?'s about benchwork

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I wish I could use metal studs, I spent about 20 minutes a Lowes and could not find a single 1x3, 1x4 or 2x4 that was not bowed. I am going to check Home Depot this week over my four-day to see if I have better luck there.......

 

I stopped making furniture about 4 years ago, mostly due to the price of good wood and plywood. x600 and Nelson B have covered some very good points. My few tips might also help.

I never buy lumber at Lowes or Home Depot. Instead, I find a lumber yard (or hardwood dealer) that works with local carpenters, builders and cabinet makers. Most have discounts at 50- and 100-board feet that drop their prices below the big boxes. Most also are very careful about their stock. A disadvantage can be the some wood may be finished on only three sides--the fourth edge may be waney.

For construction projects, I've switched from pine to poplar. Poplar can be as twisty as pine, but usually comes pretty dry, with fewer knots. It's sometimes cheaper than pine at the lumber dealers.

I buy good quality plywood--at least five-ply, and preferably seven. An interior grade is fine for a railroad. Exterior sheathing is usually junk. The cost difference per sheet might be $15--the price of one good N scale car.

I use hollow core doors extensively. They come in various widths, and are inexpensive, light and stable. You can cantilever them out from walls, buy leg kits, or build your own legs. With just a bit of carpentry, you can shorten them by cutting a strip of wood to stuff inside the cut edge. If you cantilever them, the braces against the wall need to be only half the width of the door. That means a rigid brace, and good attachments all around. I did the engineering math on this many years ago, and probably could have gone with even smaller braces--but why push it?

If you can find door skins (1/8-inch ply, usually), you can make your own panels of just about any shape or size. I made a sandwich of door skins with bead board or foam board in the middle. Just glue it up and weight it down on a flat surface for a few days--it takes a while for the glue to set in the middle of the panel. They are like hollow core doors--light and stable. I had some awkward corners in my old train room, and this was a good solution.

Parts of my present layout are built with wire racks, topped with foamboard. I do not recommend this method! Other parts are built with foam board acting as plywood--this works, but is probably against fire codes if I leave the foam exposed.

Good luck!

 

Pete, This is an excellent point. Here is a photo to show the difference between good plywood and junk.


The 1st two are ½" thick and the one on the right is 5/8" thick ( I didn't happen to have a piece of ½" sheathing laying around that was small enough to put on my scanner)

The one on the right is 5/8" C-D Exterior sheathing. It only has 4 plies ( the ½" typically only has 3)

The center one is ½" A-B interior birch plywood of the type normally found at a home center. It has 5 plies, 3 thicker center plies with 2 thin outer veneers.

The left one is ½" A-A interior birch plywood that you can get from a good lumberyard. It has 9 plies, 7 thicker core plies and 2 thinner outer veneers.

The more plies there are in a given thickness of plywood, the more stable that it is. Not only is the higher ply count more warp resistant, it is also stiffer and less prone to sag between supports. When it comes to keeping a flat stable benchwork, the extra cost of quality plywood is money very well spent.

 

Mr. Nolan

I shudder to think that any of us would be able to pass a fire code inspection. Foam/Hydrocal/Paper/Cardboard etc. My brother in law is a fire marshall for the GTA and he has commented exactly your sentiments - Not Up To Code.

 

If you can't find any, wait until there's a recent delivery. Then you can pick to your heart's content. That's what I did.

 

Nelson,

I was afraid to mention 9-ply stuff for fear that I'd be thought crazy!

Now, in 1986, I got six sheets of 11-ply 3/4" AA Black Walnut for $40 a sheet. I shudder to think what they would cost today.

In 1997, I got 200 board feet of black walnut for $2.63 a foot. I made furniture galore for my daughters. All of which burned up when their apartment burned down.

These were from specialty suppliers with an overstock. It pays to hunt!

 

Nelson:

Thanks for the pictorial update on plywood.

Stay cool and run steam.....

 

MK:

You should give the forum members an in-depth pictorial tutorial on building benchwork.

Your skill in woodworking is extraordinary. This shows what can be accomplished on a small layout as well as on larger layouts.

Stay cool and run steam...

 

Thanks for the comments Hemi and Bob. I should had taken more intermediate photos to show everyone. Really, I didn't think it was a big deal so I didn't bother with the photos.

Hemi, yes, miter box and saw kit - $10 Home Depot brand. I didn't even spring for the Stanley one for $5 more.

If I recollect, I only had to re-cut one piece for it was a hair too short. All the others were dead on the first time. We don't need no stinkin' power tool!

 

"always use plywood, since there is no problem with warping"
As a former San Diego resident, I agree with this statement ... except if you now live in the Midwest as I do where the humidity varies all over the place! My first "new" layout module ended up looking like a canoe when the humidity was finished with it -- and I screwed everything down. I now use hardboard. Zero warping.

 

Thanks, Nelson B, for showing the 3 examples of plywood. Pete, I agree with you - hollow core doors are the way to go.

All plywood is not created the same. Variables include wood species, number of plys, rotary cut versus flitch cut plys, ply grain orientation, accepted defects, type of glue (interior or exterior exposure), amount of glue, and panel finish. The more tightly you control these factors, the more stable and predictable the final product. The more stable, predictable plywood product costs more than the lower grade material.

In most environments, indoor or outdoors, humid or arid, most lumber will naturally stabilize at a moisture content close to 18%. Much of the big box store lumber is shipped at much higher moisture. (Most treated lumber arrives in the Midwest with 30-35% moisture.) When you buy 1X's or 2X's from a larger bunk of lumber, you're allowing those boards to fully dry for the very first time. Thus, they will change shape. More expensive lumber is surfaced (shaped) after sufficient air-drying or kiln-drying.

Sheathing grade plywood is no different. Further, sheathing grade plywood uses thick rotary cut plys. That is, the wood ply is cut from a spinning log by a stationary knife; it peels from the log like individual sheets from a roll of paper towels. Ever notice how a single unused paper towel will roll up on itself? Well, the plys of your plywood are forever trying to do the same thing. The thicker the ply, the greater the tendency to return to its original shape. The thinner the ply, the less resistance it can give. Rotary cut plywood is tortured wood; it constantly tries to resist the torture.

High-end plywoods (lumber core panels) are made of veneers cut flat from logs and pieced together. This is much more labor intensive and expensive than rotary cut material. It can be truly beautiful material. Most employees of the big box stores have absolutely no idea that such material exists.

Bottom line with plywood: You'll get what you pay for when you go to a real lumberyard.

Best value? Listen to Pete. Go with hollow core doors. They are designed to stay flat all the way from the store to your dry basement or humid garage. They give high strength and low weight for very reasonable price. Doors require less framing to remain rigid. Warpage is a non-issue.

My layout? Doors.

 

You could also do what an associate of mine said he did about 8 or 10 years ago...

bought his wife a chainsaw and a tablesaw for Xmas!

 

I built a 2' x 4' module over a year ago. Was going to put down the scenery this week over Christmas break but noticed I now have a downward warp about 20" in from the right side. I built my frame from "premium" 1" x 4" pine, and bought the best grade of plywood that my local Lowes had. I even have cross braces every 12" on the frame. One of the many benefits of living just a few miles from Lake Michigan I guess - and I didn't notice the warp until the humidity dropped way down with the furnace running...
Maybe someone has a hint to fix this - or maybe I need to replace the plywood top?