White oak for workbench tops?
#21
Wild Turkey said:


Any other drawbacks?




You could end up with lots of little scraps that would demand to be placed in the meat smoker. I hate it when that happens!
Ray
(formerly "WxMan")
Reply
#22
Ask if he has any Maple if that is what you prefer, you may be surprised. Oak may fill the bill for his barrel wood, but a lot of those guys also do a lot of pallet wood sourcing, that is any wood.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya

GW
Reply
#23
The open grain would annoy me since I sometimes draw on the bench and sometimes draw in paper on the bench, so for me it's Maple. That said, I'd have no problem with a WO bench with 1/2" of Maple laminated on top. If the pieces of Oak are smaller the Maple top could tie it all together.
Reply
#24
White oak is closed grain.
WoodNET... the new safespace
Reply
#25
My most recent laminated white oak bench top:



Works great. About 30" x 101" overall. I enhanced the plans from ShopNotes a few years back. I added drawers, the lighted hutch, the vise, electricity, etc. Oh, and I also repair chains saws.
Rip to width. Plane to thickness. Cut to length. Join.
Reply
#26
Nice! I built a 10' x 20' outbuilding last year from lumber I sawed on my mill. If I ever get around to paneling the inside with the Pine I have dried, I want to build a bench on one end-wall similar to yours...for chainsaw maintenance. I only have two Stihl's, though.
If I had 8 hours to cut down a tree, I'd do it in 15 minutes with a chainsaw and drink beer the other 7:45 hrs.
Reply
#27
Shovel Man said:


The open grain would annoy me since I sometimes draw on the bench and sometimes draw in paper on the bench, so for me it's Maple. That said, I'd have no problem with a WO bench with 1/2" of Maple laminated on top. If the pieces of Oak are smaller the Maple top could tie it all together.




Maple dents, Oak splinters. Most of us don't abuse the top, but all in all, maple a better bet. Old chunks of bowling alley....
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
Reply
#28
I used quartersawn white oak to make the bench top shown above. For my cabinet bench, I used plain sawn red oak. Neither one has splintered. Both are tough as nails and heavy as lead.

Wait until you take a 1-3/4" x 25" x 96" long slab and lift it onto the top of the frame. Perhaps then you will find out. Thankfully, I added the four aprons later (these are even thicker) and joined them to the top slab and to themselves one at a time. And don't forget to beef up the ends for the vise(s).
Rip to width. Plane to thickness. Cut to length. Join.
Reply
#29
Edwin Hackleman said:


My most recent laminated white oak bench top:



Works great. About 30" x 101" overall. I enhanced the plans from ShopNotes a few years back. I added drawers, the lighted hutch, the vise, electricity, etc. Oh, and I also repair chains saws.




It don't look like that bench has seen too many chain saws on it. Just sayin'
Definition of coplaner: It's the guy on the outfeed side of a planer handing the stock back to the guy on the infeed side.
Reply
#30
Some people pay a LOT (nearly $5k) for an oak benchtop. Must be halfway decent.

French Oak Roubo Project
True power makes no noise - Albert Schweitzer.       It's obvious he was referring to hand tools
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.