Proper steps to build a bench top?

[Greg Urwiller]

Going to get started on a laminated bench top. I figured on ripping down 2x6's in half, then re-ripping them all to an equal dimension. Then....what's the best order of steps to follow after? These are 8' and 10' lengths. Since they'll all be an equal width of, say 2 1/2", should I, or can I, run these through my planer rather than edge jointing? Or, should I plane the faces first? Kind of hard to evenly edge joint 10' long pieces on an old small 6" Cman jointer! Since they'll be approx. 1 3/4" by 2 1/2", I thought I might be able to run multiple pcs through the planer to edge joint rather than use the small jointer. Anyway, just wondered what the correct order would be to prepare these? Also, I'll have 22 pcs total of each length figuring on having plenty if I need to scrap any. I want a top roughly 30". I've got a Jet 16" planer so I can run 1/2 of each top through, then glue the 2 together. It would probably be best to glue 5-6 pcs together at a time rather than a full 10-11 wouldn't it? I need to go somewhere and get a BIG bottle of glue and some small rollers for this glue job. Thanks. Greg

[Greg Hines, MD]

What most people do for that kind of lamination is to rough them out, and glue them up into manageable pieces, less than the width of your planer. In your case, I would not do more than 5-6 at a time, and when they are cured, you can dress them individually, then even run the two subgroups through the planer again, to keep your final work to just the center joint. I made my bench top out of plywood, and used one of those fake credit cards to spread the glue with.

[Rick Fisher]

I have done a bunch of that kind of work in the past year, including a new bench top..

Most important is to make sure the boards are dead straight.. A jointer is probably the #1 tool on a project like that ..

I glue up slabs that are just under the width of the jointer, then face joint the glue up .. Once I have all the slabs I need, I plane them all to the same thickness, leaving a decent face on all .. Then edge joint the slabs and glue them all together..

In gluing up the strips, I use cauls or domino's / biscuits to keep the strips flush with each other while tightening the clamps.. The more they move in the gluing process, the more material needs to be removed on the whole top..

When edge jointing the slabs, just before glueing them up .. I face the first slab towards the jointer fence, the next slab is facing away from the jointer fence.. that way if the jointer fence is 90.5 degrees.. the final joint is still flat and tight .. (causes one face to be 89.5 and the other 90.5, instead of two at 90.5 which is a mess) ...

This is what my top looked like before the final glue up ..

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/P1170939-1.jpg

Edge jointing these slabs mandatory because I find after glueing them and clamping them, they are not dead straight anymore.. you cannot clamp the crack shut on slabs that wide, so to get a good seam, they must be as perfect as possible..

[Josh Bowman]

+1 on Rick Fisher. You can get away with not being as flat on the individual strips, but once the sub-panels are glued up, they have to be jointed.
Once finished I used a couple of hand planes to make the top flat (a long one #7 or #8 to get the top almost flat and a short one #3 or #4 to take down the local high spots. Use a couple of straight boards or strips as "Winding Sticks" then plane only the high areas. I was amazed how fast that went.

[Michael Peet]

Agree with everything so far. If you opt to use handplanes on the top at any stage, it is important that you establish the best planing direction for each board before you glue anything; you want them all the point in the same direction or you are asking for tearout.

Mike

[Carl Beckett]

I have found that the 'twist' from one end to the other end is whats hard to get flat. Just running through a planer doesnt take this out (and maybe can even make it worse??)

Good advice from Rick/Josh. But I didnt do it this way - I bit the bullet and made a simple sled for my router that ran on a couple rails that I could clamp to the side of the finished top and surface the entire top with a router passing back and forth. It only took about 15 - 20 mins to do, and means you dont have to worry about the glue up.

I did find that when clamping something this large (Titebond III) the individual pieces walk a bit so unless indexed with dowels or biscuits there was slippage and unevenness from board to board. Also the clamping force didnt seem adequate once a large stack is in place.

I have wondered if using some threaded rod wouldnt be a convenient method to clamp it all together. Maybe 1/2" threaded rod, and drill through each piece and put a row of rods through it all. The ends could be countersunk, and the rods could be just left in. The would be well below the surface and would just have to miss the dogs. Just a thought.

[Peter Quinn]

The first step is to cut them to length. Unless you are making a 10' bench top there is no reason to work with 10' material. Leave a little extra length, maybe 6".