Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Birch vs Maple for a workbench
Darin in Victoria
>I'm thinking about making a european style workbench with a shoulder and tail vise (Klaus bench). Any opinions on whether western birch (paper birch) or western maple would be better for the workbench. The western birch seems to a little denser at 38 lb/ft3 than western maple that is 34 lb/ft3. The cost difference is negligable at $4.40 and $4.50 a lb/ft for 2" select grade. Can't afford hard maple since it is twice the price.
Re: Birch vs Maple for a workbench
Dan Clermont in Burnaby
>Hi Darin,
my bench is Paper birch and works fine. Someday I plan on building a hard maple bench but that is someday.
When yo go and buy the wood get either the birch or maple depending n which one has better stabillity (less knots, more growth rings, quarter sawn, etc).
Dan Clermont
Re: Birch vs Maple for a workbench
Todd Stock
>Just finished one, and used birch in the trestle. Out here, yellow birch is under $3/bf, so cheaper than hard maple.
Yellow birch is similar to paper birch, so I'd think it would be appropriate. Only thing I would do is increase the size of the base components to gain back the weight lost. I went with 6.6 x 1.75 stretchers and wider legs to get close to 325 lbs on weight, as heavier is better.
Re: Birch is a birch is a. . .or not
Dave Mount
>Not to discourage you from using paper birch, but be aware that paper birch is significantly softer than yellow birch, the latter of which is mostly what's sold as "birch" when purchased generically. Paper birch, if sold commercially, is properly sold as "birch", but most "birch" is really yellow birch.
Paper birch is similar in hardness to cherry (which some people mistakenly think of as being hard, ref: some past discussions about molding plane bodies), whereas yellow birch is up there almost in red oak territory, both of which are about 15% softer than sugar maple. Paper birch is about 30% softer than hard maple.
That said, the issue is conformance to requirements, not whether it is as hard as sugar maple. Up here in northern Minnesota, the sugar maples grow so slowly and with so many problems (e.g., frost cracks) that I use a lot of paper birch in apps where others might use maple. It is a very pleasant wood to work. Virtually all drawers I make are paper birch and it dovetails beautifully. Your bench might dent a little easier than if it were sugar maple, but I wouldn't hesitate to use paper birch if there's an incentive to.
My $0.02,
Dave
Re: Birch vs Maple for a workbench
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>There's nothing wrong with using more than one species. You could use hard maple for the parts that get the most wear, for example, the front face boards, into which you cut your dog holes, the vise jaw faces, and the other parts of the tail vise that rub and slide against each other, especially those that counteract the racking forces, and also maybe the back rail behind the tool tray, especially if you expect to be dropping pipe clamps or bar clamps onto it. Those are good places to invest additional money in harder wood.
Thanks guys!
Darin in Victoria
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Re: Birch vs Maple for a workbench
Darin in Victoria
>thanks William, that's what I was thinking also. I have a bunch of hard maple at home that I'll be using for those parts. Probably go with the soft maple for the most of the other pieces since I have some left over from some tables that I made.