Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Butcher block bench top

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You can make it as involved and complex as you want, but I would just use a real good Exterior Polyurethane. I'd sand it down to open the grain a bit, then thin the first coat and put it on heavy and let it soak in for a while. Wipe off excess, and after it dries over night, paint it with poly a few times letting each coat dry for a day in between. It makes it dry better in the long run. I have done this to benches years ago, and they only get screwed up if I do something dumb, but normally they hold up well to use as a gun bench or work bench.

Linseed oil by itself, or shellac by itself would be a really poor choice.

Since it is a work bench, I would use what ever I had on hand, but I have a woodshop with quite a bit of finishing materials. Usually for a work bench, I use a mixture of linseed oil, spar varnish, and mineral spirits, but spar varnish by itself would be fine. I just don't like it going on thick, so I thin it out for the first coat or two, then use just the varnish for the final coat or two.

I have a lot of respect for poly. Its very tough. I told on here before about having to rehab a rental unit that belonged to my Dad 2 years ago. The hoarder that was living in it totally wrecked the place. The kitchen cabinets that my folks had put plain old minwax poly on sometime in the late 80's were caked with grease and grime from some 19 or so years of never getting cleaned (previous tenants before hoarder were decent). I took the doors off and cleaned them with a really strong ammonia and water solution and the grime just oozed. But to my amazement, the finish underneath was still stuck on and looked pretty good, just a little dull. Being an overachiever, (ha!) I scuffed them with 120 grit sandpaper and went back with a couple of fresh coats and they looked brand new. That is the great thing about it, if you want to freshen it up you can just clean/degrease, scuff, and give it a fresh coat or two.

IF the bench is going to be inside a shop, I would not go with the outdoor version. I was gonna do that on my cabinets because I was looking for the toughest thing going and found online that the outdoor finishes are softer/more flexible to help stand up to UV and the elements....they are designed for expansion and contraction. The indoor stuff is harder and more abrasion resistant which might be a little better on a worktable.

In general urethanes dry harder if coats are applied rather quickly rather than long drying stretches between coats. The polymers link between coats much better, rather than just within the coats. Can directions will give a strong clue about that and there are exceptions.

Got a little ahead of myself last night, this is what I’ll be using.

Skip the BLO. Hardware store BLO is low grade garbage. It will soften your finish, inhibit drying, add nothing positive, and reduce waterproofness.

Mineral spirits do not improve penetration. It is easy to test for that. A very small amount will improve flowing, but it should not be used unless needed.

Water-Based urethanes are harder than regular oil-based and non-yellowing. They would be an excellent choice for a bench top.

Considering Chinese and Japanese used lac beetles for exquisite finishes well over a thousand years ago and polyurethanes were invented in the 1930s and started being used in finishes in the '40s you can be sure it is one of the newest finishes out there. Adding BLO and mineral spirits is only asking for trouble.

Got the top completed. Ended up going with some exterior grade spar urethane, mainly because I already had some. Oak was used to trim it out and for the box on the slide out.

Should work out nice for some light wood working and stock work.

May yet add some holes for bench dogs and clamps.







This shop table is a culmination of parts scavenged from 4 demo/retrofit jobs I have been on over the years.
The casters came from a junk gurney from a hospital, the table body, top and computer keyboard slider came from 3 different school rebuilds.

Decided to treat myself to a new parrot vise to finish her off.....

That looks great! Nice job.

Nice job on the bench. Looks great.

Lumber liquidators sell butcher block in various sizes and types of woods. Pricing isn’t bad when it’s on sale


I’ll stick with the BLO treatment. This is the outdoor kitchen area. Butcher block gets treated 3 times a year. A light sanding and reapply. Works in southern NJ but apparently in Alaska it’s worthless.

I am going to add a number of butcher block bench tops to my shop and will probably use Home Depot, as they are local and deliver

https://www.google.com/search?q=but...951j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Just what is it about finishes that makes some people get their back up and ignore scientific facts?
What Art has to say about finishes is all scientifically proven. And it’s easy to find corroborating evidence from finish manufacturers.
Is it that “what was good for muh Uncle Fred is good enough for me”?
Anyone that challenges or poo-poos these scientific facts about finishes and the chemical make-up and performance needs to do some reading.
Technology advances, keep up or tell yourself you’re right and ignore the facts.

This is what I would use. Water-based urethanes are very easy to work with and do an excellent job.