Pine or cherry bench top

[Brian David]

I'm designing my new work bench and Finally getting rid of the thing that came with the house. I was trying to think of a good top for it and look at prices when I was reminded that I have a big pile that I can use at no charge (other than time). Through a friend of my father in law that used to own a saw mill, I acquired a bunch of old growth yellow pine and cherry. Both of which are 5/4 rough cut from the mill and will take a lot of work. What I would like to ask is if I should use either of these or should I just go ahead and save the money and get something else. 

[difalkner]

Seems almost criminal to use Cherry for a workbench, besides that it's not very hard (usually).  If you're creating a show piece bench then Cherry is fine but if you're going to be pounding and cutting then use the Pine.  Poplar or Maple is even better - harder.

David

[Chestnut]

1 hour ago, difalkner said:

Seems almost criminal to use Cherry for a workbench, besides that it's not very hard (usually).  If you're creating a show piece bench then Cherry is fine but if you're going to be pounding and cutting then use the Pine.  Poplar or Maple is even better - harder.

David

Criminal you say?

Make your bench out of what ever wood you have on hand that will work as a bench. I have a pine one and a solid cherry roubo. I was able to get some rustic or ungraded cherry for a good price so I made my bench out of it. There is no right material. There is no wrong material. Hopefully some day i can get a huge ammount of low grade walnut, then i can make a walnut work bench and really shake things up.

There are a lot of conflicting schools of thought on work benches. Some sources say to make them out of a  hard wood so it holds up to abuse better. Others say to make it out of a soft wood so the bench dents before the project parts do. In the end it doesn't matter. If your bench is too hard put down a bench mat. If your bench is soft protect it with bench hooks. The podcast with the same name as this forum has a lot of good information on bench tops if you'd like to search their archive. https://woodtalkshow.com/

[B1rdhunter]

3 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Criminal you say?

Make your bench out of what ever wood you have on hand that will work as a bench. I have a pine one and a solid cherry roubo. I was able to get some rustic or ungraded cherry for a good price so I made my bench out of it. There is no right material. There is no wrong material. Hopefully some day i can get a huge ammount of low grade walnut, then i can make a walnut work bench and really shake things up.

There are a lot of conflicting schools of thought on work benches. Some sources say to make them out of a  hard wood so it holds up to abuse better. Others say to make it out of a soft wood so the bench dents before the project parts do. In the end it doesn't matter. If your bench is too hard put down a bench mat. If your bench is soft protect it with bench hooks. The podcast with the same name as this forum has a lot of good information on bench tops if you'd like to search their archive. https://woodtalkshow.com/

Impressive, I can see all of both of your bench tops. Looking at mine it would seem that it is nothing but a pile of tools and scrap wood.

[Coop]

50 minutes ago, B1rdhunter said:

Impressive, I can see all of both of your bench tops. Looking at mine it would seem that it is nothing but a pile of tools and scrap wood.

Sounds like we share the same shop! 

[BillyJack]

I've got panty of hickory, walnut , sapele and Mahagany. Hum.... I'd use pine.....

[B1rdhunter]

8 minutes ago, BillyJack said:

I've got panty of hickory, walnut , sapele and Mahagany. Hum.... I'd use pine.....

Seems to me like you would get splinters with wooden pantys. 

[B1rdhunter]

18 minutes ago, Coop said:

Sounds like we share the same shop! 

Wish we did,  then mine would have more space because everything is bigger in Texas.

[wtnhighlander]

Between the two, I'd go with pine, especially if it is southern yellow. My experience with cherry leads me to believe pine would be more durable.

Regarding hard benches vs. soft, take a look at the youtube site of Jay Bates. He has videos of building Roubo style weokbenches in both SYP and hickory. I had an opportunity to meet him, and asked which he preferred. His response was the pine, by far, at least for hand tool work. The pine was soft enough to absorb any reflected energy from blows to a chisel, where the hickory produced a wicked rebound. Like hitting an anvil with a deadblow vs. a hard steel hammer.

Last I heard, he was trying to sell the hickory bench.

Full disclosure, my own benchtop is a laminate of SPF 2x4 stock from a local home center. Very soft, wears faster than hardwood, but does its job quite well.

[Ronn W]

Save the cherry and use the pine

[Coop]

37 minutes ago, B1rdhunter said:

Wish we did,  then mine would have more space because everything is bigger in Texas.

Sometimes we tend to over load our asses with words. We still have the same 450 acre ranches as everyone else! 

How is the pheasant crop this year? Please refer to pine or cherry so we won’t seem like we are highjacking this thread! 

[B1rdhunter]

Not sure about the pheasant crop as temps have been in the 60's and 70's since the opener. I have been working on clearing 14 acres of PINE, cedars locust and hedge in an effort to develop some bird habitat. No CHERRY trees were harmed in the dozing of ground. On a side note my bench is hard maple with a bit of walnut worked in and a base of ash.

[Coop]

That’s Sweet and Purdy! 

[Chestnut]

2 hours ago, B1rdhunter said:

Impressive, I can see all of both of your bench tops. Looking at mine it would seem that it is nothing but a pile of tools and scrap wood.

I feel like the picture you just shared indicates your lying. . That's a nice bench I like it!

[B1rdhunter]

The picture is from 2016 it has become a bit cluttered since then.

[curlyoak]

A decent bench can be made of either pine or cherry. However I would not use either if I could afford my first choice of quartered white or red oak. I would use the cherry on perhaps furniture. Is your bench for woodworking? If so then save the wood for future projects. And maybe you should wait on the cherry anyway if it is not fully dried out. How long ago was it milled?  Was it properly stacked for drying?

[Chestnut]

11 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Regarding hard benches vs. soft, take a look at the youtube site of Jay Bates. He has videos of building Roubo style weokbenches in both SYP and hickory. I had an opportunity to meet him, and asked which he preferred. His response was the pine, by far, at least for hand tool work. The pine was soft enough to absorb any reflected energy from blows to a chisel, where the hickory produced a wicked rebound. Like hitting an anvil with a deadblow vs. a hard steel hammer.

Last I heard, he was trying to sell the hickory bench.

I believe he did sell both of them. I find this interesting because i never do hand tool work directly on my bench I usually have a piece of plywood between the work and the bench. I have no claims that hickory wouldn't do what he claims but i really want to experience it. I know hickory is a lot harder than ash so i wonder how it compares there. Ash is quite a flexible wood with a good amount of rebound hence baseball bats and a lot of people have made their bench out of ash. I like Jay Bates he seems like an interesting and good person I'm slightly jealous you got to meet him.

I had to have gotten unlucky cause i strongly dislike my pine (SPF) bench. I've had stability with the top cupping up and down since day 1.

 

[Immortan D]

11 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I find this interesting because i never do hand tool work directly on my bench I usually have a piece of plywood between the work and the bench.

Same here, but I use a piece of MDF instead. My bench top is home center pine so I don't have to worry about keeping it pristine, but that layer of MDF gives me more confidence when doing things like removing the waste or paring with chisels.

[Chestnut]

1 minute ago, Immortan D said:

Same here, but I use a piece of MDF instead. My bench top is home center pine so I don't have to worry about keeping it pristine, but that layer of MDF gives me more confidence when doing things like removing the waste or paring with chisels.

I started using ply when the chopping left a large splintery area and i kept getting splinters.

[wtnhighlander]

4 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I believe he did sell both of them. I find this interesting because i never do hand tool work directly on my bench I usually have a piece of plywood between the work and the bench. I have no claims that hickory wouldn't do what he claims but i really want to experience it. I know hickory is a lot harder than ash so i wonder how it compares there. Ash is quite a flexible wood with a good amount of rebound hence baseball bats and a lot of people have made their bench out of ash. I like Jay Bates he seems like an interesting and good person I'm slightly jealous you got to meet him.

I had to have gotten unlucky cause i strongly dislike my pine (SPF) bench. I've had stability with the top cupping up and down since day 1.

 

Jay is a really nice guy. He and his friend Jeremy Payne (up-and-coming on IG these days) used to have a side gig photographing drag races. I happened to notice Jay mention an upcoming race in my hometown, so I sent him a DM and asked if we could get together. He and Jay really took to Cody, showed him around all the parts of the drag strip and pit areas. We both had a blast. The drivers & teams were pretty nice folks, almost 100%. Cody got to sit in a couple of cars for photos, rev the engines and such.

Regarding the SPF bench, there is good reason mine is down to about half its original thickness....

I plan to rebuild it to better fit my new (smaller) workspace, at some point. The bench may actually be a bit longer, but with the legs arranged to fit around the other stuff it sits in the midst of.