whole lot of work, why not just make the legs hollow boxes?  It's a whole lot easier to just join four boards together like a box, it's a very strong construction technique, it's how all of the wooden columns at my house are made (although with 1.5" thick boards instead of 3/4").  A 4 inch maple top is heavy but nothing that 3/4" thick poplar legs can't handle, frankly laminating them is overkill.

Fine for a load in compression (supporting the benchtop against gravity) but start whacking things on the bench or clamping against the legs (lateral load) and you want solid construction.

[briman87]

Lamination is the easiest way it is literally just glue one board to another in alternating grain patterns. I did see one of the boards has vertical grain

[cpolubin]

"Poplar will work fine, but since it's soft, it'll accumulate dents, scratches, and gouges pretty easily. Don't use it on the workbench top. It was one wood Schwarz specifically mentioned he would NOT recommend for a workbench top."

Actually, in the Anarchist's Workbench on page 291 he recommends in order southern yellow pine, poplar and soft maple.

Cliff

[Handplanesandmore]

You can build the whole bench out of laminated poplar.

Tom

Spot-on. If Sellers could make a bench out of fir or pine, anyone can build theirs our of poplar. The T&G poplar can be used as is...why the extra work of removing the joint and rejoining it.

To add weight to the bench if so desired, simply build shelves or drawers underneath.  Some of the best woodworkers I came across have barebone benches, ugly benches actually by hobbyists' standards. No fancy vises or state of the art gadgets.

Simon

[Handplanesandmore]

"Poplar will work fine, but since it's soft, it'll accumulate dents, scratches, and gouges pretty easily. Don't use it on the workbench top. It was one wood Schwarz specifically mentioned he would NOT recommend for a workbench top."

Actually, in the Anarchist's Workbench on page 291 he recommends in order southern yellow pine, poplar and soft maple.

Cliff

Is polar ok to Schwarz or not?

Unless one works exactly like Schwarz, poplar is 100% fine as a material for benches. Even plywood is used by others as bench tops (Sellers is one of them), and the veneer on the plywood is no better than poplar. I use a lot of poplar and I know. By the way, bench tops bearing dents and scratches mean that they are used, not a trophy display in the shop. Take a look at Bandit's.

Simon

[cpolubin]

Simon,

Poplar is his second choice. Here's the section from the book.

QUESTIONS ABOUT WORKBENCH MATERIALS
1. What wood should I use?
There are only a few woods I wouldn’t use for a workbench: white
pine (too lightweight), expensive exotics (too expensive), rotted wood
(too rotted). I recommend you use the heaviest, cheapest and most
readily available species in your area. In the South and Midwest, that’s
yellow pine (the cheapest), followed by poplar and soft maple. Don’t
worry about the stiffness and other engineering factors. If you over-
build your workbench, it will be plenty stiff and strong.

Cliff

[AHill]

"Poplar will work fine, but since it's soft, it'll accumulate dents, scratches, and gouges pretty easily. Don't use it on the workbench top. It was one wood Schwarz specifically mentioned he would NOT recommend for a workbench top."

Actually, in the Anarchist's Workbench on page 291 he recommends in order southern yellow pine, poplar and soft maple.

Cliff

Thanks for correcting me.  I misremembered. However, remember that Schwarz's recommendations are primarily based on cost per lb and availability.