Flattening my new workbench top

[Larry Browning]

Well, this weekend I was able to flatten my new workbench top using my router and a simple jig. someone posted a link to some instructions that I used. I think it worked pretty well.

I would have taken a few more pictures of the process except my wife had the camera with her (as usual) and she was out shopping (as usual) when I was doing this. I waited to tear down the setup until she returned with the camera. This process took me about 5 hours (a relative short time for me) and I am very satisfied with the results. I took off more the 1/8 inch in some places and barely scratched the surface in others.

[Greg Heppeard]

Looks good, what size bit did you use?

[John Keeton]

Great setup! Was the 5 hours inclusive of the time building the jig?

[Larry Browning]

Looks good, what size bit did you use?

That is a 3/4 pattern bit

[Larry Browning]

Great setup! Was the 5 hours inclusive of the time building the jig?

Yeah. Much of that time was spent scrounging for material for the jig. It took me maybe 1 to 2 hours to do the flattening. There were many stops to stretch the back!

[John Schreiber]

Looks great. I'm planning to use hand planes and sweat, but that certainly looks reliable. I worry that I'm going to keep trying to get it just right and it will get worse and worse.

[Larry Browning]

The instructions said to wax the rails and anyplace that things moved on. That was the best advice. everything slid very easily, which was not the case until I waxed it.

[Larry Browning]

Looks great. I'm planning to use hand planes and sweat, but that certainly looks reliable. I worry that I'm going to keep trying to get it just right and it will get worse and worse.
John,
I only own 1 hand plane, a small low angle block plane. As it turned out I found the 3/4 router bit I used for only $12. The wood for the jig I found laying around the shop. So I have a pretty small investment. This is why I did it this way. Plus, I have almost no experience using hand planes.

[Russ Filtz]

How did you ensure you were down to the lowest point on the top? Seems like you'd have to do a thin wash of paint or something, then keep making passes until all the paint is gone. Or is it not worth it to go to this extent.

[Al Navas]

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GREAT job, Larry!!! I like your jig a LOT.



Looks great. I'm planning to use hand planes and sweat, but that certainly looks reliable. I worry that I'm going to keep trying to get it just right and it will get worse and worse.
John,

I was very uneasy about flattening my 4-year-old Sjobergs 96-inch workbench. But I had to do it! You can view the video and read the post at my blog (http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2008/05/20/episode-11-flattening-the-workbench/). I also made a short post and video on how I went about applying the finish to the top (http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2008/05/21/episode-12-applying-the-finish-to-the-flat-workbench-top/), after flattening it.

I am not a hand-tool user by any stretch of imagination, but I finally learned a little about how to sharpen and tune hand planes. From beginning to end to flatten the top with a Fulton #6 jointer plane: 42 minutes. And another little while with my Stanley # 4-1/2 smoother, and the top was done!

You can also read some of the background posts about why the workbench developed the crown I had to remove. The links are at the bottom of the post on flattening.


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[Michael Schumacher]

Yeah. Much of that time was spent scrounging for material for the jig. It took me maybe 1 to 2 hours to do the flattening. There were many stops to stretch the back!

One thing popped into my head of your Jig to "save your back" would be to make the jig where you could put in a cable system that would pull the router one way, then another would pull it back the other way, which would save your back leaning over doing 3/4" at a time. Yeah, more time to build the jig, but heck...isn't that part of the fun?

[Steve Clardy]

Great job Larry

[Sean Troy]

That is very impressive !

[Hank Knight]

Larry, That's a nice looking bench. Did you build it? If so, congrats, and the flat top looks like a pro job. Great work.

Hank

[Larry Browning]

How did you ensure you were down to the lowest point on the top? Seems like you'd have to do a thin wash of paint or something, then keep making passes until all the paint is gone. Or is it not worth it to go to this extent.

Russ,
I am not that anal. I just eyeballed where I thought was the lowest spot and set the depth there. I then set the router down is several other places to see if the bit still touched the surface. I did find one place where it didn't, so I lowered the bit to that spot. That whole process took about 5 minutes. I was not trying to get it dead flat, just pretty close. I'm not trying to get within .001 which I am sure I did not. But it seems flat enough for my purposes. I can't see light under my straight edge in all but a few places and those gaps are very small.

[Larry Browning]

Larry, That's a nice looking bench. Did you build it? If so, congrats, and the flat top looks like a pro job. Great work.

Hank
Hank,
Yes, I am building it, I am not ready to declare it is built yet. I still some more to go on it. I made it from some very old (30+ years) ash timbers I have http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=71174

The top has a couple of exposed knots that I want to patch with a bowtie inlay and of course I need to put a finish on it. I im using a plan from woodsmith magazine.

[Larry Browning]

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GREAT job, Larry!!! I like your jig a LOT.

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Al,
After watching you video, and how hard you worked at it! I knew I needed to find another way:eek: I would have a heart attack for sure!
My bench was cupped instead of bowed, which seemed like it would be more difficult to flatten with a plane, especially since I am completely unskilled with hand planes.
For me, I think this was by far the best option.

[Douglas Brummett]

I like this technique. The only thing that scares me about it is that the bit is essentially blind, so if it were to creep out of the collet it would damage the top before I would be able to catch it.

Looks good, congrats.

[Larry Browning]

I like this technique. The only thing that scares me about it is that the bit is essentially blind, so if it were to creep out of the collet it would damage the top before I would be able to catch it.

Looks good, congrats.
I was worried about this as well. I cranked down on that collet like you wouldn't believe! I checked it every time I took a break to stretch my back. when I had finished it was all I could do to loosen the nuts on the collet.

[dan sherman]

Larry,

Whats it made out of, and how big is it? :D

[Larry Browning]

Larry,

Whats it made out of, and how big is it? :D
If you are talking about the workbench, it is 35 X 81 1/2 made from 30+ year old ash timbers.
If you are talking about the jig, it's made from consturction 1x4s and 1X8s and various scraps of plywood and hardboard

[Doug Shepard]

You used the same method I did except I got (good) advice to use the biggest bowl/tray bit I could find for the radiused bit corners to reduce the ridge lines. Sure beats going neander in terms of time involved.

[Chris Padilla]

Nice job, Larry! I think you are doing EXTREMELY well with this project. Trust me, soon you'll really be turning out some gems...can't wait!

[John Schreiber]

. . . flattening my 4-year-old Sjobergs 96-inch workbench. But I had to do it! You can view the video and read the post at my blog (http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2008/05/20/episode-11-flattening-the-workbench/). . . .

Al,

I finally got a chance to watch the video. It is quite reassuring to see how smoothly (pun intended) you progressed. I also appreciate the suggestions in your blog. I can see using a # 5 set with a lot of camber and a wide throat to get rid of the visible problems with the shape, then go to the jointer to refine it and a smooth to make the surface pretty.

I wish I had one of those fast forward buttons which you have. It certainly saved you a lot of time,:) but it seemed to take just as much energy as going slowly.:eek:

Watching your technique, I wondered how tall you and your bench are. I'm 6'1" and my bench top had been at 36". As an experiment, I lowered it to 34.5 and found that I could get my shoulders over the plane and use my body weight instead of my muscles to do a lot of the work.