On Mar 18, 1:31*am, (Pinstripe Sniper) wrote:
I've got a question. *Let's say for sake of discussion this glued
together work bench top is ~3" thick. * How about getting a really
long drill bit and drilling say a 5/16" or 3/8" hole across the width
of the bench top - perhaps at the middle of the thickness or maybe a
bit lower/toward the bottom? *(Kind of like rebar in a concrete slab)

Then you'd put threaded rod *though the holes and terminate the ends
with washers and nuts and put the wood slightly in compression.

Would this make for a stronger/stiffer top or would differential
expansion/contraction cause problems? *How about if the entire bench
top slab - all surfaces were saturated with say, urethane, including
the threaded rod passages.

Just wondering - I've had the notion of trying this but theory has not
yet met reality.

A fiend did this for a table top. The ends split some but other than
that it worked. The threaded rod doesn't do anything after the glue
sets, though. It's sorta like an integrated bar clamp.