Opinions about working surface on workbench

[miller]

Getting time past all the honey-dos, got the bench top finished! All 15' of it. As you can tell, my shop doesn't have the kind of walls to mount much on. Once done, I'll have cabinets and drawers, to keep stuff in...including some stuff from the filled boxes all around that you can't see in the photo.
The bench surface is gonna give me plenty of working surface. I keep several pieces of 3/4" plywood around, that I'll simply toss onto the bench, to do any dirty work on.

 

[Hemirunner]

Very cool! You do great work.
Here's my bowling alley top on the tool boxes and I whipped up a cheap bench on the other wall out of 2x4's and OSB.

 

[miller]

Lol! And you've got real walls.

That looks real useable. Flat need a decent working area for this stuff.

 

[Hemirunner]

Lol! And you've got real walls.

That looks real useable. Flat need a decent working area for this stuff.

It works out very nicely. I'm getting ready to hang cabinets in there for more storage. I used 5/8 OSB for sheeting the walls. No hunting for studs.

 

[HEMIVISION]

I have a wooden bench and my welding bench...both have a vice...my suggestion is do what you can afford...hobbys are supposed to be fun not a giant financial burden...if it doesnt work out down the road maybe upgrade a bit..

 

[Photon440]

I see a lot of these new bench tops on manufactured work benches are bamboo tops. I wonder how that holds up.

I've got a bamboo cutting board in the kitchen that's quite a few years old, in constant use. Holds up better than a wooden one.

 

[miller]

Yeah, all great ideas! Main thing is if it does what you want it to do.

Used to simply use a wood surface. I've always looked for something that wouldn't scrape metal engine/trans parts. But, with just wood, oil, grease, and so on could absorb into it. Impossible to clean. And the lanimate I picked gives a good sealed surface...good for wiping the blood off. Proved that while putting it on, sharp edge got my hand, and one of the first things was wiping the blood off! These days I cut easy. Guess it's the old man crap.

Last bench I had sported the same type surface. No probs slapping my 727 on it, for complete overhaul.
Now all I gotta do is find some good time to use it.

 

[goose69]

Looks great!
The last workbench (20' long x 2' deep) I built in my old shop consisted of 3 1/4" back to back unistrut for a framework , 1 1/4" tongue and groove plywood on top with 1/2" white poly for a final surface. It was all free from work. But it was indestructable and cleaned up super nice and easy. I would like to do the same when I get around to setting up my next shop.