Workbench top?

[That would work]

I very much like the idea of the notched in-fill strip, could be made a little wider to accommodate a G-cramp ... best of both worlds.

 

[MattyT]

I made mine out of an old kitchen worktop. Maybe look around your local woodyard and see what they have.

 

[Benchwayze]

I very much like the idea of the notched in-fill strip, could be made a little wider to accommodate a G-cramp ... best of both worlds.

Now you have the gas turned on.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I very much like the idea of the notched in-fill strip, could be made a little wider to accommodate a G-cramp ... best of both worlds.

I have a strip down the middle of my two piece top. It reverses end to end and upside down, so one side (which is used most of the time ) is dead flat for its length, and the other has a graduated height above the surface - 40% is about 7 or 8mm, the other end 40% is about 15mm and the middle is flat.
The low is useful for planing thin stuff, the higher for stuff likely to jump the lower end and the flat part for the odd occasion I need anything to span the two baulks. The gap is wide enough to put a sash cramp or g cramp through it.

 

[That would work]

Great minds eh? I was just thinking about the idea of cutting steps into the in fills for just that purpose of having differing heights.

 

[amongoaks]

if you'll excuse a newbie question gents why has no one mentioned oak? from what i can tell a half dozen oak sleepers bought new could be shaped up to make a nice solid workbench for around £100-120, plus hardware.

fwiw i found a fair example of what i'm thinking about here on the 'tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrQkCJM80oU

 

[Ttrees]

Roubo specified getting one slab for the top.
Depending on the work you do it might be sound.
Not stable enough for my needs, Cosman mentioned he now prefers to make a bench from laminates
for stability issues.

Tom

 

[MikeG.]

if you'll excuse a newbie question gents why has no one mentioned oak? from what i can tell a half dozen oak sleepers bought new could be shaped up to make a nice solid workbench for around £100-120, plus hardware......

Oak sleepers are green. They'll shrink and move all over the place.

 

[Ttrees]

Are oak sleepers still being produced today?
I would have thought they were stock from a half century ago.

Tom

 

[MikeG.]

Are oak sleepers still being produced today?.......

By the thousand....

 

[amongoaks]

Oak sleepers are green. They'll shrink and move all over the place.

you can certainly buy green sleepers, but you can also get kiln or air dried as well. from what i've seen the green sleepers are actually more expensive. not sure how that works but there it is.

so sleepers aside is there a basic reason oak isn't considered for workbench tops? cost? expected movement? the cracks that large solid material usually has? i can certainly see that latter as being a legitimate concern.

 

[Ttrees]

Suppose that means there's less chance of stumbling across a jarrah sleeper in amongst them all.
Thanks Mike
Tom

 

[MikeG.]

Kiln dried sleepers? Really? I'd be a little surprised....

 

[Ttrees]

I've seen them advertised frequently as kiln dried, but presumed that it was old stock.

Not been on the iron road in some time, but don't recall seeing timber sleepers being used.
barr garden planters and other garden features, what are these used for nowadays?

 

[Trevanion]

barr garden planters and other garden features, what are these used for nowadays?

There's a big demand for them for lintels and fireplace surrounds at the moment, very trendy rustic look with all the shakes and knots but an absolutely terrible option because of the instability and greenness of the timber which can cause all kinds of problems when it shrinks and warps.

 

[amongoaks]

Kiln dried sleepers? Really? I'd be a little surprised....

air dried are obviously quite common, kiln dried not so much. i did stumble across at least one UK source that was offering all three options but thought nothing of it at the time (largely because i didn't know any better). i'll post the link if it turns up again.

but i get the general message: uncured and unstable. fair enough. to be honest i don't think it's going to stop me from trying -- sounds like a good job for my spiffy new Makita planer -- but at least i know what i'm getting into.

as it happens i wanted to use a design that would allow me to disassemble and modify the workbench as needs be which is now sounding like an especially good idea given the unpredictable nature of the material.

 

[rafezetter]

I just hope I have strength enough left, to use whatever skills I do have. It's clear that I shall be calling on help from Number One Son to wrestle the top around, but once finished I think my bench will be okay, worth the cash outlay, and the investing of time; it's for me!

John (hammer)

Is this the same top that you mention "started in the 1950's"??? if so I think you've just won the "longest ever project" from another thread hands down.

 

[rafezetter]

I see no benefit in you not calling fire doors, fire doors, after all there's not many as you call it "solid core" flat doors that are not used as fire doors nowadays??

Oh bloody hell I daren't look :shock:

It's OK MikeG I got this

Only a door with intumescent strips along the top and both sides (with or without a sign in some places), makes it a "fire door". A door with a solid core construction even if it has a gypsum layer or two inside is STILL NOT A FIRE DOOR without the intumescent strips - which are there to SEAL A DOOR OPENING FROM THE FIRE. The strips expand (like foam) so that the gap that is normally around a door so it can be opened and closed easily is closed up so that no smoke/ fumes and or flames itself can get through that gap previously there.

No strips = "not a fire door". It's that simple.

Having hung a reasonable amount of doors myself, and also worked ina company that was a vendor for a major door manufacturer I can also tell you there are a more than a few companies selling solid core doors that are not and were NEVER designed to be a "fire door". I've seen the insides of few of these and some of them have a core that's little more than a mixture of woodchip and shredded mdf particles loosly compacted into a slab, so the door has heft "like a fire door" but no almost no extra fire retarding abilities.

Now as to the fact that most people refer to a solid or composite door as a "fire door" is the same reason why most people refer to a vaccum cleaner as a "hoover". It's become the standard terminology because again most people seem to think "heavy door that isn't obviously made of solid wood = fire door", which is utterly wrong as MikeG was pointing out.

Solid core doors of varying construction are used for security (as per that link from that irish website) and noise reduction - even if a FIRE RATED DOOR was used - still not a "fire door" without the strips.

So I'll say it again - no strips = not a fire door. No, not even with the routed grooves for strips but no strips.

As a longterm member (and manager of) of a HMO I can tell you categorically that a fire rated door without the strips will FAIL a HMO fire inspection, even if it has the grooves cut for the strips it will STILL fail a HMO fire inspection.

The two essential ingrediants of a "fire door" is a solid fire rated core AND the intumescent strips, no more, no less.

Everything else is "just a door" - of varying weights with an "unknown" core construction that may or may not have been designed with fire retarding capabilities in mind.

They are also a pig to hang, just saying.

PS - the door being flat is also irrelevant as our fire doors looks like 4 panel doors with recesses, not some faux beading stuck on, they were made that way. 1hr rated.

 

[rafezetter]

Now.. back to the worktops - were I making a bench of the kind the OP and others have, I would go the sturdy frame cheap MDF or laminated plywood route.

I watch quite a few makers and many of them are in the habit of screwing stuff to the bench - usually jigs or other things, which to my mind makes an awful lot of sense. I know you can put lots of dogholes and use holdfasts etc, but to me the simplicity of just screwing stuff down and treating the top as a disposable give you a lot more freedom.

I'd also advocate the advice of - make a BASIC bench, live and work with it a while, jot down any issues or limitations your current bench has sa you use it - then make another bench.

I'm on number two already and this iteration has been altered from it's original design umpteem times just while I've been building it( and may well change again). The vice and placement has changed twice, alone.

So don't get too fancy or complicated in the build - the strips idea sounds interesting, if laborious - right up until you remember that there are things called holdfasts, and several manufacturers of clamps with removable heads so they can be slipped through even a small 20mm doghole.

I don't think a pure MDF top will hold up to holdfasts longterm - but a 2 ply, 1 MDF top certainly will.

Freecycle - wood reclaimer places - build sites, facebook's "free to collector" etc etc, lots of places to get free wood that's usable for a bench.

 

[Chris152]

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Lisburn ... 000152487#
They forgot the scare quotes around 'fire door'.