Attaching my workbench top to frame?

[Tetsuaiga]

I have started making my top for a workbench, it is 6cm thick douglas fir, 70cm wide, around 2m long.

Would I be best fixing the top onto stiles or is 6cm enough to try morticing the legs in? I'm not sure if i'd get enough rigidity that way.

I want to do things like hand planing so the bench needs to be reasonably solid. I'm thinking I can get away without rails which meet the top, maybe just ones lower down to stiffen the legs.


Thanks

 

[dzj]

I assume you are building the French type of bench, as you mention morticing.
6 cm is pretty thick, but if you are having doubts, you can always laminate a 2x6 at the front and one at the back
and thus achieve the usual thickness.
Continental benches aren't consistent in their thickness either. Only the area around the dog-holes is around 10cm or so,
while the rest is similar to the 6cm you intend to use.

You probably have a reason for it being 70cm, as this is wider than most.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Thanks, I hadn't really thoguht of making it thicker in just select areas. The width is for assembly and sometimes I use router sled to plane/thickness wide pieces.

I think i'd rather not go with the leg mortice option as it seems trickier, but it seems a fairly common method alongside presumably bolting or gluing to the frame, i'm not really sure what the pro and cons of each are though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Mines attached with four steel angles at each end - it's not caused a problem, and it's been moved four times and reassembled, this time with a different base.

 

[AndyT]

Keep it simple.
My bench has a mixture of frames with horizontal rails with screws through them and extra battens screwed into the uprights and the top. I was able to put the top in place and add the fixings from below. Much easier than getting several mortices in exactly the right places.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

While it's quite nice to practice some skills building the bench I agree and think I will keep it simple and forget about the tennon legs.