Brohymn62 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I recently came across (4) 4" x 12" x 16' doug fir beams and I was wondering if it would make a good workbench... anyone ever mill a workbench out of this type of material? Any challenges I might not be seeing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 If the beams have very little moisture content than they will be excellent canidate for a bench, but if their high in moisture they will move, warp, and check until they have stablized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I made a bench from douglas fir a few years ago and made the mistake of not allowing proper drying time. It's still very stout but the shrinkage was massive, I had to rebore my dog holes. I have another bench underway from 4x6 beams, I let them dry for a few months after surfacing and cutting to rough dimensions and they're very stable now (actually started on this bench over a year ago...). I guess this is the long way to say I agree with Higtron. Chris Schwarz is teaching a bench building class next week, they're using douglas fir so it might be helpful to follow along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I recently came across (4) 4" x 12" x 16' doug fir beams and I was wondering if it would make a good workbench... anyone ever mill a workbench out of this type of material? Any challenges I might not be seeing? I used some very old Fir timbers for mine. They were dry through and through. Very stable. The build is on my blog, if you'd like to see how it looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 great bench material! good find! (just make sure the lumber is dry, as was mentioned above). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morton Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I'm hoping to embark on the same adventure: building a workbench from douglas fir timbers. So, unfortunately I can't help you with the question, but will say that although my timbers came from 10 years of storage - it was outside storage. Since being in the shop, they have certainly dropped in moisture content quite a bit - but it's taken a few months. So - chunk them into roughly sized pieces (or good enough to get in to the shop) - and find an out-of-the-way place to store for at least a few months before getting started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brohymn62 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2012 Thank you all for the great responses. Seems like my timbers are going into storage for a while! I've waited this long for a good bench... guess a couple of months won't be too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morton Posted April 5, 2012 Report Share Posted April 5, 2012 I just checked my stack of doug fir in the workshop. Pretty cool to see the moisture dropping over time. So - it's been about 6 months and I suspect it's pretty equalized at this point; may have gotten there a bit sooner, I haven't checked in 4 months The pins on the moisture meter only goes in about 1/2" or so, but I'm measuring pretty far from the end of the piece where most the moisture should be escaping "out the end grain", rather than "out the side" (through the growth rings) -- at least, that's my understanding. I don't pay much attention to the actual readings, the moisture meter is just an OK one and I'm not calibrating it for species - although I guess it's set for Doug Fir I just check to see when the numbers stop changing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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