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Help finishing top of my workbench

yannick's picture

Help finishing top of my workbench (post #169179)

yannick on Fri, 09/23/2011 - 18:59
in

Hi there,

 

I built a workench with a top made of 3 layers of lamination: 2 outer MDF and 1 inner layer of pine planks. I glued and used screws.

Now I 'd like to put a 1/4 sheet of plywood on top to protect the MDF from water, and hide those screws. I don't want to glue the plywood as I eventually want to replace it.

I was thinking about using double sided carpet tape, but it looks like it's going to be messy to remove that sticky tape...

Do you guys have any other ideas on how to proceed?

 

Thanks!

-A +A
RalphBarker's picture

top surface material (post #169179, reply #1 of 3)

by RalphBarker in reply to yannick [original] on Thu, 09/29/2011 - 08:10

Conventional 1/4" plywood is likely to have voids, and may warp. You might consider using Masonite (tempered hardboard) instead, and keep it in place with edging strips.

A couple of coats of shellac (I use a one-pound cut) on the Masonite does the trick.

yannick's picture

Thanks for the tip! I (post #169179, reply #2 of 3)

by yannick in reply to RalphBarker [original] on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 09:08

Thanks for the tip!

I already bought the plywood, but when it will be time to swap it out, I'll try out the masonite board.

TLROWLAND's picture

MDF Top (post #169179, reply #3 of 3)

by TLROWLAND in reply to yannick [original] on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:15

Howdy Yannick.  One of my workbenches has a double 3/4" MDF Slab as the table top as well.  The top was soaked with Danish Oil (to absorb into the mdf) and then coated with a poly/varnish after it fully cured.  I've had that bench for 5 years now and let me tell you it has been through the worst kind of abuse you can imagine; chiseling, breaking down plywood and just slightly having the circ-saw height too low, spillage, sharpening and everything else that I could shake a stick at.  And you know what?  It is still as square and true and looks as great as it ever did when I first built it. (with a few stains and nicks here and there of coarse) 

I guess it boils down to what you want to do.  1/4" ply is a good idea if you want to refresh the top when you wear it out, but it can become a hassle, especially due to the weak nature of 1/4" ply with all it's layers.  MDF is one of the most dimensionally stable materials that you can buy, and it soaks up finishes very well so it can be made to be nearly water proof.  I use water stones on top of a small rubber mat right on top of that very work bench when sharpening my hand tools and the water stays put.  One great top just by itself!  Here's the rundown of what I used:

recess the screws a bit and put woodfiller in the holes, sand flush, watco danish oil (soak it in good, mdf is thirsty!), and any fast drying polyurethane (2 coats)

After trying many tops, I would definitely use this again.  It's strong, stable, and very cost effective.  Good luck!   -TL