Keruing for workbench top

[No skills]

Greetings.

I've got a fair bit of keruing that I've reclaimed and I'm thinking about using some of it for the top of my workbench as its very tough and heavy compared to the softwood I was looking at. I'm a bit worried about trying to flatten the top after its glued up, dont think I'll make much progress with a hand plane without haveing to sharpen it constantly, maybe a router and a jig is in order??

Any other thoughts about using this wood for a bench top??

Regards

 

[Chems]

Don't know much about that wood, but I think its really hard like Iroko? I made a bench top from Iroko once and couldn't plane it flat. So used a router jig and then cleaned it up with a scraper plane. It was a few quid from ebay and worked perfectly. Then just sanded it a little to finish it off. That should be fine for a work top.

 

[mtr1]

My bench top is made from Keruing and is 23 years new, this timber is very hard and heavy, a very solid surface to work on, and seems very stable. It has a tendency to splinter, and was horrible to machine(no extraction at the time). Would I make one again, if money was tight, yes, if money wasn't an issue, no.

edit.

In answer to your question, I put mine through a wide belt sander, find a joiner/cabinetmaker near you perhaps? It can be planed by hand but has a moderate dulling effect on tools, its full of silca.

 

[No skills]

Thanks for the replys.

Yes this timber seems to be very hard indeed, its around 24-25 years old (from when it was first put to service) and is in pretty good nick considering, I think I'm going to use it for the bench but I'll have to work it outside and with a mask as I seem to be slightly sensitve to sawdust from it.

Just need to find a few more jobs for the 120+ foot of it #-o