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Hardwood in the northwest

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2K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Tim457 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Kicking off a bench project soon and trying to find some cheap, heavy and sorta hard wood. Up here pine and spruce abound, but large quantities of clean hardwoods are EXPENSIVE. Any of you guys live up here have any leads on something good? A good source? A different species? So far the best I can come up with is wormy Maple at 2.55/bf. Not bad, but I would like to find something cheaper. It is after all a workbench, not a china hutch. Thx
 
#2 ·
Have you considered Douglas-fir? Should be relatively easy to source, particularly if you're near the coast, and is certainly strong enough for a workbench. If you look around, you should be able to find it under $1/bdft.

About the only commercially harvested hardwoods in the NW are alder and soft maple. Other hardwoods grow here and there (poplar/aspen/cottonwood, particularly) but locally harvested harder woods are hard to find.
 
#3 ·
No, I hadn't considered D-fir. I guess I just passed it off as too soft, but you're probably right, it should be plenty hard for a bench. Thanks for the idea! I even know at least one place that has some.
 
#6 ·
Is this at a hardwood dealer? Also, is that for finish planed or rough? Scour Craigslist a lot. The dealer that I go to is over $3 for red oak, but I found a guy on craigslist selling rough Oak in 72"+ lengths and 4/4 thickness (actually a bit more) for said $1.50.

You can also try Ash. That was what I was originally planning on until I found the red oak.
 
#8 ·
If you have access to cheap hardwood, great. Otherwise, there is no reason that Doug Fir or even 2x construction lumber won't work for a strong and useful workbench. A few examples on LJ would include TerryR's, RLindberry's, and mine. And for advice from a real expert, check out Paul Seller's workbench build.

If you want to see how they would hold up, check out this post by RaggedKerf.
 
#12 ·
John, I built my bench out of poplar and ash, cheapest hardwoods I could find. I used poplar for most of the top except for the dog strip and front edge. I felt that most of the wear is going to be in the front and along the dog holes for the wagon vise. It has worked quite well so far and I have no issues w/ the softer poplar, here is a pic.
Wood Table Workbench Machine tool Machine
 

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#13 ·
I like it. What are the dimensions of that Bondo?
I have thought about poplar or DF, although so far, poplar is coming up cheaper. I did find a guy who has 1700 bf of purpleheart that he is selling for 3/bf. I am trying to get that as it is almost as cheap as poplar would be.
As far as the construction grade top, I would like something heavy as I do a fair amount of hand planing and I cannot stand a bench that moves. For the last 10 years I have been using 2 sawhorses that I made and while they are handy, I chase them all around the shop. This thing is not gonna move even if I have to fill the legs with lead.
 
#16 ·
John, I am at the stage of putting my table top together and I have built the complete bench out of pallet lumber. I recycle pallets, all different sizes, even got a few in heavy duty plastic. Built a outside workbench out of 3 plastic pallets
Wood Hardwood Gas Lumber Wood stain


you see the left side panel of the base of the bench, all that lumber came from pallets, all FREE LUMBER.
I have eight drawers in the base. (those pink and white bins is another story, they are now in the garage). The top is made of yellow pine, poplur, and ash all milled to 1-3/8" x 62", 21 pieces. The base is all 4×4 treated lumber with solid sides and back of 3/8" x 3-1/2" pine glued together. The only lumber I will purchase will be 3/4" oak for the top's skirt and to double up for the vice chocks and I purchased a piece of 3/4" plywood, sanded on one side for the drawer fronts. I made my own drawer slides. made from 1" partical board with plastic laminate on both sides, (which I got out of a dumpster of a renovation job of a Wallgreens store), make sure you ask permission to get anything from the dumpster. I am 66 yrs. old and I will probably be using it every day until can't anymore and hopefull my grandson's kids will still use it.

The 4×4's came from two 14' x 5' pallets for roof top a/c units. Check with your local a/c contractors, they will give them away and even load them in the truck or trailer for you, it saves them the cost of getting rid of them, and regular pallets are all over the place and they are FREE, just have to take the time to brake them up, strip all the nails and screws and mill them up. They all become brand new usable lumber.

When your on a fixed income you use what you can to get the job done. The only thing I might have trouble with will be the dog holes may get a little sloppy after 20 yrs. from now. I will also be building a router sled, (copied from Mark, the Wood Wisperer) to flatten out the top and if it gets a little battered and out of level, I'll just put it back to level again, when your only loosing between 1/32" to 1/16" a 3-1/2" thick top will last a long long time.

Good luck with your top, "I'LL SHOW YOU MINE IF YOU SHOW ME YOURS" I was a dirty old man at 8 yrs old when I first said that to my first girl friend who lived next door to me. She was twice the size of me and almost kicked the s_ out of me.
 

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#17 ·
I feel your pain about getting hardwood in the Pacific Northwest. It is surprisingly expensive.

Neither of these options are particularly cheap but they are hard: You could use Oregon white oak which looks pretty nice. Or madrone which is hard and durable but is darned expensive. But since these are local woods you might be able to find them for a good price.
 
#18 ·
The guy with the purpleheart called and will deliver for 3/bf. Anybody ever have any luck trading out with their local yard. It would be cheaper if I did that. Soft maple is 5.5/bf. My thought is to buy it and trade it out. I have no idea what to do with that much purpleheart. At this point, I can build the entire bench out of it and it would be the cheapest option other than white pine. Just not sure I am up to building an entire bench out of concrete. Its daunting enough as it is. Thoughts?
 
#19 ·
Everybody has an opinion on workbenches. Mine is that they should be made out of what is cheap and available. I would go with the poplar or cheapest of the pine/DF out of the options you've mentioned. I can't say I know a lot about the price it would go for, but if you have the money and space to store it, I'd be tempted to buy all that purpleheart if it's in good shape. Then you can sell off whatever amounts of it you're willing to deal with. Contact local woodworking groups, offer it up for sale here, etc. Not sure I'd go through with it, but if you can see what you could sell it for it might be worth it.
 
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