A great benchtop is a meeting place.
A place where your favourite people come together to prepare or share a meal in your kitchen, or for those conversations with interesting characters over the bar at your local tap room. Our recycled timber benchtops are a bit like interesting dinner guests. They’ve got an entertaining story or two to share from their past life and help bring out the best of those who congregate around them.
Project: Anna & Josh’s recycled timber kitchen island and benchtop
At Thor’s Hammer, we’ve been making high quality benchtops for kitchens, bar tops, desks and mantelpieces out of thoughtfully selected recycled timbers for over 30 years. We’d be happy to help you design and build the perfect benchtop for your space.
Contact our team to design your kitchen with a beautiful and sustainable recycled hardwood timber benchtop from Thor's Hammer.
Our kitchen benchtops made from recycled hardwood timber not only add warmth and character to your space but they also make a sustainable choice for the planet. Benchtops are versatile and can be used for kitchen counters, dining tables, work desks, island benchtops, bar tops, laundry and bathroom counters or even bathroom vanities.
Project - Aidan & Daniel - Canberra Local Ash species mix benchtops
Project - Stephanie’s recycled timber bench top
RECOMMENDED SPECIES For Benchtops
Our recycled hardwoods come in a wide range of species, from the lighter Ash timbers (Canberra Local Ash and Oregon), to the richer tones of Blackbutt and Spotted Gum, or to reds like Ironbark and Blue Gum / Coastal Reds.
AVAILABLE FINISHES
These timbers can be clean dressed to reveal the full colour and grain, or carefully lightly dressed to keep some of the old patina and saw marks for a look we call Sawtooth. Sawtooth comes in two variations: For Sawtooth Filled Flat, we fill the rough sawn areas with a clear resin and sand the benchtop to make a smooth flat surface.
For the Sawtooth Undulating finish, we also dress the timber lightly to keep some of the original markings and patina. We then minimise the use of resin filler and associated sanding to keep as much as possible of the undulating surface of the old sawn timber intact. Sawtooth Undulating is a less practical finish for high use benchtops, but it gives a unique look which can be perfect for smaller counters, bar tops, shelves and table tops.
We have sample boards of all our available benchtop finishes here at Thor’s Hammer and we welcome you to come in to see and touch each option before making your decision.
COMMON SIZES
Benchtops can be ordered cut to the dimensions you require, and come in a range of thicknesses - with the most common thickness ranges below.
CLEAN DRESSED BENCHTOPS
Planed and sanded back to reveal more of the colour and grain of the timber
27mm thick - Great for lighter, more modern designs.
37mm thick - Our standard thickness, solid and cost effective. This is made from old 2” thick boards—the most common thickness recycled roof timbers come in.
60mm thick - Great for a bench or table top with extra presence. Also works well for floating stair treads.
SAWTOOTH BENCHTOPS
A more rustic, partially dressed finish with some sawtooth marks. Because each batch of timber varies in thickness and we machine the timbers individually to keep some of the rustic surface we can’t specify an exact thickness in advance. Here are the thickness ranges for sawtooth benchtops:
32 - 36mm thick (machined from 38mm thick stock)
44 - 48mm thick (machined from 50mm thick stock)
66 - 70mm thick (machined from 75mm thick stock)
How We Make Benchtops
Our benchtops are crafted by joining together a series of recycled timber boards, typically 75-85mm wide. This width is carefully chosen to ensure the final benchtop is highly stable, significantly reducing the risk of cupping or movement. The timber itself is sourced from the rafters and joists of old, deconstructed roofs.
The journey begins after your order is confirmed. We select the required species, quality, and lengths of timber from our store of recycled timbers. Next the timber is placed in our solar kiln for final drying, bringing it to the low moisture content necessary for a stable benchtop or joinery piece. This step is important, because although the recycled wood is already fully seasoned, it often absorbs moisture during the demolition and transport phases.
Next, our joinery team takes over. The timbers are dressed (planed) to be perfectly square and straight, ensuring the boards sit together without any stress or tension. A fine tongue and groove glue joint is then profiled onto the edges. This step provides perfect alignment and maximises the surface area for a robust, extra-strong glue joint. This is important because Australian hardwoods have high natural resin content and can be difficult to glue.
The boards are then glued up using a waterproof, non-foaming polyurethane adhesive. Clamps are applied with just enough pressure to bring the boards together and squeeze out excess glue, avoiding any unnecessary force or tension.
Once the glue has fully cured, the benchtops are sanded flat. We then meticulously fill any remaining nail holes and minor cracks with a bio-resin, resulting in a smooth, easy-to-clean surface.
The final stage involves fine sanding and sealing all sides of the benchtop with OSMO natural and food-safe hardwax oils. This sealing process makes the benchtop durable, easy to maintain, and food-safe—ready for flawless installation in your kitchen.
INSPIRATION GALLERY
Butcher’s Block Benchtops
We also offer Butcher’s Block benchtops for those heavy duty cooks who give their kitchen benchtops a workout.
The term ‘butcher’s block’ refers to a surface constructed of multiple hard timber blocks, arranged with end-grain facing upwards. They are glued together to create a solid block. Butcher’s block benchtops are substantially thicker and heavier than standard timber kitchen benchtops, and the end grain of timber is harder and more resistant to abrasion than the face of the boards.
A normal timber benchtop only moves across its width, but because of the alignment of the blocks, an end grain bench top expands and contracts over its length as well, so the total natural movement of the timber is much greater. Timber can fluctuate in size with changing humidity and weather conditions, so it’s really important to design with this in mind.
Butcher’s Block benchtops require more manufacturing time and are usually extra thick, so they are more expensive than our standard benchtop range.
Installation
We can supply your new benchtop ready for your builder or joiner to install, or you can have the team at Thor’s Hammer complete the benchtop installation for you.
Correct installation is vital. Timber naturally expands and contracts with changes in humidity, and this is more pronounced in wide benchtops. To accommodate this natural movement, we secure our benchtops to the cabinets using custom-designed benchtop braces featuring slotted holes. We use these braces in our own installations and can also supply them for use by your builder, joiner, or for self-installation.
Maintenance
When materials like stone are damaged or scratched they are hard or impossible to repair. Recycled timber is fast and easy to refinish back to its original condition.
The first option for minor wear or damage is the OSMO Liquid Wax Cleaner we include with every benchtop as part of your Thor’s Hammer Care Kit. This can be used once every few months to give the benchtops a deep clean and add some extra wax to maintain the surface.
For deeper scratches or maintenance after many years of use, we can send one of our joinery team to your house to sand and re-coat the timber with the Osmo natural hardwax oil. The finish will dry overnight ready for gentle use after 24 hours. A second coat and visit may be required depending on the degree of sanding initially required. It is always better to perform maintenance earlier, before heavy sanding is required.
Things we need from you
If you’re replacing an existing benchtop, please send us photos and a rough sketch with approximate sizes for each benchtop (length x width x height) Or if it suits you better, you could mark up the sizes on the photos. The rough dimensions you provide are for the initial cost estimation only. If the job goes ahead we will conduct a site visit to take final, accurate measurements before any construction begins.
If we’re building a benchtop for a new build or a renovation, could you please send through any relevant drawings provided by your joiner, builder, or architect. Some other information we require includes: What is the required delivery timeframe to the site, as indicated by your joiner or builder? Will installation be required from Thor’s Hammer as part of our quote? If so, please provide the installation address.
If you need cut-outs for sinks or cooktops, please supply the dimensions. What timber species are you interested in? What finish would you like on your benchtop? What thickness would you like the benchtop to be?
PLEASE NOTE: Our benchtops can take from 6-10 weeks to design & manufacture depending on how busy we are - so make sure to plan ahead and contact us early to have them designed, made and installed on time for your project.
Make a Design Appointment Today
Our design team can assist you all the way to your brand new recycled timber benchtops. We will help you:
Select the right timber species and finish
Confirm the dimensions with a site visit once the initial cost estimation is approved.
Recommend a suitable tradesperson if you don’t have anyone lined up or have the team at Thor’s Hammer install your new recycled timber benchtop.
Ensure the recycled timber benchtop arrives on site, on time and ready for installation.
We’ll also let you know where the original timber was sourced from as it begins its second life as your new benchtop. If you are looking for recycled timber benchtops, contact the Thor’s Hammer design team today.
