reikimaster

I found a lady about 2 hours drive away that has a BUNCH of old solid oak door slabs. Various height and width, but all are 1-3/4" thick. These are plain slabs, no panels, no windows, nothin' .... just big plain doors.

She wants $75 each for them. I would guess that if I face glued 2 of these together it would make an awesome work bench top. Three and a half inch thick oak ? Is that overkill? Am I being greedy? You think it would be fine at inch and three quarters? Just beef it up a little where the front vise goes?

You think $75 per door is an ok price? good price? or... "that price is too high!".

I know I'd have to trim off the edge where the hinges are and then trim a few inches off the opposite side where the knob and latch are.

Thoughts?

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Hamlin

Better grab 'em while you can.
For a work bench, same as with tools, there is no such thing as "overkill". I think you'll find that in the future you'll be glad you went with a "beefer" bench. You never truly know what you will do.
Perhaps others have better opinons than I.

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Mike

Since the average workbench is 24" you need not worry about losing a couple inches. 1-3/4" is plenty of thickness for a bench top since it is solid oak. A second door could easily be ripped into 2 x 4's to build the legs and cross supports. Depending on the finish on the wood, it might be worth a few dollars to have a cabinet shop plane or sand them for you. If you wanted an even stronger bench you could rip two doors into 2 x 4's and then face glue them for a 4" thick bench. The alternating grain and the edge grain surface would be pretty much bullet proof as benches go.

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bobj3

Hi reikimaster

They would make a great work bench ,,,but Oak is a woodworkers friend so you may want to use them for many other jobs, cabinet face frames,cabinet doors, edging,jigs,etc. and the list goes on and on,,,,so I would say clean out the back of the truck and go get as many as you can...you will need a good base to hold the new work bench ,plus some drawers and doors maybe and a good wood vise that you can make with the Oak...

"Various height and width" they must be glue ups, you may want to check that b/4 you put the cash in her hand, metal or wood spline holding them together,take your magnet wand with you..


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reikimaster

They look like they're already edge-laminated. You think cutting them into 4" sections would be worth the work? If I remove all the finish (which I'd have to do anyways to glue them up) and cut a 2' x 7' section out of each of them, and then glue those 2 slabs on top of each other, that would be 3 and a half inches thick and I would think it would require far less work to flatten the top.

If I do it that way how much strength do you think I'd lose? I would think it wouldn't be much.

bobj3

Hi reikimaster

edge-laminated,,,,why,,,,??? if it's solid Oak it would not need to be laminated..
You may want to take your battery powered saw with you to cut one b/4 you load it up ,,if it's soild oak it will take you and someone else to pick it up...

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__________________
PodCast videos
RWS on YouTube

http://www.routerforums.com/86898-post1.html
Besure and click on the Up Arrow key ▲ on the Youtube video, you can select other youtube videos on router tables
http://www.woodworkingonline.com/?s=dovetail
Machine Cut ▼
http://www.woodworkingonline.com/200...cut-dovetails/

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http://www.woodshopdemos.com/menu2.htm

Bob J.

Joe Lyddon

I don't think you'd lose ANY strength... to the contrary... you would gain strength.

It would be a brute of a top... and weigh a ton too... Would be really nice!

reikimaster

Here's a link...
http://rochester.craigslist.org/mat/537667375.html

I already talked to my wife and she's actually on board with this. Kinda nice. Always good when the wife says it's ok. I think I may be taking a ride to Fairport and checking these out.

Oh... and "solid oak" as in ... they are solid in thickness. All oak. No veneer over crapwood. It appears from the photos that they are made up of several planks, edge glued. Not a single, inch and a half thick, slab.

And I fully expect them to weigh a ton if they are solid. I've moved doors like that. I would definitely be taking my son with me to help load them. They'll lay flat on the floor in my van.

Joe Lyddon

Very good... Load up all you can...

If you cut them carefully, you might be able to have some cutting boards left over!

That's quite a H A U L !!