Refurbishing my bench

Hi All

My workbench was built from very high density MDF, 45mm thick, type of material that was being thrown out from work. It was originally on laboratory type benches and it’s still solid with hardwood edging.

The surface was a bit rough from the start, but has lasted me 30 odd years. Now, of course, it’s worse, with a few extra holes, plenty of gouges and layers of varnish.

So I want to add a top layer to make it nice again.

I thought thin plywood, but not sure the soft stuff from the local DIY shed is particularly durable. Perhaps hard plywood exists, or a better material ?

Any suggestions please ? What have you used ?

Cheers Will

Oil-tempered hardboard or good quality lino and renew the edging.

What do you do on your bench ?? Bit of silver soldering, drilling, sawing, oily gearboxes, hammering etc. Your selected surface should be something which suits your work. My bench is 2" oak planks jointed together. When its old an scruffy, I fill the holes with epoxy filler and give it a good sand with the orbital. There is a piece of oak let in about the size of a post card where I had a very hot accident, but it is still a very serviceable bench after 20 years.

If you were happy with the MDF, give it a good sand and epoxy glue a new sheet of MDF on top of it. Melamine is too slippery, Beech (not birch) plywood is quite hard wearing - don't go for "mahogany" faced ply as it is too soft.

If you get into machine overhaul, buy yourself a chunk of Al alloy or steel sheet to protect the bench from old oil etc.

+1 for another layer of MDF, or, perhaps hardboard, but, as has been said, it all depends...

Rather than glue a layer of MDF down, you could consider future-proofing it by making the top layer removable. Screw thread inserts into the existing top and use brass or nylon countersunk screws to hold the new top layer. Little risk of damage to cutting tools, should they be driven into the fixings. The surface can be made harder and waterproof with several thinned coats of varnish, rubbing the coats in, until the MDF won't accept any more. Or epoxy, if you're rich...

I recently discovered a commercial flooring shop that has a skip continuously on the go getting filled with their carpet and flooring scrap. This often includes a couple of floorboards about 6"x3'.. The boards come in packs of several so they end a job with 2 or 3 spare. Most are mdf with a veneer layer, a few are sort of ply in which the top layer is a 3mm layer of quality hardwood, plus there are strips of vinyl for gluing down. Maybe if you can find such a place they might put bits by for you for a few beers.

Thanks All

I hadn’t heard of oil tempered hardboard - it sounds quite hard, is it ?

I’ve just looked underneath and the original surface was coated chipboard. Its 2” thick and hard as hell - difficult to indent with a small screwdriver that’s for sure. So perhaps flooring materials could be good, or beech faced ply. I’ve looked on the net and thin ply is available with a 2.5mm beech top layer, which could be good. Possibly similar construction as the floor boards, but in sheet form.

And yes, Speedy, all of the above and more has been done on the bench. But I do have a cutting mat and a 20” square of 10mm steel plate that lives on it for abusive jobs.

Cheers Will

For many years I have used an old large drawing board which was covered with an aluminium sheet about 2mm sheet. It worked great as a portable assembly work bench and easily cleaned. Now my fixed bench top is made from 8” wide 3” thick pine which is occasionally sanded and oiled. If you top is smooth then light sand and oil finish may be enough to give a resilient finish or as stated thin ply which may be a little soft or steel sheet doesnt have to be very thick as it is only a protector. Refinishing may be adequate as it has lasted you thirty years.

I use a bench I made nearly 50 years ago, to a design in a book called "The Complete Home Carpenter" . It has 2 top layers, the upper one of which is 3/4" chipboard, meant to be replaceable. I've replaced it three times in 50 years, so it lasts pretty well. If I'm going to be doing anything oily I cover it with a sheet of oil-tempered hardboard with a softwood lip around the bottom, which fits around the bench and holds it in place.

I've used laminate flooring over here.
I don't normally work directly on the bench top though, using a rubber mat, a section of Contiplas, or a granite slab from a kitchen worktop

Bill

I have a bench the top is made of scaffold boards topped with 1/4" cheap plywood it has lasted for many years I have not managed to go through that to the boards underneath.

Saying that it would now not harm if I replaced it, remember that this bench has been used mainly for woodworking.

When I get around to it I have some toilet partition panels from a school(Yes I have cleaned and disinfected them) these are about 1/2" thick so should see me out and easy to keep clean

The toolmakers factories i have worked in have wood planked worktops with a cover of oil tempered hardboard which were replaced every Christmas as part of closing down for the holiday clean down etc.

David

As ega says ...

Oil-tempered hardboard or good quality lino and renew the edging.

During the training days of my youth our benches had a 4 mm (appx) thick layer of grey lino type material. Every few years the 'lino chap' would call in and replace all the bench tops with new lino.

My current workshop uses a layer of hardboard pinned to the bench, plus some edge trim that sits flush with the top of the hardboard.. The hardboard is cut in to sections (by B&Q) so that the high usage areas are easily lifted and replaced.

Ches

I would use thin MDF, 4,5 or 6mm or hardboard. I would glue it down by dabs of PVA woodglue every 100mm or so. A splodge of glue the size of a 50p should do it. When it comes time to replace it, it should pop up fairly easily leaving dabs of set glue and bits of sheet material which should be easy to remove. I wouldn't use a polyurethane glue unless you can weigh the whole sheet down.

You could get some mesh faced ply and use that, the sort of stuff that is used for trailers and vans. The phenolic face is very durable and the core is usually a good dense birch ply. I've use dit for several jobs.

Plus 1 for oil-tempered hardboard. I toped my bench with it about 10 years ago, and it's still good.

Lots of choice. On my so-called assembly table which is an old dining room table with a sheet of 12mm MDF I use one of those window scrapers to skim off any dried glue, lumps and I fill gouges with simple filler and scrape that smooth too. It’s utilitarian so looks don't bother me. If they did then a coat or two of epoxy paint would be durable.

pgk

As already mentioned, beech plywood is very good. When I was an instrument mechanic working on aircraft instruments and navigation aids, the boss insisted on getting rolls of the old fashioned lino. It had to be warmed up before unrolling or it would crack. Even in the 70's it was hard to obtain as vinyl flooring had taken over the market. Lino would be ok for clock making and small work, but not for general diy.

I have a benchtop of 3x 22mm MDF glued together(66mm) with a 4mm aliminium layer on top. 2x benchtop drill presses mounted on top left and right side plus a vice.. So far it lasts and work good. It provide great resistance on hammering something on top.

Edited By Chris Mate on 09/08/2022 05:10:27

My preference, for durability, would be for either 3 mm steel or maybe 2 mm Aluminium sheet to sit on top of the existing benchwork.

Howard

One of my mobile bench's has 19mm ply with 1.5 mm steel sheet folded over the edges to protect them, the bench rises and fall via mains powered screw jacks so that I can get a stationary engine on without to much lifting.

Martin P