Can/how to Refurbish Beatup old woodworking bench top

[gunnermac]

I was looking at an old woodworking bench where the top had been greatly abused and beat up. While the bench is thick, old and heavy with good bones and vises that are worth the price, I was wondering if the top could be removed and refinished; sanded down to good wood or something else to make it into a usable bench again at a reasonable cost and effort?

Does anyone have any experience along these lines that could guide me to a good decision on what to do?

Thank you

[CLETUS]

I guess it depends on what you are looking for...

I picked up an old bench from a furniture factory. It was rough and had some water stains. I hit it with some 180 grit and put an oil finish on it.

Some may call it "beat up", I say it has character.

[jteneyck]

I rehabbed one by taking about 1/8" off the entire top with a router sled. I just screwed jointed 2 x 4's to the sides of the bench, and used winding sticks to assure they were parallel.

Here's picture of a router sled I built to flatten a live edge slab, in case you don't know what one looks like.



John

[Sullivan]

Stanley No. 7.

[gMike]

A piece of 1/8" Masonite hides a lot of sins and is a bunch less work than a Stanley #7. It depends on what you want. The router sled will do a great job of leveling but it is a tedious process. The #7 (and/or a scrub plane) will get you there after a bit of a workout. Masonite and double sided tape will get you a hard smooth surface with very little work but it sure is ugly.

[Bibliophile 13]

If it's as heavy as it should be, you won't want to remove the top. Often even a very beat-up benchtop can be perfectly serviceable, so unless it's absolutely beat to heck, I'd just leave it as-is.

You've been given good advice above. Normally, I'd go about flattening a wood surface with a handplane, beginning with a jack plane (diagonal to the grain) and finishing with a jointer plane (going with the grain). But on an old workbench, there's going to be a lot of grit embedded in the surface, and I'd expect it to wreck havoc on the plane irons. So the router sled might be your best bet.

You don't have to remove every last superficial defect, either. You just need the whole thing reasonably flat.

[Wild Turkey]

I'd grab some 36 grit and go after it with a belt sander or a big disc grinder because of the probability of some embedded metal.

You'll be surprised how fast you can take wood down with really coarse paper.

Of course, be careful or you'll add some "character" to the surface

[daddo]

I couldn't use a nice workbench. I'm rough on them.
Mine is 3x5 and was built by the old man that lived here before me in 1975 from 2x6 lumber and is very heavy and has been used to the point I cover the top with masonite but lately I've been using leftover laminate flooring and that works very well indeed.

I'd get it where it is flat, clean it up and use it as is, then you don't have to worry when a chisel slips or an off cut makes a groove in it.

[Admiral]

Sullivan said:

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Stanley No. 7.

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+1. I might start with a #5 after having cambered the iron a bit, then a #6, then the #7, but you can skip the 6 if you don't have one.

[cputnam]

A # 8 works too