Workbenches, especially their tops, are designed and built to take a battering. But like everything else designed for heavy duty use, the less actual abuse a workbench top gets, the longer it will last, and the more fun it will be to use.
Probably the first step in caring for a workbench top is to make sure the entire assembly is stable enough to withstand the work that will be done on its surfaces. That means you also need a good leg set, whether bought or built, and that leg set must be firmly attached to the top. The SJOBERG tops come with a leg plan for a leg set that is very easy to build, and include hardware for attaching that leg set.
Bench Dogs
SJOBERG workbench tops are built up from kiln dried European birch or beech, which characteristically will take an immense amount of pounding before even starting to show signs of wear. The most likely to wear items on the benchtop are the steel bench dogs, which have a plastic coating to keep them from tearing up the wood top. One of the first care items is to keep a check on the plastic coating on the bench dogs, if the dogs even have that coating. Some are solid resin, some are coated, some are steel with no coating. If that coating wears away, the steel may wear away wood inside the bench dog holes, a process that eventually brings a need for making some sort of insert to replace the original hole…when it happens, mortise out a square of wood, 1/4" larger on each side than the bench dog is in diameter, and insert an HDPE plug, drilling it to accept the bench dog. If you prefer, you can simply get a larger, square shanked bench dog to use in the new mortise. If you have a bench that starts with square bench dog holes, then mortise becomes a matter of enlarging the current mortise and inserting a correctly sized plug that also has been mortised, to fit the bench dog. You may prefer to mortise the insert after installation in the benchtop to keep from having to jig up a set of clamps to hold the plug still if it's not installed.
Surface Maintenance
You can get some good back and forth chatter among woodworkers when it comes time to apply, or not apply, a finish to the benchtop. Some hate the concept, because a good finish on the benchtop, whether wax, shellac or anything else, does tend to make the top slippery, probably more slippery than many woodworkers care to use. But a lack of finish on the benchtop also means that every drop of glue and spot of stain and finish for projects that hits the benchtop has a strong, strong tendency to stay right there. Some woodworkers don't care. Some do. Glue build-up can be a problem, eventually creating a surface uneven enough to affect some jobs. That can be chiseled or scraped off, of course. Stain and finish splotches are just mildly unsightly and don't hurt anything.
Your new top arrived bright and shiny, or nearly shiny. Within a few weeks, it's beginning to look unsightly. So, a monthly clean-up process might be in order. A lot of the care you expend on a workbench top, of any kind, is personality driven: if you like things really clean and neat, then you'll spend a bit more time. If you don't much care, you'll spend just enough time to make sure there is no major damage that might create problems with projects.
When finishing projects on the workbench, wipe the bench down before whatever solvents you use have a chance to dry--use the same solvent to wipe the finish off the bench as is used to thin it. Come back with a light wipe-down using a dry rag--this is especially important if you're using water-based finishes or stains.
Use an old, but sharp, chisel to lift off any sticking glue.
About once a month, dampen a soft rag in boiled linseed oil or polymerized tung oil and wipe the workbench top, making sure you get the oil everywhere it needs to be (do the wipe-down after cleaning off paint, glue and similar debris). Take a stiff bristled brush and clean off the threads on the vise screw(s). To keep those threads working nicely, you can use the dry graphite lube used also for car door locks, but do your best not to get that powder anywhere close to where it can get on unfinished project wood. It's ugly and hard to remove. If you prefer, use beeswax (or other paste silicone, free wax) to lubricate those threads.
When the time seems right, you can use a belt sander, or hand plane, to remove nicks and other damage from the benchtop. Even if you plan to plane, I'd make the first few passes with the belt sander to pick up glue, old finishes and similar things that might be hard on the plane iron. For complete sanding, Workbenches, especially their tops, are designed and built to take a battering. But like everything else designed for heavy duty use, the less actual abuse a workbench top gets, the longer it will last, and the more fun it will be to use.
Probably the first step in caring for a workbench top is to make sure the entire assembly is stable enough to withstand the work that will be done on its surfaces. That means you also need a good leg set, whether bought or built, and that leg set must be firmly attached to the top. The SJOBERG tops come with a leg plan for a leg set that is very easy to build, and include hardware for attaching that leg set.
Bench Dogs
SJOBERG workbench tops are built up from kiln dried European birch or beech, which characteristically will take an immense amount of pounding before even starting to show signs of wear. The most likely to wear items on the benchtop are the steel bench dogs, which have a plastic coating to keep them from tearing up the wood top. One of the first care items is to keep a check on the plastic coating on the bench dogs, if the dogs even have that coating. Some are solid resin, some are coated, some are steel with no coating. If that coating wears away, the steel may wear away wood inside the bench dog holes, a process that eventually brings a need for making some sort of insert to replace the original hole…when it happens, mortise out a square of wood, 1/4" larger on each side than the bench dog is in diameter, and insert an HDPE plug, drilling it to accept the bench dog. If you prefer, you can simply get a larger, square shanked bench dog to use in the new mortise. If you have a bench that starts with square bench dog holes, then mortise becomes a matter of enlarging the current mortise and inserting a correctly sized plug that also has been mortised, to fit the bench dog. You may prefer to mortise the insert after installation in the benchtop to keep from having to jig up a set of clamps to hold the plug still if it's not installed.
Surface Maintenance
You can get some good back and forth chatter among woodworkers when it comes time to apply, or not apply, a finish to the benchtop. Some hate the concept, because a good finish on the benchtop, whether wax, shellac or anything else, does tend to make the top slippery, probably more slippery than many woodworkers care to use. But a lack of finish on the benchtop also means that every drop of glue and spot of stain and finish for projects that hits the benchtop has a strong, strong tendency to stay right there. Some woodworkers don't care. Some do. Glue build-up can be a problem, eventually creating a surface uneven enough to affect some jobs. That can be chiseled or scraped off, of course. Stain and finish splotches are just mildly unsightly and don't hurt anything.
Your new top arrived bright and shiny, or nearly shiny. Within a few weeks, it's beginning to look unsightly. So, a monthly clean-up process might be in order. A lot of the care you expend on a workbench top, of any kind, is personality driven: if you like things really clean and neat, then you'll spend a bit more time. If you don't much care, you'll spend just enough time to make sure there is no major damage that might create problems with projects.
When finishing projects on the workbench, wipe the bench down before whatever solvents you use have a chance to dry--use the same solvent to wipe the finish off the bench as is used to thin it. Come back with a light wipe-down using a dry rag--this is especially important if you're using water-based finishes or stains.
Use an old, but sharp, chisel to lift off any sticking glue.
About once a month, dampen a soft rag in boiled linseed oil or polymerized tung oil and wipe the workbench top, making sure you get the oil everywhere it needs to be (do the wipe-down after cleaning off paint, glue and similar debris). Take a stiff bristled brush and clean off the threads on the vise screw(s). To keep those threads working nicely, you can use the dry graphite lube used also for car door locks, but do your best not to get that powder anywhere close to where it can get on unfinished project wood. It's ugly and hard to remove. If you prefer, use beeswax (or other paste silicone, free wax) to lubricate those threads.
When the time seems right, you can use a belt sander, or hand plane, to remove nicks and other damage from the benchtop. Even if you plan to plane, I'd make the first few passes with the belt sander to pick up glue, old finishes and similar things that might be hard on the plane iron. For complete sanding, unless nicks are really deep, start with 80 grit, move to 100, and, finally, 120.
When your major clean up is done, wipe on your choice of linseed or tung oil, as above, but let it stand for a while--15 minutes at normal shop temperatures--and wipe it off. Let it dry for a dozen or so hours and re-coat. Do this one more time and you're ready to make sawdust again.
