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My bench top is a little over 4" thick. As the years go buy I know it will get thinner though. I need to mill it down about once a year. The area where I cut dovetails takes a beating. After several thousand dovetails it starts to get a little rough. However thick you want it add 1/2" to it. I'm on my third bench top because I just wasn't happy with how rigid the top was. I started at 2" and I'm finally happy with 4 1/2". I will say my bench is a BEAST though. Not something you can move around.
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Location: Orlando, Florida
Mine is a commercial workbench, made from beech. It's 3-1/4" thick, with skirts of 4-1/4". My Gramercy holdfasts work fine with it. Thinner and you give up mass. Too thin or too thick and your holdfasts won't work. You can sacrifice some mass on the top with mass in your base. My workbench is 7 feet long, and weighed 380+ lbs without the cabinets I installed. The cabinets, with contents, easily add another 200 lbs. If you are thinking of cabinets below the workbench, make sure you leave enough space for holdfasts and/or clamps to fit under the top. Personally, I've never needed to use a clamp under the top, but the holdfasts do extend below the table a couple of inches. There are a couple of really good books on workbenches. They walk you through the features and different types of benches:
The Workbench - Lon Schleining Workbenches - Chris Schwarz
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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40 years ago, when I moved into this house, the first order of business was to build a workbench. I agree with the fellow who said that mass is your friend. My workbench top is premium two by four lumber, on edge, glued, and tied with all threads. It is surfaced with tempered masonite, which I replace when it gets so shabby that it bothers me. I think that I am on top #4.
Bob
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One more thought. If you are budget conscious, 3 or 4 layers of MDF or particle board glued together and skinned with 1/4" tempered Masonite makes a very flat and very heavy benchtop. When the top gets chewed up just replace the Masonite.
John
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Sounds Norm-ish. I have one and it's served me well for 20 years. Still a little on the light side though....
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In his book Christopher Schwartz refers to a bench as a clamping jig. For hand tool use one wants a thicker benchtop than is necessary for power to only use. Holdfasts will work with the thin top but not very well. My current top is 1 1/8 inches and holdfasts struggle with that thickness. Some holdfasts also struggle with benchtop at 4 inches or more. As Davis pointed out one needs to periodically flatten a top. In the hand tool world tops in the range of 3 inches to 4 inches are well thought of.
It would be well worth your time to read any of the workbench books but in particular the ones by Christopher Schwartz.
Thanks, Curt
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"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
-- Soren Kierkegaard
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Make the top appropriate for the use. What are you going to do with it? It's worth having a few benches to keep the paint, grease, and grit off the hand tool bench.
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I think a small hand tool bench is more than adequate for most hobby woodworkers. Then I suggest other benches that can double duty at tablesaw outfeed table, wall mounter benches that fold out of the way. You are never at a loss for horizontal surfaces to finish on, sand on, use other power tools like a domino or biscuit joiner. never ending list. If you try to do it all on a nice hand tool bench I promise you will tear it up. Also unless you routinely build clock cases, and really large furniture a 4' x 4' surface is massive for most work. Now if you have unending space, did I mention a horizontal surface will never go unused
Back to amend, add on, whatever. I would also suggest you build the fine hand tool bench last for several reasons. First it is easier to build a workbench on a flat surface, and the ground is so far away. Second if you build it first you will wish you had............really this happens through maybe your first 4 or 5 benches, then you get to know what you actually want, then you can build a bench.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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I made my latest bench out of laminated 2 X 4's and truthfully couldn't be happier. I built it over 3 years ago and it has a few dings and stains but who cares, it was cheap and I plane it down every once in a while.
Yes it is sturdy and dosen't rock, the design is a Paul Sellers style with a few added dog holes and Record 52 1/2 vise.
Steve
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Mine is 3" Maple with 3 x 5 aprons set 4" back from the sides to accommodate clamps. When pounding, even lightly there is a clear difference when working over the apron and a bigger difference when over one of the 5 x 5 Maple legs.
I like John's suggestion of an mdf core but I'd cap it with an inch or two of Maple.
If I ever build another I'll look at a concrete core capped with Maple.
