I am planning a large shop project of building a large, heavy duty woodworker's bench. I am in the early planning stages and am currently looking at different materials for the entire project. I have quite a bit of 2" thick Padauk, and would like to use it for accents or vises and accessories. My question is: Would Padauk be hard enough to use for the entire bench top or only for borders and accessories? Also, What other woods would make an excellent bench top other than the traditional maple and beech? Thank You.

Yellow pine is cheaper.


"Bigdaddy" wrote in message
...

I am planning a large shop project of building a large, heavy duty
woodworker's bench. I am in the early planning stages and am currently
looking at different materials for the entire project. I have quite a
bit of 2" thick Padauk, and would like to use it for accents or vises
and accessories. My question is: Would Padauk be hard enough to use for
the entire bench top or only for borders and accessories? Also, What
other woods would make an excellent bench top other than the
traditional maple and beech? Thank You.


--
Bigdaddy

"Bob" wrote in message
news:2dZud.646265$mD.502405@attbi_s02...
Yellow pine is cheaper.

and a lot softer.

In article , Bigdaddy
wrote:

My workbench is an old bowling alley. Oak works great. I do think that
a light colored wood is desirable. It is often hard to get enough light
in the shop and workbench color can help.

I'm not convinced that hardwood is essential for a workbench. Plywood
makes a suitable workbench - a couple thicknesses are needed to be
sufficiently solid.

Dick



I am planning a large shop project of building a large, heavy duty
woodworker's bench. I am in the early planning stages and am currently
looking at different materials for the entire project. I have quite a
bit of 2" thick Padauk, and would like to use it for accents or vises
and accessories. My question is: Would Padauk be hard enough to use for
the entire bench top or only for borders and accessories? Also, What
other woods would make an excellent bench top other than the
traditional maple and beech? Thank You.

My workbench is an old bowling alley. Oak works great. I do think that
a light colored wood is desirable

Bowling alleys are maple, not oak. Maple is hard, heavy and most of all,
stabile.

Probably the best wood for a workbench is ipe. The downside is the weight. You
have to carry this stuff around while you work on it. It's about 1/3 more in
weight than oak.

I wouldn't use padauk myself: it's a bit too light, too red to look at all day
long. I once had an ash workbench. My new one is maple, and I like the closed
pore look. If you do a lot of hand work, then avoid the pine benches: not
enough mass.

I think I would worry about padauk bleeding on my other projects.

Bigdaddy wrote:
I am planning a large shop project of building a large, heavy duty
woodworker's bench. I am in the early planning stages and am currently
looking at different materials for the entire project. I have quite a
bit of 2" thick Padauk, and would like to use it for accents or vises
and accessories. My question is: Would Padauk be hard enough to use for
the entire bench top or only for borders and accessories? Also, What
other woods would make an excellent bench top other than the
traditional maple and beech? Thank You.

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 14:27:38 +0000, Bigdaddy
wrote:


I am planning a large shop project of building a large, heavy duty
woodworker's bench. I am in the early planning stages and am currently
looking at different materials for the entire project. I have quite a
bit of 2" thick Padauk, and would like to use it for accents or vises
and accessories. My question is: Would Padauk be hard enough to use for
the entire bench top or only for borders and accessories? Also, What
other woods would make an excellent bench top other than the
traditional maple and beech? Thank You.

Padauk is definitely hard enough. It's also brittle, which might be a
problem.

--RC

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