Spill resistant surfaces that are cheap?

I have used tempered masonite in the past on garage work benches. It is stiff enough to lay flat on a bench top and the tempered side is a nice smooth, hard finish. It is typically dark brown in color, you may or may not like that. Dense enough to wipe up paint spills and they won't soak through if you leave them, but you can't scrape off cured glue and paint repeatedly like you would be able to with glass. In our area it is $9 for a 4x8 sheet at Home Depot. Most home centers will cut materials to your requested size (within reason) with their panel saw for about $2.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&locStoreNum=4647&productId=202046928&storeId=10051#.UJU1YmLIcis

give me glass......worked on it for years and luv it.

All very good suggestions but so far I like that one Chuck. Cheap, non porous, and best of all easily replaceable.

I use foam poster board or remnants of cardboard used for picture frame mats.  You can usually find scraps cheap at the framing dept of Hobby Lobby.  I cut them to size to cover the bench and staple them down, then renew them as needed.

I use an old car side window that I found in the garage of a house my wife and I rented when first married.  It fits my table and I cover it with a page from an out of date warbird calendar.  I must have a half-dozen of them around and I just cut out one page and tape it to the glass.  The grid on the calendar also comes in handy at times for aligning parts.  When it gets all funky, I just cut off another page.  And, it's always fun to look at the airplanes on the calendar.

Gary

I cover my workbench with contact paper.  It does not let paint through except in areas where I have inadvertantly made knife cuts through the contact.  Now that I am getting the discipline to cut only on cutting mats the contact surface is quite durable, yet I can easily replace it when it gets too many paint and glue drips on it.

Amen, to that! that,s how I got the two by fours to build the main bench.If you are not greedy, they are glad to have you cart stuff away. less cost for them. TANKER-builder

A sheet of OSB or plywood can be cut to size and tacked in place. I personally like a wood surface as it allows me to pin things in place. Alternately, you can often find boxes of wood flooring at surplus and overstock stores for very cheap. One of the interior walls in my shop is covered in very nice oak flooring I got for free - it was being thrown out at a nearby construction site and the builders were more than happy to have me haul it off. In fact, with the rise in dumping prices, most builders are glad to have you haul stuff away, especially residential contractors. Never hurts to ask.

MIKE,Hi and how,s the new work area? I would recommend going to a cabinet shop and seeing if they have an end cut or sink cut out, of CORIAN. My benchtop(with the CORIAN and a piece of TEMPERED GLASS from an old tower stereo) are now over twenty years old.

The CORIAN when really soiled or stained can be sanded(WET) cleaned and re-leveled.this works wonders.The glass was free.It came off that stereo that was in a dumpster..YUP,dumpster diving has let me fully equip my shop-even the power tools.Good luck and keep me posted---TANKER-builder

I use 1/4" glass as well. Super cheap....it was left in the house when I moved in!

I'd favour a glass sheet with rounded edges to stop you getting cut up by the edge, with some thick cardboard to cusion it if necessary.

You can find those green cutting mats in large sizes, but stuff like EMA PLastic weld, will go straight through it... (don't ask how I know...)

If the glass is on a flat surface then you won't have any problems with it cracking no matter how much pressure you put on it.

Another thumbs up for the glass, I use 1/4" tempered glass (the same as you would use for glass table tops), and just lay it flat on your work surface.

Feels odd not to have the glass to work on now.

I like 1/4" thick melamine laminated fiberboard, available in 4' x 8' sheets at cabinet shop suppliers or home centers. Usually they can bust it into smaller sizes if you need. It's cheap, bright white and impervious to common solvents - I use it as an "underlay" work surface, and clean off paint and glue residue with lacquer thinner. If you don't cut into the surface, it lasts a long time.

Mike

Good idea to stay away from lexan. That stuff is pricey! If the surface is flat and level, glass is actually a good option. You can pick up 1/4" salvage glass (material left over from other projects) at your local glass house for as little as $4-5/ft.sq. There's also arborite. It's durable, flexible, and comes in a variety of finishes.