Sacrificial Bench Top Needed?

Re: Sacrificial Bench Top Needed?

David Barnett

>Sacrificial bench top, eh? Maybe slab stone with a blood gutter? Equinox is almost on us.

But seriously, I usually just work carefully and let it look like it, although now and then I'll throw a sheet of something across it if I think things might get messy or especially risky (to either me or the bench). I don't mind the little dents and a few scratches, though. They age so nicely in maple.

re

glh of Nashville, TN

>If I feel that is a chance that I will chisel into my benchtop, I place a piece of scrap underneith the piece and clamp it down with a c-clamp or holddown.

Bench hook

Bill Leffingwell,Hot springs Va

>What you need to save the bench top is a bench hook,you can use it to chop or saw on the bench with no damage and then put it away when you've finished.Easy to make easy to use.the link below shows the details.

Bill

http://www.terraclavis.com/bws/benchacc.htm

masonite

Bill Tindall, E. TN

>masonite with a light finish. It stays on the bench and gets replaced every few years when it is covered with glue, finish, honeing oil, and other abuse.

David, you forgot the...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Pentangle on the floor that the bench is centered in. Scott snickering at my desk this morning.

BTW...I use a scrap board when chiseling or drilling on my workbench, if you can call it that.

Re: Sacrificial Bench Top Needed?

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I'm more concerned about protecting it when I'm painting or gluing, when I use newspaper as my sacrifical top (and David B., you have forever ruined this word for me - I will never again be able to read about sacrificial anything without thinking of your post. People will wonder why I break out laughing during discussions of the chemistry of galvanized steel).

Re: respect for tools

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>I don't really care how other people work; it really doesn't affect me. In my opninion, a chisel gouge in a bench top is not patina, it's carelessness. I didn't always feel that way, but I built a decent bench and my viewpoint changed to go along with the new bench. It will develope plenty of patina without putting gouges into it on purpose. Right now mine could use a good scraping, which is what it will get after this project is done in a month or so. I'm heavily influenced by Eurpoean trained craftsman such as Frank Klausz and James Krenov; you just don't treat your tools with disrespect.

Re: respect for tools

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>I hear you, Moses, and couldn't agree more. I'm guessing you have a few hours in the shop behind you and that makes your opinion valuable. A beautiful tool is a treasure whether it's a bench or a plane. I guess it all boils down to 'different strokes for different folks'.

Blood has been spilt...

David Barnett

>...on my benchtop faster'n you could say "le sacre du printemps", thanks to a 2" chisel and a distracted mind. Staunching the flow might've seemed saner than wiping the wood, but we all have our priorities.

Re: Sacrificial Bench Top Needed?

Angelo in Cornwall, NY

>Although my top is only hardboard treated with some homebrew wipe on poly, I try and take care of it. I usually keep a nice size block of oak cutoff on the bench, it makes a nice platform for chopping with chisels and such. When doing large glueups, the roll of rosin paper usually comes out. I know I can easily replace the top, but why when its fairly easy to keep it from getting messed up.

It never ends...

David Barnett

>...so I guess I'll be needing a nice set of trammels or a longish beam compass. And that protractor for my Starrett machinist's square I thought I could live without.

Technique?

jim_reed@marietta

>There are very few situations in cabinetmaking when I feel the need to whail away at something on the bench. My top may have some dings, but it is treated with reverence. I brush it down after almost every session and oil it down three or four times each year.

Chipboard can be very useful

Chris Knight

>A sheet big enough to cover the benchtop that can be used when:-

1. Hammer veneering - when the glue gets everywhere. ( I do use brown paper too but that can stick to tools at a critical moment)

2. Fixing odd shaped workpieces to the benchtop when you want to nail a bunch of wooden "fences" around it for wedges

3. Similarly to (2) - when you want to sand a thin piece of material and need a very thin bench stop fore and aft to stop it sliding around - just nail a couple of laths to the chipboard

4. When using a tool that might mar the benchtop

5. When finishing a piece with messy stuff.

Granted, there are plent of alternatives to all of the above - it's just that a cheap piece of chipboard is pretty versatile.