through-bolt workbench top

Re: through-bolt workbench top

Michael Recchione

>If you mean using the threaded rod through the top from front to back, the issues are wood movement and corrosion. The main thing is that the wood in the top will swell and contract with humidity, and the rod won't, and will eventually destroy the top. That's what I've heard from people, anyway - I've never tried it.

Re: through-bolt workbench top

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Frank Klausz (forgive me if I misspelled the name) uses a long through bolt, all thread, to secure his shoulder vise to the benchtop. He said that the bolt causes the washer and nut to embed slightly deeper about once a year and he just snugs it up as needed. I yield to greater experience and will do the same on my bench....whenever I get the job done:-)JR

Re: through-bolt workbench top

Ken

>Les

First I have to get a confession off my chest. This past summer I gave away a six foot section of a maple work top. Heresy I know but let me explain. The top was off a chemistry class desk that was about 70 or 80 years old. It had several cutouts and holes for different appliances. According to my father in law, who gave me the top, he had used to piece since the middle fiftes when he got it from a school. Now for the important information. The top was 2+ inches thick and glued up from pieces about 1 1/2 inches wide. The piece had rods from from to back about every 24 inches. The piece had lost no integrity that I noticed from yearly expansion/contraction and I saved the rods to use on another project.

So, yes, I think its a valid method to laminate a top. In fact, I am gathering the material to build up the top for my planned workbench. I want a bench a lot like the Roubo layed out in a recent magazine article. Do you have any advice before I start cutting and gluing?

Thanks

Ken

Re: through-bolt workbench top

les winter

>Yes I have a few pieces of advice:

1. buy a gallon of glue

2. you likely need clamps every 12 inches top and bottom. My bessey's needed help to clamp up the 5" thick legs.

3. if you glue it up, as recommended, in 6" wide sections, do you have the tooling to true it up?

4. prepare for a mess.

that said, I've done it 4 times, better each time, and it is worth it.

good luck

lw

Re: through-bolt workbench top

Todd Stock

>I'm with Joe...I've used either partial or through bolts on several benches, and they work just fine.

Not necessary unless you have a shoulder vise, thought - the purpose of the bolt is to prevent the shoulder vise load from being carried by the corner dovetail, which would - in time - destroy the joint. If you are using it to keep your bench top lams together, you need better joinery, better glue, or both.

While a partial bolt (with nut recessed into the underside of the bench top 4"-6" in) is the traditional way of doing things, Klausz rightly notes that this practice will place the bench top in cross-grain tension beyond the nut, resulting in splits. Also keep in mind that a cross-grain bolt or all-thread only constrains expansion, so there is nothing other than a compressive load on the wood. You might have local fiber failure if you don't bother to spread the load with a washer, but unless you built your bench out of balsa, likely not an issue.