How do I flatten the edge of a ~2" thick bench top?

[Minh Tran]

I started making the bench top before I had the tools & figured out the length that it needed to be.

I tried taking a jigsaw & straight edge to it but the JS blade tended to bend towards the end of the cut, leaving me with a non-coplanar, curved surface. I have a #62 hand plane but the sole is too long, preventing the blade from reaching the surface.

I'm kind of stumped :confused:

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A guy on facebook wants to sell me a 3yo Dewalt-780 (SCPMS) for $300. Should I bite? It looks to be in good condition.
https://boston.craigslist.org/nos/tls/5852494159.html

[Ed Labadie]

Circular saw with an edge guide.

Ed

[Prashun Patel]

Circular saw with edge guide. If it's too deep for the saw, then go 1.5" and complete the cut with a handsaw. You will be left with a ridge that you can then flatten with your plane. I've done this a couple times and it's works very easily and well.

[Cody Jensen]

Or a router with an edge guide. Not sure if you can flip it though since you will need to make two passes, first one using the edge guide and a straight bit, then flip it and use a pattern bit (unless you can find a bit with a 2" depth of cut). Being end grain though you're better off using a circ saw if you have it.

[Keith Hankins]

A number # 7 plane.

[Dave Cav]

I'm in the circular saw camp. If you don't have one and didn't need one before, you do now.

[Pat Barry]

I started making the bench top before I had the tools & figured out the length that it needed to be.

I tried taking a jigsaw & straight edge to it but the JS blade tended to bend towards the end of the cut, leaving me with a non-coplanar, curved surface. I have a #62 hand plane but the sole is too long, preventing the blade from reaching the surface.

I'm kind of stumped :confused:

----
A guy on facebook wants to sell me a 3yo Dewalt-780 (SCPMS) for $300. Should I bite? It looks to be in good condition.
https://boston.craigslist.org/nos/tls/5852494159.html
Use the handplane. Take off the high spots first and work your way down. This should be a piece of cake.

[Greg R Bradley]

DW780 were $399 at Xmas last year at HD & other places. Previous version DW718 was $299 at many HDs earlier this year.

And that saw looks like it was used by someone that doesn't take care of their tools.

[pat warner]

There are 2" long router bits. Rout it. It should be done in stages, say an 1/8/pass.
Use a collar, a cutter at least 3/4"D x 2"Fl, and a plunge router. Do not attempt to waste this much wood with
a trimmer in one shot. 16 passes, lengthy yes, but do-able. I rout thick aluminum in stages, (far less/pass, however).

[keith micinski]

This is the perfect job for a hand plane. For the most part powed machine's are always going to be better and easier to use but in this instance if your limited on a good blade and circular saw, hand plane is the way to go. I have all of those and I would still probably go to the hand plane to accomplish this and I'm not even that proficient at hand tools.

[Cody Jensen]

Thinking more on this, a circular saw is only going to give you a good cut if you have material on both sides so it isn't deflecting, so a router or hand plane would allow you to keep more length. I'm not sure if that is an issue with this or not though.

[James W Glenn]

I'm pretty sure you can figure out how to get it done in under an hour with your hand plane. If you just starting out you may need to figure out how to sharpen the plane to get it really working.
If you are itching to purchase a $300 solution, I would concider what kind of wood working you want to do. This is only one cut, do you want to use you new tool a hundred times?
For this particular project the most important tools might be a straight edge long enough to define a line to cut to and a square.

PS. I didnt take a good look at the picture so I had to edit my response. End grain hardwood is daunting, but your plane is well suited to cleaning this up if it is properly sharpened.

[Al Launier]

As Prashun stated. However, if the table can be flipped, then circular saw from each side with the staraight edge which would be less effort than hand sawing the 2nd side.

[Derek Cohen]

Handplane. This is a simple task, and a good place to start if you have not used one before. A handplane user would have done this before you completed typing up the question here! :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bobby O'Neal]

I did mine with circular saw/hand saw/hand plane method.

[Robert Engel]

A number # 7 plane.Hand plane v.4

[J.R. Rutter]

A hand plane with "sole too long to let the blade reach the wood," on end grain, on a vertical surface that will presumably be a reference edge is a simple task for a beginner? :)

Circular saw it.

[Stan Calow]

Not to hi-jack, but congrats to Derek for his chair featured in this month's Woodworking.

[Pat Barry]

A hand plane with "sole too long to let the blade reach the wood,"
I frankly a bit stumped about this. What I see is that there is a big bow in the edge. The fix for this, as I mentioned previously, is to work the high spots, the spots the sole of the plane is first contacting, down first. End grain or not this is the way to go.

[J.R. Rutter]

A hand tool beginner is what I was getting at. I think there are better ways to get used to planes than edge grain laying flat like this bench top.

[Myk Rian]

Being end grain, a circ saw would be my choice over a router.

[Sean Troy]

I used a 2 1/2 " flush trim router bit for mine. As mentioned, light passes until done.

[Pat Barry]

A hand tool beginner is what I was getting at. I think there are better ways to get used to planes than edge grain laying flat like this bench top.
Oh, I see your point. In that case some 60 or 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around a sanding block is the way to go.

[Prashun Patel]

I disagree. Something tells me that he knows how to use that No 62 or he would not have mentioned it by name.

That's the perfect plane for end grain of this size.

By contrast, squaring an edge with a sandpaper block is not for the faint of heart. Not only will squaring be hard, it takes forever for me to sand end grain with sandpaper unless I'm using a belt sander.

Part of the problem with the jig saw deflection could be using a poor blade. You can improve your results by using a more aggressive blade with an extremely slow feed rate.

Yes, you will have to hang the edge over the bench and effectively shoot it square with overlapping passes, and it can be a bit awkward, but if you are sharp it won't be difficult. You'll be sneaking up on it and be effectively doing it free hand, but you'll be amazed how 'perfect' and clean you can get it this way.

[Van Huskey]

A hand plane with "sole too long to let the blade reach the wood," on end grain, on a vertical surface that will presumably be a reference edge is a simple task for a beginner? :)

Circular saw it.

That was my first thought

Circular saw and a guide for me, well unless the OP wants to buy a track saw, if so this is a good excuse and actually how I would do it in my shop.

[lowell holmes]

I would use a straight edge and circular saw and then sand it or hand plane it to dress it up.