Workbench step 6 plane & fit top

[bogydave]

Major gluing is done, :p
Set up the planer; Dewalt 733 with new blades.
Picture of the boards before
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/bnchtp8pcs1.jpg
Set up infeed roller & out feed rollers height by opening the planer a little more than the thickness of the board. Slid the board through & set both roller heights, just so it would lift up on the board about 1/8" to help prevent snipe.
From one of the treads that talked about planers, I left some of the glued boards stick out beyond the ends. (had started to trim the boards before I read the planer thread so some boards have flush ends) Planed the bottoms first since the top was the closest to level & that determines how thick they end up. Once I was happy with the bottoms (not perfect but good & level), I planed the top till they looked good. Ran every board the same, even if one came out good I ran it with the others, till all boards were good. Ended up with a heavy 2-1/4" thickness
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/plane2.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/plane3.jpg
Top looks allot better with no glue & pencil marks. Apron boards are on the bottom of the trestle base
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/plane4.jpg
The grains & the cherry borders around the dog holes came out fairly good. I had one little chip-out on one of the dog holes but not real bad.
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/plane5.jpg
Next I plan to joint the edges so they will glue together square. & one more glue-up for the top, but only 3 joints to glue.
Should I glue it all at one time or add one glue, add next glue etc?
I found a cabinet shop that has a 42" wide sander. He said for $20 to $30 he would run the top through if I didn't have allot of glue to sand off.
Making progress :)
Dave, Alaska 42 degrees & rain :(

[bogydave]

I noticed a little sipe on a couple of the apron boards. I'm hoping it won't interfere with the fit up. Back to snow again. That's better than rain on the cold roads which turns to ice.

[Don]

It's getting really impressive, bogy. I don't see any reason to keep from gluing the whole thing now. Get your edges like you like them, have some warm clean rinse water and rags and have at it. You will be able to use the over/under technique with the pipe clamps to "pull" the top flat. Just don't get too carried away with the clamp pressure initially. You should be able to use a block and deadblow to get the joints perfect, then wipe/wash it clean. You should find that the sanding is not necessary.

But, since you are never going to actually work on this museum piece, you may want to.:p

[Terry Mac]

I found a cabinet shop that has a 42" wide sander. He said for $20 to $30 he would run the top through if I didn't have allot of glue to sand off.


Dave how heavy is the bench top? Would it be a problem to get it to the cabinet shop?

This is a fantastic write-up, and presentation of great workmanship. Nicely done Dave, and something to be very proud of. Keep the installments coming. :)

[bogydave]

It's getting heavy, but that's a good thing.
If I elect to sand it, it'll slide into the truck easy enough.
Maybe the glue line will be perfect & wonn't need to.

[Dagster]

Nice work! I have the same planer :) I will be building a workbench sometime later this year if all goes well with the shop.

[bogydave]

Thanks
From plans or "off the cuff"?
Faster yet, get an old piece of bowling alley & add legs.
1st 15' of bowlilng alleys are hard maple. Saw some on Craigs list, North east US though.

[bogydave]

Final got time to glue the top together. I leveled the base. Covered it with plastic. Glued & inserted the alignment rods (3/8" all thread) Clamped it with cauls to the base to keep it straight. Got it almost perfectly level on the top (within a few 1/1000ths anyway) Tightened up the all thread & added clamps. (after it was lined up & clamped, I pulled the all thread out, cleaned it & put it back in)
Don, you might be right, it is so close I may not need to get it sanded.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/finaltpglu2.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/finaltpglu4.jpg

[bogydave]

I let the benchtop set 1 week (per glue specs). Ran a straight edge over it last night. It did move some. Looks like I need to have it run thru the sander after all.
TM, you are right, heavy it is. More than I anticipated. In the truck & to the shop. I'm curious to see the cabinet & door shop anyway. See how the pros are set up.

[bogydave]

EASY WAY TO SAND A BENCH TOP

Mark at Wasilla Woodworks was very helpful. Had this little sanding machine that is a time/work saver. This is just the sanding room of his shop. Very impressive woodworking shop. None of his tools had names I recognize. Lots of German names. Tools to dream about. 3 phase power. No dust. This sander was drawing 25 amps of 3 phase 460V when the top went through. That's power. He had tools I didn't know what they were but they had sawdust around them.
thousands of board feet of lumber. Shipping is one of his high cost issues also.
Was in the process of making costum kitchen cabinet fronts (alder) for multi unit senior home.
A good place for hobby guys to buy lumber. He had a 2 stacks of leftover, not scraps that he supplies to the highschool or sells at very reasonable $.
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/sander1.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/sandtop2.jpg

[Cocobolove]

Very cool. I'd pay $20 just to look around there. Those are some impressive belts for the sander on the wall.

[Don]

The first sanding machines were called "Timesavers," that was the brand. (I think) It takes a lot of power to pull that belt . A lot of expensive lumber is "abrasive planed" to eliminate the damage of grain tear-out, etc. It's always informative to visit other's shops.

dawjr

[bogydave]

Finally got some time to work on the bench. Positioned & put one bolt in the middle of each end. Routed a tounge on each end & used new table saw to cut the dado :).
made a jig (jig Picture on top) to route top & bottom of the bench top for the tounge
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/topjigtounge1.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/topenddado1.jpg

Squared up the apron pieces. Decided to use a version of "dovetail keys" to tie the apron together. I had to replace the collet on the router after I tried to make a 1-1/2" bit cut 2" deep & buy a 2-1/2" router bit to make the key hole cuts. (also will need to touch up 2 of the key holes a little) Routed key holes to join the ends of the apron together. Made 12 keys for the connections. (cherry in the maple & maple in the cherry)
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/topdavetail1.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/topdavetailkey1.jpg

In the process of making the front jaws for the vises.

[Don]

That'll work. Good job.