You’ll undoubtedly need a workbench to make furniture if you’re a woodworker. A workbench will help you make other pieces of furniture with ease. Also, workbenches include many sections where you can fit your tools to care for them without misplacing them.
If you want to build yourself an excellent workbench, you’ll have to use the correct wood. Your workbench should be sturdy enough, allowing you to make other pieces of furniture. It should be durable to boost your overall efficiency and productivity.
The 9 Best Woods for a Workbench
We understand it may be perplexing to choose an appropriate wood type to build your workbench. Hence, we’ve come up with some best wood types to help you know which wood you should use to make a suitable workbench.
Pinewood
Countries like US and Canada commonly use pine as it’s pretty easy to work with. If it’s your first time building a workbench, you’ll find pine extremely convenient to use. Since it’s a medium-textured wood, you won’t face any difficulty cutting or screwing nails in it.
Most pinewoods are white; however, some are yellow. Pinewood has soft grains, which is the reason behind its aesthetic appeal. Another reason that makes pine a forgiving wood is its decay-resisting quality. So, if you want an excellent quality workbench, using pine will be ideal.
Brown Maple
Brown maple is many people’s go-to when building furniture pieces. Maple is a highly durable wood, which is the reason behind its popularity. You’ll find maple wood with creamy white grains that give it a beautiful overall look. You should also know that maple is found in many variations.
However, you don’t need to bore yourselves learning about every variation. You need to know that hard maple will benefit you plenty while building a workbench. Hard maple is the best wood type due to its strength and longevity. Also, hard maple is highly scratch-resistant.
Douglas Fir
Douglas fir falls under the softwood category. However, it’s known for having excellent strength even though it’s lighter in weight than most softwoods. Using Douglas fir to build one will be wise if you want your workbench to last longer.
Also, Douglas fir is a highly sturdy and durable piece of wood and is resistant to decay quickly. Douglas fir is used precisely in many parts of the world because of this. Another excellent quality of this wood is that it doesn’t get affected by moisture. So, you don’t have to worry if you drop water on it.
Teak
The most significant problem with wood is that it often becomes a feast for insects and pests. So, if you don’t want your workbench eaten by nasty insects, you should build one from teak. This type of wood is highly resistant to insects. Teak is used in many parts of the world due to its efficient qualities.
It offers significant durability, ensuring your workbench stays in excellent condition for years to come. This type of wood is dark brown to golden, and it’s super resistant to bad weather conditions. Hence, you don’t have to worry much about your workbench going bad.
Plywood
You might be surprised to know that we suggest building your workbench from plywood. However, it makes an excellent piece of wood to make other fixtures. Plywood is made from different wood types blended or glued together with wood veneers added on top.
You should know that plywood comes in three different types: soft plywood, hard plywood, and mixed plywood. Since plywood is made from different wood types, it has each wood type’s strong qualities. The mixture of other wood types makes plywood incredibly sturdy and durable. Hence, using plywood to build your workbench will be ideal.
Fiberboard
When fiberboard first came about, nobody considered them a suitable piece of wood. Most carpenters hated working with fiberboard as they thought it was a waste of time and money to purchase and work with it. However, that is no longer the case, thanks to advanced technology.
Technology has introduced a more modern version of fiberboard that doesn’t develop any cracks. Since fiberboard has engineered wood, it works excellent in damp conditions. These reasons have made fiberboard a go-to piece of wood for carpenters and DIY builders. So, using fiberboard to build your workbench will suit you pretty well.
American Beech
Many woodworkers prefer working with American Beech due to its aesthetics. A workbench made from American Beech will look highly uniform in texture due to its beautiful straight grains. If an aesthetic appeal is your number one priority, using this wood type to build your workbench will be ideal.
American Beech is known for two excellent qualities. Number one: it’s super sturdy, allowing you to place a heavyweight on it. Number two: it’s highly convenient to work with; you can easily screw nails into it without facing any difficulty.
Yellow Birch
Birchwood comes in different types: white, sweet, and yellow. However, yellow birch is more commonly used in furniture building, so we suggest using this wood type to build your workbench. Yellow birch is superior in quality to other versions of birch.
However, you’ll have to work very hard to maintain it as yellow birch is a pretty high-maintenance piece of wood. If you fail to provide adequate care, you might find bugs eating your workbench. Also, yellow birch has a coarser texture than other wood types, so think again before getting it if you want a smooth surface.
White Oak
White oak is a perfect piece of wood to build a workbench due to its durability. White oak is a sturdy wood that lasts quite long than most woods. It’s pretty demanded because of the benefits it offers. If you want your workbench to look aesthetically pleasing, it will be wise to use white oak to build it.
White oak is considered a sign of class and elegance mainly because of its look. Also, white oak will benefit you plenty as it’s highly resistant to scratches and moisture. So, you don’t have to worry about your white oak workbench breaking going bad.
