End Grain Bench-Top?

I think it would take a lot of patience and work to make a workbench top out of end grain. All those little squares would drive you nuts on a surface that big with very little benefit. The benefit of end grain on a cutting board is that the knife will not leave marks in end grain.

It would be a cool thing to see though.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Oh no! only thinking of this gives me shivers!!!
making it flat would be a memorable thing, I am sure.

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

That is a bench I would love to see but, as Scott said, getting enough end grain squares would drive you nuts. In a sense it would be one monstrous cutting board. But it would be unique.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Here you go!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku4808234/index.cfm

-- You're a unique and special person, just like everyone else.

My dad is a retired shop teacher, and I seem to remember rows of assembly benches that had end-grain tops, but I could be wrong.

Funny story:
Last time I was home, my dad bragged about the six-foot-square, four-inch-thick maple workbench in his shop. He got it for free. Way back when, the teacher in the next room, the “crafts” teacher, a guy generally considered a few cards short of a deck, was giving away his workbenches. His class had just finished doing plaster of paris castings, and there were a few gallons of leftover plaster. He told the students to pour it down the drain. (I said he was a few cards short. Maybe “a few” means “twenty”.)

The plaster, of course, hardened in the drain. The drain under the concrete floor. With the bolted-down workbenches on top.

The maintenance guy removed the benches, dug up the floor, and replaced the drain. Then Mr. Not-Enough-Cards said he didn’t want the workbenches any more; he wanted to rearrange the room, so haul them to the dumpster please. These are metal base 4” workbenches, one six feet square and the other something like six by ten feet. They would cost more than $2,000 each today. (Maybe “a few” means “fifty”.)

My dad and the maintenance guy hauled them to the dumpsters in their home shops.

-- Steve B - New Life Home Improvement