LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

Buy an ikea counterop for less than the price of the birch. Such a great idea I bought a few. I even got free shipping with a friends pickup (the nearest ikea is 2000 km away).

After a month sitting inside they all warped like crazy. After building the base and ignoring the problem I finally clamped them down intending to start handplaning. With a very little pressure it flattened out. Eureka. So after cutting a fir plywood layer to add some thickness I lag bolted some pine 4×4's to it and it seemed to flatten significantly. I oversized the holes in the pine and fir to allow for wood movement. No glue. The skirts are maple and add alot of mass. Took very little (four hours or so) planing to get it flat. Bought a new lee valley iron for the no.8 and no.4. Highly recommended.

All seems to be going well after a month. I used the pine because it was local wood and I bought a lift of it ten years ago and this was the last of it. After building the base out of it and having to straighten a bunch of hockey sticks down to 3×3's the top seemed to just be more of the same.

It needs more closely spaced dog holes. The twin screw is great, but I can't really recommend the lee valley quick release vise. It was a nightmare to install. Works ok though. The birch is soft and the glue is bad. I popped off some of the outer laminations when handplaning some of the other smaller slabs I bought.

Ah well I got a LOT of practice with a new old number 8 joining plane my father had just sent me. About two weeks of handplaning and I've got lots of new tops for the rolling workstations.

I can't really recommend this route, but I really enjoyed it. I don't think I would have done it if I had read the posts on other forums. New rule. Research all harebrained schemes on the net beforehand.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
5 Posts
An interesting project. Sounds kind of frustrating but the end product looks beautiful! Thanks for steering me clear of this route!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
334 Posts
Man, where do you live so that you are so far from an IKEA?

Cool use of the IKEA though, kind of Ironic actually, using mass produced product for a workbench to build fine hand built stuff! Should send this to IKEA in a letter!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
4,691 Posts
It looks like a mighty nice bench though.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,122 Posts
I like a bench that can take a pounding. Yours looks like its ready for it.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
61 Posts
It really did come out looking great, and I hope it continues to work for you. I've seen those Ikea countertops and the thought had crossed my mind, so thanks for the heads up!
 

· In Loving Memory
Joined
·
2,704 Posts
That looks like a great work bench I'd be proud to own it if I were you. You did a great job.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
430 Posts
I've looked at those cheap Ikea table tops and though of doing something similar when I need to replace the top. They'd make decent outfeed and finish tables as well on the cheap. The curling is disappointing for sure.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,053 Posts
... sounds like you need a new/cheaper wood supplier. Good luck.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
6,838 Posts
looks like it ended up being a nice top for a descent $$.

I wonder if breadboards at the ends would fix that curling issue?

how thick is the birch top from IKEA?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
22 Posts
Looks like I need to build rustic furniture. Nice Dennis. We've got birch, lodgepole pine, and black spruce, oh and willow. Greg, I did the same but had to plane at least a quater inch off them all by hand to flatten them. I ended up pulling the outfeed off and replacing it with MDF doubled 3/4, with wipe on poly and wax as a finish. Slick and flat. I may do the same with the assembly table. Purp- I was lucky to get an inch and a quarter after planing both sides. The breadbords, for me, would be too much trouble for mediocre wood, but good idea. They seem stable now that they are finished with Danish oil and screwed down.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
0 Posts
Forget the bench, you have one of the cleanest, neatest workshops I've ever seen.
What are the black and yellow ladderlike tools stacked up in the background of picture #1?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
22 Posts
Yeah, I spend alot of time on my 30' sailboat. It doesn't come naturally. The shop is small, no free space at all really. I get tired of having to wheel out each tool. The orange things are new Triton wood racks. Came up on the nsame truck with the ikea slabs. I've got really limited wood storage space in the shop, so I'm bolting them on to the ouside wall.
Anybody know if this is a good idea? Not many options, but I built the shop with one side having four foot overhanging eaves. Still met city planning code if it hung in the air up to the property line. Maybe I'll hang some canvas to protect the wood.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
64 Posts
hhhmmmm 30' sailboat you say!!...........not a C&C by any chance? Mine is a 25'....

Nice and solid looking bench!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
19,753 Posts
Looks like it will do the job fine.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
4,229 Posts
The curling is a downer for sure, but of course the folks using them for countertops are doing the same thing- once you screw them to the cabinets they stay flat. Breadboards may help as might cleats on the bottom, so long as you handle the crossgrain movement.

The bench is terrific -
How cold a winter did you have this year - and how much snow? I know Fairbanks Alaska, my old stomping grounds didn't get much cover this year. An old college friend is from your town - - I went to school with him in Fairbanks - Wayne Cousins. He'd be about 45 now.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
888 Posts
Sorry to hear about the troubles, but looks like you got a nice bench in the end.

Personally I'm a big fan of using Ikea stuff where it makes sense (read: shop furniture). Many times it's much cheaper and less labor-intensive than doing it yourself. My benchtop is an Ikea butcher-block - actually from an old Ikea dining room table we replaced. But if I didn't have that, I would have strongly considered the top you got.

Using their kitchen cabinet frames as cabinet frames (gasp! particle and melamine, the horror!) to get shop furniture started is a huge time saver for someone without the means of getting plywood home easily and fairly cost effective as well.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
9,509 Posts
There is also a scratch and dent area in the store where they sell damaged items and things that have been returned. Might be worth looking there for discount materials.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
234 Posts
I bought the widest Numenor Beech countertop, 1.5" thick about 74" long. I cut it in half lengthwise and doubled it up to make a 3" thick slab. Not sure of the wisdom yet, but I cut it so that when I stacked them, the seams in the laminations would not line up. That's as far as I've gotten, so the thing has been "acclimating" for several years, but appear to have stayed pretty flat… Noticed these have disappeared from the Ikea website, too bad. At $200 these were a great deal!
 
Top