? on flattening work bench

[Ray McGrath]

What is the proper technique for flattening a bench top using hand planes?
My bench top is approx 3" thick southern yellow pine.

Ray

[Frank Drew]

Ray,

First you'll need to determine just how far off flat the bench top is (which it may not be); a good straight edge and winding sticks are helpful here -- the top can be perfectly smooth but not flat or straight in one or more directions.

Once you've figured out the high spots, you'll need to begin taking them down; planing diagonally, or even directly across the grain, is the fastest method to remove a fair amount of wood without the danger of a deep tearout. A scrub plane with a curved (cambered) cutting edge is a good tool for this but a jack plane (or any plane, really) would also work. What you're looking for at this stage is rough flattening, not finish planing, so don't worry that the skewed planing fuzzes the wood up a bit.

Keep using your winding sticks and straight edge until you're satisfied that the top is more or less straight in all directions; don't worry about a few minor peaks and valleys because you'll eliminate those with your subsequent planing with the grain, or, rather, planing in the long direction of the top because the boards are very likely mixed up with respect to grain direction so "planing with the grain" might not be possible, so don't get too aggressive here until you know how the grain runs. Start with the longest plane you have in order to knock any remaining unevenness, switching to a shorter smoothing plane set finely for the finish planing.

Don't get too obsessive; this is a workbench, not a piece of furniture -- you want flat and straight for work purposes, showcasing your craftsmanship is fine, but it doesn't really have to be glass smooth because if you plan to actually work on it it won't remain that way for long.

Oil all surfaces, then remember to work on your bench, not into it!

[Mark Roderick]

Excellent response by Drew, but I'll add that I've used two strings, each diagonal from corner to corner, to get a sense of the overall flatness when I start out.

[Harlan Barnhart]

I imagine Frank's method is the proper way but I have a simple mind. I planned an "X", corner to corner with a cambered plane blade, until the channels were flat (corner to corner) and met at the same level in the center. Then traced a line around the perimeter with a straight edge at that level. After that, it's just a matter of working down the remaining "triangles".

[Alan Schwabacher]

Roy Underhill has demonstrated several approaches. One I like is to use winding sticks at the start, and to cut a shallow rabbet into each end of the bench for the winding sticks. Cut these rabbets without lots of work, just deeply enough to make the winding sticks parallel. Then plane down the material between (lots of work) to the same level.

This sort of approach is very useful beginning with a rough hewn surface. A laminated benchtop probably begins flat enough that this may not be so helpful.

[Ray McGrath]

Thanks Frank for your detailed response.
Thanks to all for your input.

Ray

[Randy Bonella]

For starters I'm no expert but I started with winding sticks hand planes and a tape measure. So I first started by finding out just how out of flat my top was using the winding sticks and my plane to find humps and valleys and slopes. Keep in mind my winding sticks are pretty much anything I can grab that has two parallel sides. I marked out the points that were out of square. I then tired to find the thinnest point on the top and use that as my first reference and then flattened as much of the bench to that reference.

I'm not done yet but I think I have the top pretty flat at this point in time. My next step is to make a set of winding sticks with contrasting colors. I need a better line to check against. I'll then be marking the top to thickness with concentration on making sure that my leg attach points are parallel to the top and a common thickness. Then as patience and time permits I'll be finishing my bottom flattening to as close to parallel with the top as possible without going overboard. As best I can tell this isn't all that critical. I'm spending most of my time making sure that my top sides and legs are all square to each other in particular the front of the bench. If I give on anything the back of the bench and the underside of the top are the ones that will be sacrificed. You can see my bench thread here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=128346

Randy...

[Justin Chen]

I have the same question as the OP and just wanted to clarify some of the instructions in this thread. When you say go diagonally across the bench, do you want to try to plane the high spots even then start doing full diagonal passes?

[Frank Drew]

I have the same question as the OP and just wanted to clarify some of the instructions in this thread. When you say go diagonally across the bench, do you want to try to plane the high spots even then start doing full diagonal passes?

Justin,

If there's a fair amount of wood to remove to flatten the top, then an aggressive early approach will save a lot of time, and cutting the high spots by planing diagonally or directly across the grain during this initial hogging off period will prevent tearing out deep divots. No need at this point to plane from side to side all the way across the surface because a lot of that wood doesn't need to be removed.

Once you've knocked down the high spots and the table is reasonably flat and straight, there's no longer a need for skewed cutting because you'll now be taking lighter cuts for final flattening and then finish planing.

Hope that helps.

[Frank Drew]

I failed to mention that in addition to sighting with a straight edge and winding sticks, just eyeballing a board or panel along an edge can tell you a lot about how straight it is, or isn't.

[Justin Chen]

Justin,

If there's a fair amount of wood to remove to flatten the top, then an aggressive early approach will save a lot of time, and cutting the high spots by planing diagonally or directly across the grain during this initial hogging off period will prevent tearing out deep divots. No need at this point to plane from side to side all the way across the surface because a lot of that wood doesn't need to be removed.

Once you've knocked down the high spots and the table is reasonably flat and straight, there's no longer a need for skewed cutting because you'll now be taking lighter cuts for final flattening and then finish planing.

Hope that helps.

This is what I think I need to do, use a straight edge look for the high spots (the spots where light doesn't pass through). Mark the low spots with a pencil and plane the high spots till I the marking on the low spots start going away.

After all the high spots are down, do 1-2 passes diagonally across the whole top. Next, do 1-2 passes with the grain or until I get full shavings.

Does that sound like the correct procedure to flatten the top?

[Tom Adger]

I have a goodly number of chisels and hand planes. Like them and use them. However, there are times when a power tool is appropriate. When I finished my workbench, I used a router sled to flatten. As long as the two side guide rails have been jointed flat, and the sled is flat, you are going to get a flat workbench. I have attached a picture of my setup. You can google and find more pictures and descriptions.

As one of the early posters said, you can use two strings making an "X" to see if flat. Make sure you put a nail the diameter of the string under the two corners of the top string. If the strings just barely touch, it is flat.