What wood for a wooden bench

[harlow]

I've got two plastic shelving units and I would like to replace them with a 5x2 wooden bench but it has to have two shelves and a strong top just in case I fit a vice. I've looked on b&q website but i'm not to sure what wood to use for the shelves but for the frame they have 75mm x 47mm sawn kiln dried timber or 100mm x 47mm sawn kiln dried timber or 89mm x 38mm cls timber. So could anyone recommend what wood to buy as if I bought it from b&q it would cost about £100.

 

[foxhole]

Assume you mean 5ft X 2ft?
A couple of 18mm sheets of mdf ripped thru the length [2X8] would give enough material for unit 5x2 with two shelves and offcut would make uprights and also enough to double up on top depth to take a vice.Nice and heavy so would not move around in use.
Is that a metal or woodworking vice?

 

[harlow]

Yes I mean 5ft X 2ft. The vice will be a metal one but it will only be used occasionally. As the shed gets a bit damp would osb or ply be better than mdf.

 

[foxhole]

In a shed ply would be better, osb is too fragile for a secure vice fixing.

 

[scbk]

Don't buy it from a diy store, go to your local timber mechant or sawmill. If I was spending £100 I would expect enough timber to build a small shed!!

I've built a few workbenches, always used 3x2 for the framework and for the top I have used old kitchen worktop on a couple, scaffold boards on one, and the last one was 22x150mm 2nd grade planks.

All have had vices bolted to them and been more than strong enough

 

[harlow]

I only need to buy the wood for the frame and top as my boy has taken a storage unit apart so I will glue the wood together to make two shelves to save myself some money. If I buy the wood for the top from wickes it will cost £17.59 for planed softwood 18x144mmx1.8m pk5. Then if I buy the frame from b&q it will cost £53.80 for 10 pieces of sawn kiln dried timber (L)2400 x (W)100 x (T)47mm. So would anyone know how much I would pay for 4x2 or 3x2 from a timber merchant as my car is off the road at the moment so that's why I was going to use b&q and wickes as the only other places around here is robert price or a handymans.