Wood & workbench questions

[thrytis]

I saw Jeff had some beech for sale and i was thinking about this for building a traditional workbench. I know European beech is common for workbenches, but is american beech appropriate too? I've read beech can be difficult drying. Is there a good way to control air drying to get decent lumber, or would i be better off using kiln dried or another type of lumber for what usable amount i would get out of it? I'm not going to build a bench anytime soon, so it wouldn't be a problem if it took a couple of years to dry it properly.

What is a good thickness for the top without getting out of control? Is 1 1/2" good, or 3 1/2", or someplace in between?

Thanks!

 

[NCPete]

I am interested in the answer to this question, Eric, even though lumber to accomodate two traditional benches has just been ordered (Hard Maple!), I want to see what the consensus is on American beech.

 

[MikeH]

I am interested in the answer to this question, Eric, even though lumber to accomodate two traditional benches has just been ordered (Hard Maple!), I want to see what the consensus is on American beech.

I'll be interested to hear also.

Pete,
Is the maple for the entire bench or just the top? Where did you order it from?

 

[Monty]

I would think that beech would make a fine top. I'll let others address the drying questions...

Regarding the thickness, you can make it anywhere in the range you stated, depending on your wood and your preferences. One factor to keep in mind is what kind of bench dogs you plan to use. I used Veritas square dogs for my bench, and they don't hold their position well in benches less than roughly 3" deep. The whole top doesn't have to be that thick, but the part with the dog holes should be. Also, the top needs to be at least 1-3/4" thick if you plan to use the Gramercy holdfasts (which are excellent).

 

[NCPete]

Wall lumber, entire bench will be hard maple, each should use about 100 bf... the benches will emulate Monty's bench in form, perhaps no penguin, to distinguish between ours and his..... just realized I am not sure whether it was ordered as 4/4 or 8/4:BangHead:

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Since my local wood guy has an American Beech log 30+" in diam. (though too big for the local sawyer's Woodmizer) I was wondering the same thing.

As you can see below American Beech is right in there with the oaks and ash and a little softer than hard maple. At 1300 it is the same as European Beech- I think the difference is that European Beech, like hard maple is whiter and clearer at least than the Beech I got last weekend which looks like soft maple.

 

[michaelgarner]

Wall lumber, entire bench will be hard maple, each should use about 100 bf... the benches will emulate Monty's bench in form, perhaps no penguin, to distinguish between ours and his..... just realized I am not sure whether it was ordered as 4/4 or 8/4:BangHead:

It was 8/4 HM, it should turn out very nice.

 

[NCPete]

WoooHooo!

 

[thrytis]

Based on that information, beech should be fine. Although not as hard as hard maple, it is a little harder than birch that is also used for benches.

Is 8/4 the best thickness of lumber to use? It sounds like a lot less work than 4/4, and i imagine at too thick you lose the stability of the laminations for the top.

I'll try asking about drying beech in a separate thread once i do some more searching. So far all my search has turned up is that it is very difficult to dry.

Thanks!

 

[jeff...]

Since my local wood guy has an American Beech log 30+" in diam. (though too big for the local sawyer's Woodmizer) I was wondering the same thing.

As you can see below American Beech is right in there with the oaks and ash and a little softer than hard maple. At 1300 it is the same as European Beech- I think the difference is that European Beech, like hard maple is whiter and clearer at least than the Beech I got last weekend which looks like soft maple.

Alan, bring me that beech log - I ain't meet a tree yet that could not be made into lumber. I've cut em as much as 36" on the big end on my WM with out having to half em first. But if it's too big for the mill, we'll rip it down the pith with a chain saw - then it'll fit on the WM.

Big dia logs are charged an hourly rate from the time chips start to fly till the time the last board falls off the mill.

Call me if you would like to discuss more.

Thanks

 

[Howard Acheson]

>> I know European beech is common for workbenches, but is american beech appropriate too? I've read beech can be difficult drying.

The answer is yes, maybe. American beech is a fairly unstable wood, meaning it shrinks greatly during drying. Because of its rate of shrinkage, it can be very warp prone during drying whether air dried or kiln dried.

Once it is dried and put in a relative moisture constant environment, it makes a fine bench.