Bench coatings/finishes...options

Ahem... *Workbench*

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

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Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Rick Hoppe (Los Angeles)

>Greg, since you seem to be eliminating shellac, oil, and polyurethane, the only two left are oil or alkyd varnish or lacquer. I see no reason why any of those you have eliminated would rub off on your work if you have allowed the workbench to dry thoroughly (3 days for oil, 24 hrs or so for the others) All are excellent finishes with polyurethane being the most durable.

I used an alkyd wiping varnish on mine, a traditional style workbench. Most seem to use a Watco type finish.

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>I used a BLO/Poly mix for mine. Then I put a wax topcoat on.

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>Here's a pic if you want to see what it looks like...

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I don't understand your definition of "durable." To my way of thinking, polyurethane would be my last choice of finish for a workbench, since it't maintainability is almost nil. Once you've cut through its polymerized surface, or shattered it with an errant blow, you have no choice but to remove it and start from scratch. Removing it is not all that easy, either. In fact, it can play havoc with sharpened and honed edge tool, abrasive sheets and potent chemicals. This is a professional's workbench, not a consumer grade piece of curb furniture. It should be designed to be quickly and cheaply restored to working condition, using the tools available in the woodworking shop, and without undue damage to those tools, using traditional woodworking finishes that are already available in the workshop for finishing the furniture that is that shop's product.

If you want a good looking, resiliant, quickly repairable finish, use shellac or a penetrating, hardening oil, but not plastic.

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

>Was that a stealth gloat?

*grin*

Very nice! I like it.

Mine has a walnut* top

*(Walnut appearance only - ok only kinda') *grin*

Cheers,

Greg

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

>No, I was only saying that I don't care for oil.

Shellac and Poly/varnish may be reasonable options.

I was worried about the shellac though.

Poly is fine, but may be more prone to brittleness. (The poly/acryllic varieties seem to be more flexable, as are long oil/spar varnishes.)

It seems as though most are not worried about shellac though. Perhaps I am overly worried.

Thanks,

Greg

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Dan Donaldson

>I would use oil + wax, or shellac. Both finishes are renewable and I don't think there is any reason to think that they would rub off on a project. Poly is too hard and if damaged, is a pain to fix. Oil and shellac are simple to either repair or redo.

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>There may be a difference between a bench that looks good and one that functions well. I will never again put wax on my bench top, in any form. Trying clamping a piece to it then paring with a chisel. It may look good on tv, but it ain't much fun. Personally I would either leave it totally unfinished or just put a couple coats of linseed oil on it. This would include the bench top and aprons where you plan on clamping stuff to them; the rest of the bench I would finish with your choice of finishes. YMMV

Nah...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>...No gloat.

I already showed it off when I finished it.

;)

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Bob Sobieck

>I too used linseed oil on my bench. I like it.

What he said.

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>My first bench was covered with polyurethane. When hit hard, it chips. It has some power bench tools bolted to it now, so I am not going to re-finish it, but it would be a bear to do. I guess I would have to take a belt sander to it. Oil finishes are so much easir to redo, repair, re-flatten & refinish.

Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Tony - Memphis

>My old plywood topbench had poly on it. Never a problem. As for damage....it IS a work bench, so I didn't care. The new bench has hardboard over mdf and I started using it before I thought about a finish, so there it sits with no finish. Seems to be ok though.

Tony

Amen

Steve Kubien

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Re: Bench coatings/finishes...options

Steve Kubien

>Beware of the clean bench There be some dark magic/voodoo at work!

Steve Kubien