Sealing my bench top

Mike Gabbay

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180
Location
Herndon VA
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Sealing my bench

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

I hope this helps.
 
My benchtop is plywood, so take that in to account....... :rolleyes:

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.....:rolleyes:
 
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