I ran across this old workbench top that was discarded beside a dumpster. This top was removed from a school wood shop. The top was lying face down in the grass. As you can see in the first photo the surface was already drawing moisture into the maple boards. I have a metal rolling workbench in my shop that I cover with cardboard. This top would be perfect for a bench top upgrade! I loaded it up and took it home.
This maple butcher block style bench top was very heavy!
Every year at Christmas my son and his family travels back to Ohio to spend the holidays with us to visit family and friends. We enjoy cooking, hanging out and getting out in the shop to work together. This years project was the bench top restoration.
We started by planing the top with a hand power planer. I have a Porter-Cable planer, this makes short work of removing material.
My son Chuck planing off the top layer, exposing new wood.
After removing about an 1/8″ of wood, we hit it with the belt sander to smooth out any ridges.
After mounting the top and squaring the edges, we applied a coating of mineral oil and beeswax to the freshly sanded wood. My grandson Charlie was helping rub the wax mixture into the top.
Final task was mounting the old carpenters vice and heating up the wax with the heat gun.
