# Benchtop -- ply or pine?



## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Yes, yes, I know: maple. Tough. Not in my budget. 

Anyway: it's gotten cold enough that I don't want to work in my shop, and I'm not convinced it's good for my tools to be used below 30F anyway. Certainly the battery powered ones don't like it, and I can't help feeling like it's going to damage my wood handplane. 

Last year I was just getting started, so I put everything away for the winter. This year I'm itching to try hand-cut dovetails and things like that, and actually have a space in the house for a bench. What I don't have is much available money, or much time before it gets too cold to even run out and make a couple rips on the table saw.

I'm planning a bench similar to the "heirloom bench" in Shopnotes (from issue 118, small photo here). Due to budgetary constraints, it will be built using dimensional lumber and cabinet ply. The question is this: I've come up with two more or less reasonable possibilities for the top. Which would YOU use?

1) ~$60, laminated 2x4. Trim the 2x4 to be 1.5x3 (to get rid of the rounded corners) and laminate them into a 2'x4'x3" top.

2) ~$30, laminated 3/4" plywood. Cutting a sheet into quarters and laminating them together, then trimming the edges down and banding them with either 2x or a piece of thin hardwood would leave me with a 2'x4'x3" top. Most likely I would use the edge trim to trap the top piece (rather than gluing it) so it could be replaced in the future if necessary.

3) Buy a countertop from Ikea. It looks like I could probably buy a roughly 2'x4' countertop for under $100 from them. I've heard some bad things about the quality of their counters, though, and it's the most expensive of the three choices, so I'm a bit leery of this option.

The first two have about the same weight (~60-70 pounds, in theory). I can design around the shortcomings of either. 

I like the idea of the appearance of the 2x4 top, but the plywood will be a lot faster (an afternoon, plus drying time) and at least a little bit cheaper. 

Any thoughts? Or can anyone think of a way to get a good hardwood top for no more than about $75?


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

amckenzie4 said:


> Yes, yes, I know: maple. Tough. Not in my budget.
> 
> Anyway: it's gotten cold enough that I don't want to work in my shop, and I'm not convinced it's good for my tools to be used below 30F anyway. Certainly the battery powered ones don't like it, and I can't help feeling like it's going to damage my wood handplane.
> 
> ...


I would be inclined to go the plywood route but there are pros and cons about that too. I actually like to use dimensional lumber whenever I can reasonably get away with it for projects like this. I have actually done that with a few benches. Keep in mind though that unless you get perfectly flat 2X4s someplace you will want to joint/plane the 3 inch faces somewhat. So you won't really have a full 1.5 inch thickness. I generally shoot for something like 1.25 inches by 3 inches.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Good to know. Why would you go with the ply?

I have been able to get remarkably flat 2x4 at my local home depot... the trick is to not mind going through 50 or more boards to get half a dozen flat/straight ones. The employees locally have stopped minding, since I put the ones I don't buy back on the rack before I leave. But you're right, I would likely end up losing a little bit of thickness that way.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Look at the Grizzly maple tops. 
http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=360100


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

amckenzie4 said:


> Good to know. Why would you go with the ply?
> 
> I have been able to get remarkably flat 2x4 at my local home depot... the trick is to not mind going through 50 or more boards to get half a dozen flat/straight ones. The employees locally have stopped minding, since I put the ones I don't buy back on the rack before I leave. But you're right, I would likely end up losing a little bit of thickness that way.


Of the 3 choices that you listed I would probably lean towards ply because it's a little easier than prepping and laminating the dimensional lumber and the plywood is "generally" flatter and more stable to work with. However, I have been seeing really really bad plywood at the big boxes lately. I have a lumber yard where I get BB ply when I need to build something for the shop with ply that needs to be flat.

Having said all of that, I built an 8 foot long by 30" deep workbench about a year or so ago and I laminated 2 layers of 3/4 MDF topped off by a 1/4 thick peice of masonaite that I "trapped" in place with the edge trim like you were describing. I double faced taped it in place so i can just turn it over when it starts to get ragged and replace it when both side get unusable.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Shop Dad said:


> Look at the Grizzly maple tops.
> http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=360100


Thanks for the pointer! They're still out of my range, but a LOT closer than I thought I'd find them. If the project gets held up long enough, that might be a good way to go.



Tom5151 said:


> Of the 3 choices that you listed I would probably lean towards ply because it's a little easier than prepping and laminating the dimensional lumber and the plywood is "generally" flatter and more stable to work with. However, I have been seeing really really bad plywood at the big boxes lately. I have a lumber yard where I get BB ply when I need to build something for the shop with ply that needs to be flat.
> 
> Having said all of that, I built an 8 foot long by 30" deep workbench about a year or so ago and I laminated 2 layers of 3/4 MDF topped off by a 1/4 thick peice of masonaite that I "trapped" in place with the edge trim like you were describing. I double faced taped it in place so i can just turn it over when it starts to get ragged and replace it when both side get unusable.


Yeah, it's getting harder to find good lumber of any sort. I saw a sheet of 3/4" of HD's "cabinet grade" plywood the other day. The ends were sitting on the sheet below it, and the middle was almost two feet up!

Oddly, MDF is both harder to find and substantially more expensive here... the stuff at HD and Lowes is usually pretty badly damaged (every sheet!), and the local lumberyards don't stock it as a regular thing, though they'll special order it.

Thanks for your input!


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## Big Stud (Dec 2, 2011)

I vote for ply,


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Sounds like ply is pretty much the universal recommendation, then. Given the price difference, I'm willing to take that.

Thanks, all!


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