Comments on: European Beech

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 20:28:50 +0000

In reply to Mark. Nice to know there are lots of beech forests there. I'm in Ohio, USA and there are limited sources for European Beech. The lumber yard that I use offers a very high quality European Beech with no knots and minimal checking/splitting at the ends. Very little waste material. The wood is comparatively hard to other wood types, I think anybody that makes a workbench from European Beech is going to be fine, if not don't blame it on the wood!

By: Adrien

Adrien — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 17:32:43 +0000

In reply to Mark. European beech was the timber of choice for one reason. It is cheap and widely available! I live in Belgium and am surrounded of beech forests!

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 00:09:56 +0000

In reply to Marc. European beech is excellent for a workbench, hard, stable, with only minimal cupping and twist in a few of the boards. Buy quality lumber that's been dried and stored correctly and you will not have problems. I've made workbenches from both american beech and european beech with no problems, and would do it again. There was more waste using the american beech due to the quality of the lumber from the mill. Both of these benches will last several lifetimes if cared for. Hope this helps.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 12:39:31 +0000

In reply to Marc. European beech was THE timber of choice used to make workbenches for 100s of years so I think you will find it more than suitable!

By: Echo

Echo — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 15:30:10 +0000

In reply to Marc.

I have an 80″ × 36″ piece of basic plywood as my bench top. Before that I used it for 2+ years as a platform outside. It has never warped. However, I used 2×2 framing underneath the edge (but no where else on it) and have never had it warp. I’ve had the piece, total for 5 years.
I bought it at either Home Depot or Lowes. Can’t remember the thickness though but more than 1/2″.

By: Marc

Marc — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 17:39:25 +0000

I’m interested in using E. beech for a workbench. I seem to get conflicting information when I surf the interwebs. Some say that E beech is the more stable cousin of american beech, while others say that even E. beech is unstable and will warp. I’m trying to get to the truth on the matter so I can decide whether to use it for the workbench top.

By: Joemarie

Joemarie — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 18:49:27 +0000

How do beech wood fair with other woods in terms of flame spread index. Is it suitable for fire rated door use as door frame/architrave

By: Miguelangel

Miguelangel — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 09:56:22 +0000

In reply to Jean. Yes. Unless you stain it -which is certainly possible, but not ideal- beech tends to get dark pinkish with time.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 17 May 2020 17:39:15 +0000

Can it be used for counter tops?

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 04:01:32 +0000

In reply to Ryan welsh. I think you are comparing the wrong numbers. Are you looking at BASIC specific gravity? Because this is not a good way to compare density as it is based on the green volume for the wood. This discrepancy is explained by the difference in the volumetric shrinkage of beech (having a higher shrinkage from green to ovendry) when compared to maple. The second number listed, the 12%MC for SG, shows that the dried weights of these two woods are nearly identical. (Both at about .71, on average.)