Work Bench tops

Just a thought here....my uncle made a good work table for his son and he purchased the wood from a local bowling alley that was putting in new bowling lanes.
 
i made a 4'x8' bench by glueing and screwing 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood together. Make sure they are flat & not warped when you glue & screw them. The base is braced 4"x4"x34 1/2" posts tied together with 2"x6"s
 
If you have a Habitat for Humanity organization near by there will probably also be a Restore in the area affiliated with it. Restore is a great place to find used solid core doors or planking for a work bench.
 
There is a local truss company near me that has scrap LVL (2-1/2" thick plywood) makes great bench tops. Comes in 6" to 24" widths, I glued a couple together for a 3 foot wide top. Mark
 
About 45 years ago I took 2x4’s on edge and glued them together. That’s still my main woodworking bench. I didn’t have access to many clamps back then so I predrilled each piece and slid 1/2” threaded rod thru and tightened that up. Used a fender washer on the last piece. I had counterbored a recess for the nuts so they would be flush. I trimmed each piece so the rounded corners were gone before glue up. Then I hand planed it all smooth. I’ve refinished it many times. Still have plenty of top left. I recommend ting oil for a finish. Easy to keep up. As to your bench dog question, I don’t know how you do woodwork without them. My vise has a dog that lines up with the holes. Great for clamping long stock flat.
 

I don't know about plans but for material the best benches and tops I have ever seen were made from a repurposed bowling alley floor and from recovered semi truck flooring.

I used to work at a mill where they made the flooring and it was pretty wild to see big pieces of wood sawn down to little pieces and glued back into big pieces,pressed, planed and the entire mill output come out through a slot in the back wall one (long) board at a time.
I'm betting that stuff is pretty high dollar too.
 
All work benches are "Laminated Douglas Fir" beams from an old school.
20' long........:)
Some of the "Laminated Wood Beams" work bench's are 6" thick..............:)
Bob.....


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I made two bench tops years ago by ripping 2" planks, that are actually 1 1/2" thick, into 1" strips and gluing them together. For my tool shop I just used dry yellow pine 2"X 6" and belt sanded them.
 
Why did you need to make your own legs? Did you accidently saw them off while building a bench top? Was it hard to learn to walk on legs made out of 2x4s? What did you use for legs for the bench? (Sorry, but I have a habit of taking what people say in a way other than what they mean.)
 
mine are all kitchen counter tops strong,smooth, easy to clean, look good and things can't fall behind and a little lip on the front so stuff don't drip or roll off buy seconds so they are cheep
 
Kind of depends on what type of work you're planning and what tools. Heavy hand tools are much better on real hardwood tops that can be resurfaced as necessary. Powertools don'tusually need as susbstantial of a surface or resurfacing very often. I have a 6 x 8 that one half is birch solid the other half is spruce with no exposed fastners, I can actually resurface it down about 5/8".
 
A lot depends on what you are doing. Most of the benches I have are built with 4x4 legs with 2x4 rails and a 3/4" plywood top. Then I have a bench I do heavier work I glued up 2x12's to make the top. Then I have a bench for woodcarving I have a 2" thick ash top. If you are cramped for space I would just put a sheet of 3/4" plywood on saw horses. That way when you don't need it you can put it away.
 
Used to be an AMF plant near Muskegon that constructed bowling alley section, not sure of it's still there.

I'm using 1800lastbid.com to track auctions out of Grand Rapids and Flint areas, there have been many interesting work tables/benches of late.
 

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