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I'm building a simple, inexpensive workbench for my basement. The legs and underpinnings are in, and the plywood portion of the tabletop is on. I've got three 1X12s of whitewood that I need to secure to the plywood so it won't have bouncy "pockets" between the boards and the ply. My question is: screws, glue, bolts, some combination? The ply is 19/32", so screws won't have much to grab, but it might be enough.

Any thoughts?

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I would just glue them and leave some very heavy weights (evenly dispersed) on them for a couple days. If the glue fails at some point, you can always reattach. If the glue is working then screws are useless and aren't adding anything.

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  • You could also use clamps rather than heavy weights. I'd also stick to the stuff labelled as "construction adhesive" rather than say, wood glue. Generally stronger and bonds faster.
    – gregmac
    Dec 16, 2014 at 20:48
  • For a workbench, not having screws is usually an advantage, as you don't dull your tools hitting the screwheads...there's also a lot to be said for 1/4" tempered hardboard held on only by a 1/4" lip for the top surface - scar it, flip it, beat up the other side, replace it (dirt cheap) with or without holding onto the beat up one to swap back to for the bad jobs. Depends what you are using the workbench for (or how many different things...)
    – Ecnerwal
    Dec 16, 2014 at 21:56
  • @gregmac - I am honestly not sure if I would use wood glue, construction adhesive or both. The construction adhesive will have a stronger bond but becomes brittle. If there is a lot of hammering on the table it will probably eventually fail (could be a year or 5 years later though). I might even use a little silicone... which I always have laying around so why not.
    – DMoore
    Dec 16, 2014 at 21:59

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