# Finish suggestions for a work shop bench top



## bobbotron (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi there,

I volunteer at a community bicycle shop, and do some carpentry for them. They have a number of work benches which haven't been refinished in forever. They are fairly well seasoned, in that they often get oil and grease spilled on them. The fronts of them are starting to get eroded from use. There's talk of refinishing them with polyurethane, which will probably hold up fairly well and the tops would probably have to be replaced when they are refinished again after that. The big concerns for the finish are durability, dry time and VOCs. The finish will only have at most a day to dry, and there's a consensus that no one wants to be working in a VOC-laden shop.  

Personally, I am thinking it would be interesting to sand them, then paint them with a milk paint, then cover them with a low VOC polyurethane like Polywhey.

Suggestions, thoughts?

I've attached a poor photo of one of the benches. We recently did a big clean up, this is the bench after about two hours of scrubbing and washing, it was waxed with some lee valley blue label paste wax. I don't think I'd buy that stuff again, way more VOCs in it that I thought was necessary.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

HI Bob

I will suggest you pickup some 1/4" thick MDF stick/screw it down to your work bench and than pickup some Hvy. duty laminate they make for commercial kitchens and stick it down on top of the MDF..and do the same to the front side of the bench..


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bobbotron said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I volunteer at a community bicycle shop, and do some carpentry for them. They have a number of work benches which haven't been refinished in forever. They are fairly well seasoned, in that they often get oil and grease spilled on them. The fronts of them are starting to get eroded from use. There's talk of refinishing them with polyurethane, which will probably hold up fairly well and the tops would probably have to be replaced when they are refinished again after that. The big concerns for the finish are durability, dry time and VOCs. The finish will only have at most a day to dry, and there's a consensus that no one wants to be working in a VOC-laden shop.
> 
> ...


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## bobbotron (Jan 7, 2010)

Not a bad idea. I'm not a big MDF fan, and some of our other laminate surfaces suffer from big gouges, but I should look into laminate costs again. From what I remember last I looked into laminate vs paint/varnish, it was way pricier... I guess I should have said, price is also a consideration.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Bob

You may want to look into the paint they use on floors without the sand in it, it drys out hard as nails..you can re-coat it when it gets nasty again..a gal. should do the top a time or two..maybe more..  if you keep the lid on it with a plastic bag over it..

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bobbotron said:


> Not a bad idea. I'm not a big MDF fan, and some of our other laminate surfaces suffer from big gouges, but I should look into laminate costs again. From what I remember last I looked into laminate vs paint/varnish, it was way pricier... I guess I should have said, price is also a consideration.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

The thin sheet of MDF that Bob J suggested eliminates the problem of dings, stains, and residual oil in the current surface. If only screwed down, it can also be replaced in the future. 

If you go the floor paint route to keep costs down, I'd seal the MDF with a 1# cut of de-waxed shellac or shellac-based sanding sealer prior to painting.

In fact, the prep and painting of the new screw-down surface could be done outside their shop, and just brought in and screwed in place. That would give them almost zero down-time.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

If there was oil spilled on the bench you may not be able to get a finish to stick to it and sanding it out may not be much of an option either depending on how deep it soaked in. A new cover might be your only option. Maybe some high density board might work better, like the stuff pegboards are made from.


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## bobbotron (Jan 7, 2010)

Good call. I think I might go with a sheet of 1/4" ply overtop of what's there. I really am not a big fan of MDF. 

Alternatively, I might check out sheet metal places. Could bolt some sheet metal over top and call it a day. 



Cherryville Chuck said:


> If there was oil spilled on the bench you may not be able to get a finish to stick to it and sanding it out may not be much of an option either depending on how deep it soaked in. A new cover might be your only option. Maybe some high density board might work better, like the stuff pegboards are made from.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

bobbotron said:


> Good call. I think I might go with a sheet of 1/4" ply overtop of what's there. I really am not a big fan of MDF.
> 
> Alternatively, I might check out sheet metal places. *Could bolt some sheet metal over top and call it a day.*


A sheet of 1/4" transparent aluminum would be perfect. Just watch out for the burrs.


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