Sealing my bench top

[Mike Gabbay]

I looking for some ideas on finishes to use for my maple bench top that I am building. For the base I used an oil based poly, mineral spirits, and boiled linseed oil combination. I'm thinking that that combination my be a little slick for the top from the poly. What are some of the other options to use?

[Jeff Wright]

I just installed aprons around the edge of my Adjust-a-Bench after installing the two vises. Wanting to match the sealer coating that is already on the original maple bench top, I called the bench maker and asked them what they used. While the bench was finished by their maple top supplier and coated with a product available only to industrial/commercial users in 5 and 55 gallon drums, Adjust-a-Bench did say a product called GOOD STUFF was recommended by the maple top maker. So far I have been unsuccessful finding it online by Googling. They are sending me a pint-size can of it that they happened to have lying around, so maybe when I get it, it will have ordering info on the can. Good Stuff is what they recommend for touching up the top.

[Norman Hitt]

Since I don't like any kind of a hard finish on a bench top, my choice would be a good soak with thinned BLO, and after completely dry one more coat of full strength BLO. After the second application of BLO is completely cured two or three coats of a good wax buffed out well with a buffer.

[Sam Blasco]

Couple of coats of epoxy every three years or so, or more like it, when I have absolutely nothing else to do one day. Glue, stains, other finishes, etc. have s a hard time sticking to it and it levels dings and gouges. Epoxy will pretty much stick to anything, so all that is needed prior to coating is a scuff sand and wipe down. The finish the bench top builder uses is probably a cross linked or catalyzed varnish/lacquer of sorts.

[Chris Barton]

I just use paste wax. It won't transfer to pieces you are working on and it's easily renewable, just scrape off any dried glue and such then a coat of wax using a steel wood pad, wait a few minutes and buff. Simple, elegant, quick.

[Alex Reid]

I put a few coats of poly on it. For easier application I will thin it out but that just means more coats. I like to have a hard finish on it because it is easier to clean and keep the fine dust off while working.

[Jesse Cloud]

There seems to be two schools of thought on benchtops. One school treats the bench like furniture, the other like a tool. I guess I'm in the tool school. My bench takes a tremendous amount of abuse from pounding, planing, and so forth. It gets dinged a lot. If I tried to keep an attractive finish on it, I would probably have to touch up the finish twice a week. About once a year I'll take a jointer plane to it to level it out, so I keep the finish to a minimum, maybe some oil or a little paste wax.

[George Moore]

Good Stuff is available from Grizzly under the following part numbers.
H2372 Qt. 19.95
H2371 Pt. 15.95

I hope this helps.

[Mike Gabbay]

Jesse / Chris - I'm more in line with what you are thinking. I'll test some BLO and wax on some scrap pieces and see how I like it.

Mike

[Stuart Ablett]

My benchtop is plywood, so take that in to account.......

but I just wax it, and every year or so I go over the whole thing with the ROS and an #80 disk (or three) to clean it up, then I just use floor paste wax on it, really used a lot the first time, but not so much after that.

I glob the wax on and I have a cotton pad thing that goes on the ROS, I use this to rub the wax in heats it up a bit, which makes it flow into the plywood a bit better. I then leave it over night, or a day or two if I can. Next I use some old towels and rub any extra wax off and buff it with another cotton pad thing on the ROS, works good.

Which reminds me, it has been a little over a year since I've done it.....