I built a new work bench last night out of a solid core wood door, and a set of legs for a folding table. I found a solid core wood door at lowes that had been dinged on the edge pretty hard, and bought it for half price. Add another $25 for a set of folding table legs and voila, I have a strong, stable, flat work bench.

My question is what should I finish it with. I have some gel stain and gel poly left over from some furniture that I finished a year or so back.

http://www.generalfinishes.com/gel.pdf

Would this work well as a finish, or is there something that would be better given the likely contact with glue, solvents, glow fuel etc???

I made a new work bench and finished it with Water Based Poly Urethane, and it was a mistake, glow fuel eats it up as does a a lot of the thinners, solvents and cleaners I use in this sport; not sure what the best product to use, my other bench I left natural wood and it has weathered better.

I just have mine as is. Once in a great while I will run a sanding bar over it to knock of any glue bumps, but by in large it never gets messed up. Good Luck, Dave

What I did with my last bench, was to cover it with a sheet of 1/8 masonite. I just put 4 dabs of hot glue on the corners to keep it from sliding. When it gets to bad, I toss it. and I have a pretty new surface. I did not seal it. When I used it for building a kit, I put 1/2 dry wall down so I could use pins. Since I do not use pis any more, I stopped using drywall.


Dru.

I use ceiling panels available from Lowes or Home Depot over my solid core table. I stick them to the door with double sided carpet tape and cover the panels with paint masking paper to keep the panels clean. Just replace the paper as needed. Works good.

Paul

HOMASOTE.... Available at most larger building materials centers. "Green" product (actually grey), made from recycled paper. Smooth surface that takes and holds pins really well (IMHO much better than sheetrock).

[link]http://www.homasote.com/about.aspx[/link]

Comes in 4x8' sheets. Shorten to the length of your board (save for a small portable work surface), then split to two pieces 2' wide x length of board. Use one now, save one for later or share w/ a buddy...

when we had our fiberglas shop we would frequently take a table and spray it down with resin as a finish. Dries hard, not much will eat at it, and it's smooth as can be. That may be a drawback for some though, as sometimes you want a little grip.</p>

We actually finished off a dining table that way, mix some acetone in with the resin for a thinner, stick it in the microwave for a few seconds until it's warm (not hot) then quickly mix the catalyst in and spray it through a paintgun. In just a few minutes it sets up to a mirror finish, much nicer than laying it on with a brush.</p>

My personal layout table is a stoutly framed up 4x8 sheet of 5/8 plywood on 6 four inch castors with no finish. I think it will hold a couple tons if I ever need to park my old Ford truck on it It actually does end up holding quite a bit of weight as I often roll stacks of 8 or more sheets of copper around my shop with it.</p>

Get a piece of formica 2 ft X 4ft and lay it on top of area which you will be working on. Wipes off clean and glue can be scraped off easily if necassary.

Keep in mind these soild core doors will sag over time and cause building problems. I built a 2X4 frame for my 3 tables to help with the sag problem. It is made slightly smaller than the 3' 0 x 7'0 doors so I have a little overhang, about 1 1/2 to 2" smaller with joist 2' OC. I also ran the 2Xs over the joiner to insure a perfectly straight edge and use 2x or 4x legs. A leg dead center also helps with support. I put 3/8 t-nut and bolts in the leg bottoms so they are adjustable up and down with an open end wrench. Once it's in place I use my 4' level to completely level the enitre table left to right, front to back and corner to corner.

I build on 1/2" sheetrock or ceiling tile so pins go in easily. Masonite is good for a table protector but it won't take pins. Drywall is VERY corrosive so don't leave pins in too long.

Rick

on a wood top workbench you can use just paste finish wax or boiled linseed oil. I am a hobbyist woodworker and I am designing a woodworkers bench will finish with paste finishing wax on the top since i will need to dress the surface flat from time to time.

I am building a table right now with two hollow core doors glued together for strength. The top door is 28" X 80" and the bottom is 24" X 80". This gives me a 2" overhang on the sides for clamps and such.
I am going to build a 2X4 frame with supports on 16" centers to make it more rigid. I am planning on using a 1/8" or 3/16" steel sheet to make a magnetic building system.

I know a few wood workers who use snap together Lamanate flooring as the top layer on their benches...
Just get whatever Lumber Liquidators has on sale for 75-99 cents pr sq/ft

For sawing/cutting and drilling I keep a couple of the $3 HDPE cutting boards from Target handy.
I keep getting my wife a new one and the old ones quietly migrate into the shop.

My workbench for a long time was a 5'x36" section of kitchen island counter top I clamped into my workmate..
I got it for $15 from the Habitat for Humanity Re-store.