Shop Benchtop Suggestions

[downtheroad]

You wouldn't like it here Ice

A cabinetmaker friend of mine works out of his garage in San Clemente and for the past few days, has been complaining about the fog rolling in as he's spraying kitchen components. The finish is taking a long time to dry. So, yesterday, he texted us a picture of a moth that landed on a drying panel and messed it up. On the other hand, we were working on a coffee table and picture frame for a client and set up shop on their patio on the south lake in Woodbridge (Irvine).  No fog, and the geese on the water came by to watch us several times throughout the day.

That was for 4/4 1x6 And it was LF not BF. 
I still though it was a good price.  It was for decking stacked next to Ipe.

Was that at Austin Hardwoods or Weber Plywood?

 

[iamnothim]

Austin's
I'm headed there in a little bit.  I'm going to pick up some for a proto type.  I'll confirm pricing and take a picture of the shelf tag.  Just to confirm what I think I think

 

[iamnothim]

I went to Austin's and they only had a few sticks of the African Teak left, but they have more on order.  It's about $5 a LF for 1x6 non-dimensional.  I was going to have some cut and bring it back (I don't have a pickup) to prototype but the darn stuff is so hard.  It would be a bear to cut, plane, laminated and turn into a 30" x 16ft counter.  The thought of ripping that stuff made me cringe.  Then there are the surface  planer blades.

So I went maple.  Dimensional hard maple 1" x 2" $0.75 a LF.  No ripping required.  500 linear feet yields  a 30" deep by 16' top.  $375 Done.  Add $32 for a gallon of Titebond III probably some dominos.  I'll turn it on edge so the counter is 2" thick.  When apply the machined maple to 3/4" ply it should stabilize and, if I've done the math right, be 2 3/4" thick.  My thought is to glue up three 10" wide, 16' lengths.  Plane them.  Then Domino and glue the three together.  Is there anything wrong with this approach??

I will make the backsplash and outline the perimeter with a dark wood.  Or just dye some ash I already have ebony and call it a day.

BTW:  I'm the kinda guy that will beat the heck out of that top.  Probably get paint on it too.  My MFT tops have some serious tracks and places where I forgot to readjust the depth stop. As in raise substantially. 

 

[smartcarpie]

Iamnothim-

You might run into a little trouble laminating the solid maple up to a plywood base.  The maple is relatively stable, but a 30' slab is still going to move with the seasons.  I don't know where you are located, but here in New England it would move quite a bit, especially in a shop with highly varied humidity.  The plywood will not expand and contract with it, so the only option is for it to crown when humidity is high and curl when it is low.

Years ago we experimented with 1/4" ply backing on some 14" reclaimed chestnut flooring (couple of nice but very thin boards destined to be the "money boards" when entering the room).  The ply was needed to get the boards up to full thickness.  Those pieces reacted very severely when left to acclimate while the others were ok.  Kerfing was needed on the plywood down to solid wood to solve the problem.

When wood wants to move (especially hardwoods), its gonna, no matter how hard you try to stop it.  That's why most tradtional woodwork evolved to acommodate seasonal changes.

 

[mike_aa]

Iamnothim,
I have to agree with smartcarpie.  I think you are taking too great a chance of having something warp with using the plywood backing.

Have you considered just purchasing a maple top like Tom Bellemare suggested?  I haven't priced them so I'm not sure how much you'd be saving if you built it yourself.  But as much as I respect your wanting to build your own, think of all the other neat stuff you'd have time to build instead.

Mike A.

 

[iamnothim]

Mike_aa & Smartcarple.
Great information  Thanks you!

I did look at John Boos Countertop and it would cost $1,622 for 12 feet by 27" deep.  I need 16 feet by 32" deep.  The materials to make this counter from 1"x2" hard maple was $400, including glue.  Plus I have all these boxes of green and black tools that I need to put to work.  I will soldier on making the top.  It will be chronicled here.

Again.  Great information about hardwood moving.  My southern Cal coast climate is very mild.  Still the wood moves.  I know this because my 3/4" maple hardwood floor is cupped.  This has bit me before with some closet doors.  As such I will heed your advice and not glue the top to plywood.

This is actually good news.  Plan B
Make the top into four 4' sections and slide them into place over the plywood.  The splash will go behind it and I will border each section with dark hardwood.  The front apron will secure the sections.  This has a couple advantages.  Shorter sections of hardwood are less likely to move and (the big one) I don't need 16 feet of clamps.  Only enough to make a 4' section.

Downside.  Possible movement of a section when hammering, etc. I may be able to mitigate this by bolting the borders of the sections together.  This would necessitate filling the void under the maple caused by raised borders.

Many thanks

Luke

 

[mike_aa]

Luke,

I know you are itching [tongue] to use those green tools for this, but I thought of a few more ideas for sourcing one already made.

This place is having a Valentine's Day sale on the countertops, but they are 24 inches wide.  They do list a phone number to call them for a better price. 

You could also check ebay - I do remember a few years back I saw a lumber yard in Ohio selling countertops they made up themselves and I remember the pricing was not bad.  Since that was a few years ago I'm not sure if they are around still, but it might be worth a look on ebay or do a Google search.  Since you are using this as a workbench, maybe you could find some that are "seconds" at a greatly reduced price.

Good luck!
Mike A.

 

[iamnothim]

The lumber for the countertops will be delivered tomorrow. Along with a whole lot of beetle kill

The way I look at it its the garage.  It about getting smacked in the chops.  As they would say the journey. 

I hope I only make sawdust and not firewood.
I'll photograph as I go along

It will be a while because I have a lot of carcasses to build

Thanks for watching out for me.