caul – TrentDavis.net

I finally settled on a design for my studio desk. It needed to fit into the breakfast nook, be mobile, and house the various racks of gear needed to record music. I went through almost 20 designs before I settled on this one, not because it was the best, but because I knew I would never find the “perfect” design so I should just pick one and go with it.

The desk will mainly consist of a top and a bottom that are joined with vertical pipe sections. The electronic gear will be stored in racks that will be modular, in that I can change their placement at a later date if I decide to. I decided to use two layers of particle board for both the top and bottom. It’s not apparent in the rendering but I’m also going to do a roundover on the tops and bottoms of each piece. I’m also planning on staining the particleboard a dark color and protecting them with several layers of polyurethane.

Cutting the pieces to size

I started with the pieces cut slightly oversized on the panel saw. Then I cut them to their exact length with a circular saw. I did this by cutting a little bit off one side then flipping the board around and cutting it down to the exact length on the other side. I did it this way so I wouldn’t have any factory edges on the final board, which may have nicks on them.

Next, I ripped them on the table saw to get them to their final width. I did the same thing where I took a little off one edge then flipped it and ripped it to the final width.

Marking the outline

The next step was to mark out where I was going to cut. Now, I should mention that although this desk has been planned out, some of it is dealt with on the fly. I had some measurements but they were just guidelines. The important thing is that it isn’t too wide to fit in the breakfast nook, or “control booth” as I’m now calling it. That being said, the marks for cutting aren’t permanent so I drew them on painters tape at first.

Once it was decided where the cuts will be, I marked 2″ over in both directions from the inside corner so I could drill a 4″ hole. This will be clear in a little bit.

I didn’t want my hole saw to wander so I grabbed a hammer and a punch and made an indentation where I wanted the hole to be centered.

Then I was able to use my (dull) 4″ hole saw to make this cut.

I wasn’t too concerned about blowout on the other end because of the roundover I plan on adding. as such, the material wasn’t supported underneath.

I wanted similar radius’s on the outside corners, but they didn’t need to be exact. I used the cutout from the hole I made to trace a corner radius on each of the outer corners.

I had the entire thing planned out and traced on the board.

Cutting out the first (and most important) piece

With the outline traced, I used a jigsaw to cut close to the line.

With the desktop shape cut out, I used a random orbital sander and a belt sander, both equipped with an 80-grit sanding disc and belt, to sand up to the line.

One layer of the desktop is complete. I’m going to use this as a routing template for the other three pieces, with a slight modification for the two bottom pieces.

Using the first piece to cut out the second

To cut out the second piece of the top, I use the piece that I just shaped and trace an outline in pencil on the second piece.

Once again I use a jigsaw to cut out the shape just outside the line.

I attempted to secure the two pieces with some double-stick tape (which although it looks wimpy, has never let me down in the past).

After placing the second piece in place, I realized that the double-sided tape that had never let me down, was letting me down. As a solution, I added two screws since this was going to be the underside of the desktop and wouldn’t be seen.

I equipped my router with a 1/2″ straight pattern bit.

I then routed out the second piece of the top.

An exact replica.

Cutting out the first bottom piece

This is where it got tricky. The bottom needed to match the top but with the central area a bit deeper than on the two top pieces. I accomplished this by tracing most of the outline then I pushed the top piece back a bit and traced the inner section.

Once again I cut it out with the jigsaw.

I then clamped the bottom piece to the top pieces, which were still screwed together.

I routed as much as I could.

I then moved the bottom piece a bit forward so I could route a bit more of the inner edges using the top pieces as a template. To make sure I got it pretty even, I used a combination square to move each edge forward the same amount.

And this is where I screwed up. I got a bit of the inner left edge routed fine then I went over to the right side. Because of the placement of the router, I couldn’t see that I was coming up on the front corner of my template. As a result, I took a chunk out of the bottom piece. Fortunately, this will be easy to fix later since I’m using particleboard. I’m just going to keep going and fix it later before I put the roundover on them.

After moving the bottom piece forward again I was able to get the inner corners to match those on the top pieces.

Cutting out the second bottom piece

I then traced the bottom piece onto the last piece of particleboard.

Then cut it out with the jigsaw.

Due to space limitations, I’m working with all the pieces stacked on top of each other. Here, I’ve got all the pieces clamped together. I’ll be using the bottom piece that I routed out (and screwed up) to route out the second bottom piece.

I managed to not screw this piece up in the same location. Instead, I accidentally tipped the router as I was going around the inner corner. Both bottom pieces will need some repair work before I do the roundovers.

All four pieces are cut to shape. Time to glue them up.

Gluing the tops together

I apply a liberal coat of glue to one of the top pieces.

I then place the second top piece in place and clamp them together. I’m using clamping cauls to help provide some firm pressure on the wider parts.

I let it sit overnight to cure.

After removing the clamps, the top is very sturdy. I didn’t notice the two pieces coming apart anywhere when I removed the clamps.

Gluing the bottom pieces together

Now to do the same with the bottom pieces.

I glued this up in the morning then came back to it in the evening after performing at a show.

I don’t like to wipe the glue squeeze out when working with particleboard. I’d rather let it cure in drips which can be easily removed with a chisel.

Final shaping

Both the top and the bottom are fully cured. Now I’m going to do some final shaping and cleanup.

To ensure that both pieces are the same shape and have smooth edges I clamp them together so I can sand them smooth as if they were all one piece.

Here you can see that the edges are still a bit rough and there is still some glue squeeze-out to deal with.

After hitting them with my sanders, they are all much smoother and a uniform shape.

I had to get creative on the inside area. This took a bit of moving and sanding, then moving again, and sanding some more.

Getting the inside corners was pretty tricky. I used sanding sponges but that was taking a long time. I then tried using the large spindle for my spindle sander and that worked a lot better. I still have a lot of work to do on the inside corners but it’s getting there.

That’s it for part 1.

Closing remarks

I’m still working on the inside corners but I ran out of steam for the weekend.

The next steps are to put the roundovers on the edges and do some more sanding. Then I’ll be staining them and adding several coats of polyurethane.

I haven’t decided on the size of the roundover I’m going to put on the edges. My original intent was to put a 3/4″ roundover on both the top and bottom edge which would effectively make the edge a half-round. I might try a 1/4″ or a 1/2″ to see how I like them. It sounds like I need to do a mock-up on some scraps first…

If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below. I’d love to see any desk builds you’ve done. Also, if you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my mailing list so you get e-mail notifications when I post new articles.

Workbench/Outfeed Table Work Surface

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisMarch 10, 2017January 8, 20186 Comments

UPDATE:

I’ve tested this for almost a year. Read my final opinion here.

Behind my table saw is a large outfeed/assembly table that consists of a torsion box top that sits a little bit lower than my table saw. Since this table is used for glue-up, finishing, andlots of other destructive activites, I have a sacrificial work surface that sits on top of the table and takes my abuse rather than destroying my torsion box.

Removing the Existing Work Surface

My current work surface has seen better days. It’s probably time to replace it. In reality, it’s actually not that bad, I’m just sick of the sight of it.

I typically use a sheet of 1/8″ hardboard that sits loosely on top of the torsion box which is made out of MDF and finished with a few layers of polyurethane.

By using a sacrificial work surface I am able to keep the actual bench-top relatively nice looking and flat.

Laying Out and Sizing the New Work Surface

I originally wanted to change things up and replace it with a sheet of hardboard with a smooth white coating, sometimes referred to as markerboard. My reasoning was that glue and paint could be easily scraped off. When I went to the local big-box home store, I saw a material I hadn’t worked with yet and I decided to give it a try.

I got a sheet of PolyWall, which is advertised as being a good way to protect walls. It’s thinner than hardboard and has a slight texture to it. The sheet is larger than my bench-top which measures 30″ deep and 8′ in length. I’ll need to cut this down.

My workbench is actually a little longer than 8′. This will actually help me cut it down as you’ll see in a later step. For now, I leave a little bit of the workbench exposed on each end. To make sure I trim this down squarely, I am using a combination square on one side and set the new work surface the same distance from the edge of the workbench all along that end.

Now I’m using something to hold the new work surface down. For this I just grabbed one of my cauls and clamped it down with some quick release clamps. I did this on each end.

Then I clamped a straightedge along the front edge. This is where it helps to have the workbench stick out from under the work surface. Since my straightedge is also a little bit longer than 8′ in length, I used the workbench to line up the straightedge and clamp it down on each end.

Cutting this material is really simple. I just ran a utility knife along the straightedge to score the material, then repeated a few times until it simply fell away.

The finished edge has a slight burr to it that can be removed with a file, sandpaper, or a scraper.

After that I moved the straightedge to the back of the workbench and repeated the process there. To simplify, I could have just lined up one of the factory edges of the material with either the front or back of the workbench top but I just felt like doing it this way.

Securing the New Work Surface

That’s all the cutting I’m going to need to do. As you can see, the material likes to raise up at the far edges. This is because I had to roll up the sheet to fit in my car when I bought it and it tends to have a memory to it that fades with time. I can fix this by simply letting the sheet lay on the workbench for a few hours.

To keep the sheet from slipping, I am applying some strips of double-stick tape between the benchtop and work surface.

Now we have it.

I’ve never used this material as a work surface before. I’m going to test it out for a few months under normal use and report back with how it works. So far, I like the slightly textured surface since it causes the material to glide across it much easier. I’m mostly concerned with the toughness. It seems pretty tough but awfully thin. I’ll let you know how this holds up.

Have you ever used this material for anything? What do you put on the top of your workbench? Share it with us in the comments below.

UPDATE:

I’ve tested this for almost a year. Read my final opinion here.

The extension wing provides a lot of work surface.

Workbench: Part 7 – Installing The Hardware

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisFebruary 17, 2017May 1, 2017

<< This is a continuation of Workbench: Part 6 – Finishing the benchtop

The finish has been applied to the bench-top so now it’s time to attach the hardware. This is a tricky subject to explain clearly. I’m going to do my best but I’m planning on coming back and editing this post a bit in an effort to clear some things up. That being said, if any of my explanations below are confusing, please leave me a comment and I’ll try explaining it in more detail.

This post has a lot of pictures so be patient while it loads.

Attaching the angle iron to the ends of each piece.

The bench-top is 23-7/16″ deep so I need to cut four pieces of angle iron to that length.

A metal chop saw was used to make all my cuts but you can do this with a hacksaw if you don’t mind the blisters and carpal tunnel.

The chop saw leaves a jagged burr on the edge of the angle iron so I’ll need to knock that back.

You can use a hand file to remove most of the burr from each end of the pieces of angle iron. I did this while slightly rounding over the ends.

To remove the burr on the inner corner I needed to use a rat-tail file.

The burrs were removed from both ends of each piece of angle iron.

A test fit gives a preview of how it looks and lets you make sure that none of the metal pieces are too long.

The screws will be attached in the center of the angle iron so I set my combination square to half the width which ended up being 5/8″.

I used the combination square to set the position of a metal shop rule on the angle iron and I clamped it in place.

I decided on the placement of the screws by first marking where the center screw will be and then adding the marks for the outer screws about 1-1/4″ inches in from the edge. I then found the center point between the outer marks and the central one. I used a silver Sharpie to mark the placement of the screws with some hash marks on pieces of painters tape so I could repeat them on each piece.

The screws that I am using to attach the metal require a 7/32″ hole.

When drilling through metal you should usually apply a few drops of 3-in-1 oil to where you will be drilling out the holes. This is what I did when I made the holes using a drill press.

Since I wanted the screws to sit relatively flush with the top of the metal, I added a countersink to each hole using a 3/4″ countersink bit. I went just deep enough for them to be flush but I didn’t want it too perfect since I’m going for a more used, industrial look. Fortunately, making things “not perfect” is a specialty of mine.

This took quite a while. I ended up doing most of them with a hand drill which actually went much faster than the drill press and helped contribute to the imperfect look that I was going for.

When it was time to drill the holes, I clamped the angle iron to the ends of the bench-top pieces so I could ensure their placement was correct and that it wouldn’t slip.

I used some blue painters tape on my drill bit to mark the depth of the hole that I needed for the screws.

I drilled just to the point that the painters tape touched the metal. This is easy to do if you watch the shavings that gather around the hole you are drilling. When the tape starts to brush them aside, stop drilling.

The pieces were then attached with screws. Now the bench-tops are officially done.

Attaching the legs to the bench-top.

I am using hardware by Steel-Tek to create the legs for this desk. To get a visual on what pieces are needed where, I laid them out on the underside of the bench-top in the approximate area where they will be attached.

I attached a 3/4″ flange (part no. 673-104HC) in each of the four corners of the main bench-top piece. I set them 2″ in from each edge.

Four screws were used to attach each flange. I also added a fifth flange along the back edge which will help support the bench-top along the length.

Since I still had the hash marks on my shop rule from when I drilled the holes in the angle iron, I laid that out and used it to arrange the hinges for attaching the extension wing. I debated about using a piano hinge for this as it would provide better support since it would be screwed into the side rather than from underneath. In the end, I decided to attach four hinges along the underside and I’ll just keep an eye on it. I can always come back and change it later if it starts to weaken.

I ended up spacing the hinges a little over 2″ apart. This measurement will vary depending on the hinge that is used.

Each hinge was attached and they seem really solid so I’m not too worried. I needed a slight gap between the main table and the wing because of how the wing is going to be held upright. This will be explained later.

Back to my chop saw to cut down the 3/4″ tubing to the various lengths that I needed.

Using a disc sander, I added a slight chamfer around the edge of each piece of pipe in case anyone wants to take this bench apart in the future. I wouldn’t want anyone getting cut on the sharp edges.

As I was cutting these down, I realized that this piping would allow me to run wires through them in case I wanted to add a few outlets along the top. If you’ve ever run conduit, you probably understand the importance of removing the jagged edge along the inside so it doesn’t damage any wires. I did this with a deburring tool.

I got all my hardware gathered up. Along with ten single socket tees (670-104HC) from Steel-Tek, I used the following lengths of pipe.

(qty: 1) 52″
(qty: 4) 28 ¼”
(qty: 3) 16″
(qty: 1) 12 ½”
(qty: 1) 6″

I also used 1″ rubber feet which fit perfectly over the 3/4″ pipe. Four of these were used for the legs and a fifth was used for the extension wing support arm.

I inserted the 6″ piece of pipe into the center flange and tightened the set screw.

Two single socket tees are then attached to two of the three 16″ lengths of pipe and the set screws are tightened. These will be the horizontal support braces that will go between the front and rear legs.

I slid two legs all the way through the tees on each of the horizontal braces and temporarily tightened the set screws. I set these aside for later.

Then I attached three of the tees to the 52″ length of pipe. First I attached one on the end and tightened down the set screw. After that I slid one of the tees over the pipe and moved it towards the center but didn’t tighten it at all. I then added the last tee to this piece and tightened it up.

Once it was all together I fit the loose central tee over the other end of the 6″ pipe and tightened the set screw but only the one that attaches it to the shorter piece. This meant the large 52″ piece can slide around if I need it to while I’m attaching the legs.

At this point, the only piece of pipe that is secure is the 6″ piece. This let me insert one of the sets of legs into the flanges on the side without the extension wing. I made sure the legs were square with the bench-top and tightened down the set screws in the flanges. The tee that attaches the rear rail to these legs is still loose. It’s worth noting that I have all of the set screws one every fixture facing the inside of the desk. This will make it easier to remove the bench-top from the legs without having to move the bench away from the wall.

The extension wing support is next. I put this together somewhat similarly to the rear rail except I centered the tee and tightened it down. I also inserted the 12-1/2″ piece with the rubber foot on the opposite end. I tightened this set screw but knew I would probably have to come back and adjust this later. The two tees on the end are kept loose and will remain so.

The extension table support is then slid on to the other set of legs. To make attaching it easier, I temporarily tightened the set screws for the tees that attach it to the legs.

This leg assembly is inserted like the opposite one. Make sure it is square to the bench-top and tighten the set screws on the flanges. Then, I ensured that the rear rail was the same distance from the underside of the bench-top at either end and tightened the set screws on the tees at each end of the rear rail.

Then I loosened the set screws on the tees that attach the extension wing arm support to the legs and slid them down so the rear tee rested on top of the tee on the rear rail. I tightened it down and set the opposite tee on this piece to the same height and secured it as well. I then lowered the horizontal brace so it rested on the rubber foot of the extension wing arm and tightened it down. Once that was in the correct position, I took a measurement and duplicated this position on the horizontal brace on the other legs.

Since I didn’t tighten the set screws that hold the extension wing horizontal brace to the front and rear legs, this whole mechanism can swing up and support the wing. I needed to make a wedge for the leg to press against. After ensuring that the bench-top pieces were co-planar, I swung the arm down and measured the angle.

I then transferred that angle to the table saw.

I cut a bevel of that angle on a scrap piece of oak flooring that was left over from this same project. I left this piece longer than I needed in case I need to try attaching it in different areas.

Once it was cut, I applied a coat of the same stain that I used on the rest of the desk and a single coat of polyurethane.

I pressed this piece firmly into the foot of the extension wing arm and secured it with drywall screws. I didn’t glue it in case I wanted to make any adjustments.

I set the bench upright and tested it out. The wing sagged a bit but rather than remove the wooden wedge and move it forward, I loosened the set screw that holds this arm in place and slightly extended the arm a bit. I tightened the set screw again and made sure the wing was flat with the main table.

If you want to lower the extension wing, you simply lift the extension wing slightly and the support arm swings down out of the way. The rubber foot on the end grabs the bottom brace and friction locks it in place.

All finished.

It’s time to call this project done. My wife and I moved it up to her studio and I gave her a few days to test it out. So far it seems to be very sturdy. I have plans to add a shallow drawer or two but I’m going to let her use the bench for a bit to see if that is something that she really needs.

It really does provide a lot of work surface. The overall dimensions of the work surface is 24 ½” x 83 ¼” when the extension wing is up.

When the extension wing is not needed, it easily folds out of the way creating a work surface of 24 ½” x 60 ¼”.

This gives her the space to work on her computer while still having her projects set up.

Please let me know if this helped you in any way or if you have any suggestions for how I could have done this differently. I’m also planning on a few more projects along this same style so if you have any suggestions, please let us know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you. Also, please consider signing up for my mailing list to be notified of future articles. I am also available on social media. Stop by and say ‘Hi’. I can be reached at the links to the right.

<< Back to Workbench: Part 6 – Finishing the benchtop
<< Back to Workbench: Part 5 – Cutting the benchtop to size
<< Back to Workbench: Part 4 – Gluing up the new top
<< Back to Workbench: Part 3 – Change of plans
<< Back to Workbench: Part 2 – Gluing up the top
<< Back to Workbench: Part 1 – Milling down some 2 x 4s

After letting it sit for 24 hours, the bench is now ready for the hardware.

Workbench: Part 6 – Finishing the benchtop

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisFebruary 5, 2017December 10, 2021One Comment

This is a continuation of Workbench: Part 5 – Cutting the benchtop to size

The workbench top is almost done. It’s been glued up and cut to size. Now all it needs is the finishing touches to get it ready for the hardware.

Adding a shallow rabbet on the ends of each piece.

The left and right edges of each section are going to have angle-iron that wraps around the corners. Since these will be recessed, I need to add a shallow rabbet on each edge. I did this with my table saw and a dado stack. The depth was pretty crucial but the width was approximate. I knew I wasn’t going to get a final fit until I rounded the corner so I just made sure not to make it too wide.

Cut a shallow rabbet on the left and right edges of the benchtop pieces.

I did a rough-fit just to make sure it was deep enough but not too wide.

This is how the angle-iron will sit on the edge.

A close-up view shows how I need to apply a roundover to the corner.

I need to add a roundover in the corner so the angle-iron sits flush.

I used a contour gauge to determine the radius of the inner corner.

Using a contour gauge to determine the correct roundover to apply.

The router bit that fit best is a 1/8″ roundover bit.

It looks like a 1/8" roundover bit will work.

I set the benchtop upside-down on my router table and used it to set the height of the bit.

Then it was a simple matter of pushing the piece along the bit. The piece was pretty big but since my router table is mounted on my table saw, it was actually not too bad.

Cutting the roundover on the left and right edges.

It looks like this is going to be a better fit. Now it’s time to finish the rabbet.

Now I need to take the rabbet back by a bit.

It looks like I need to take an additional 1/16″ off the top.

I set the fence on my table saw so I would remove just a hair under 1/16″. I’d rather remove too little and have to take off just a bit more than remove too much.

Setting my fence so I can take ~1/16" off of the existing rabbet.

I carefully extended the rabbet just a bit. I didn’t end up needing to move the fence at all, but I did have to raise the blade up just a bit and make a second pass.

Running the pieces over the spinning dado stack.

That fits much better. It’s not perfect but it’s close enough.

Applying a stain to the tops and sides.

Now it’s time to apply the stain. For this, I’m using Varathane Kona wood stain.

I applied a generous amount using a 3″ brush.

First I apply the stain with a 3" brush.

My wife followed up with a blue shop towel and dabbed up most of the stain before it could soak in too much. As you can see, this leaves a lot of the stain in the deeper spots, like the dents, mill-marks, and “worm-holes”.

The towel soaks up most of the stain but can't really get into the dents, mill-marks, or "worm-holes".

I’m pretty happy with how this looks so far.

We need to let it sit for about an hour before we do anything else to it.

We put the angle-iron on the rabbet to get an idea of how it’s going to look when we are finished. I think it looks pretty good.

This is how the angle-iron will look next to this stain.

After waiting an hour, we made sanding blocks out of scrap wood and 220-grit sticky-back sanding discs.

Making a sanding block out of a scrap piece of wood and some sticky-back 220-grit sanding discs.

We used these to go over the benchtops and knock back the high spots a bit.

Knocked back the high spots with the sanding block.

The contrast was a bit too much so my wife decided to lightly dab on some more stain in spots to bring the contrast under control.

Lightly dabbing on some more stain to reduce the contrast between the light and the dark parts.

It’s probably worth mentioning that we made sure to get the front and back of each piece.

Making sure we got the front and back of each piece.

Now we need to let it sit for a few more hours before we apply the polyurethane.

Letting it sit for another couple of hours.

Protecting it all with polyurethane.

For this project I’m using Varathane brand matte finish interior polyurethane. It goes on easily and rinses out with soap and water. An added bonus is that you don’t have to sand in between coats. I still prefer to sand right before applying the final coat.

I used the same brush that I used for the stain to apply a generous first coat of polyurethane.

Applying the first coat of polyurethane.

After applying the first coat, I went over it lightly with the brush to smooth it out. You can see how the poly sits in the deeper spots. Our intention is to apply enough poly that it fills in these spots, making a smoother surface.

I'm hoping it will help fill up the low spots and even out the top.

Finished applying the first coat. I’m letting that sit overnight before applying the next coat.

Got to let it sit for a few hours before adding more coats.

I applied the second coat and let that sit for a few hours.

Applied a third coat…and waited.

…and a fourth.

After the fourth coat has been applied, I'm starting to wonder how many more coats this is going to take.

I let the fourth coat sit for 24 hours. It looks like it’s ready to be sanded before applying the final coat. The polyurethane has helped smooth out the high and low spots a bit. I’m not going for a writing surface here so it doesn’t need to be perfectly flat.

The fourth coat is dry and ready for sanding.

I carefully flipped the pieces over so I can stain the underside. Obviously, this isn’t as critical as the top and I could probably not worry about it at all, but the smaller piece will most likely be attached the the main piece with a piano hinge and will hang down on the side when not in use. This means that the underside of the smaller piece will be visible at these times.

Turned the bench-top pieces over so I can stain the underside.

I started the tedious process of applying the stain to the underside. This piece is pine plywood and it soaks up the stain a lot faster than the oak. As a result, this is going to be much darker than the top.

I soaked up as much excess stain as I could.

Soaking up as much excess stain as I can.

After waiting about an hour and a half, I lightly sanded the underside with 220-grit sandpaper. I’m just trying to knock back any bumps before I seal them for all time under a layer of polyurethane.

I let the stain sit for about an hour and a half then I lightly sanded the undersides.

I applied a single coat of polyurethane to the undersides.

This is the only layer of poly that I am planning on applying to the underside. I’m going to let it sit for 24 hours before flipping the bench-top pieces back over and finishing the tops.

The polyurethane has been applied and needs to sit overnight.

After letting the poly coat on the underside sit for 24 hours, I flipped the benchtop back over and lightly sanded the top with 220-grit sandpaper in order to knock back any bumps or high points. This also further distressed the top.

I sanded the top with 220-grit to knock down some of the high spots.

I carefully applied the fifth and final coat of polyurethane and let it sit for twenty-four hours.

I carefully reapplied the fifth and final coat of polyurethane.

After sitting overnight, the finish on the bench-top is complete and now it’s time to attach the hardware.

Do you have any tips on staining and protecting your work? What has worked for you? Let us know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you. Also, please consider signing up for my mailing list to be notified of future articles. I am also available on social media. Stop by and say ‘Hi’. I can be reached at the links below.

Previous articles in this series…

All done with two slabs cut to 5' and 2' in length.

Workbench: Part 5 – Cutting the benchtop to size

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisJanuary 22, 2017December 10, 2021One Comment

This is a continuation of Workbench: Part 4 – Gluing up the new top.

The top is all glued up so now I need to strengthen it by attaching 1/2″ plywood to the underside. I can then cut it down to the final size to prepare it for finishing.

Looking at the underside of the glued up benchtop.

There were a few spots of glue squeeze-out that I decided to remove so they don’t interfere with attaching the benchtop to the plywood. I just scraped them flat with a chisel.

Removing the glue squeeze-out with a chisel.

I am attaching two sheets of 1/2″ plywood cut to 2′ X 4′ pieces. I laid them out to see which would be the best placement for them. The benchtop so far is about 25″ deep so there will be a lip overhanging the plywood at both the front and back. My initial plan was to cut the front and back edges flat then attach a border, but that plan changed, as you’ll see in a moment.

Laying out the 1/2" plywood. — Laying out the 1/2″ plywood.

I am using Loctite PL 510 construction adhesive to attach the plywood to the benchtop.

LocTite PL 510 construction adhesive for attaching the plywood.

I ran a bead of the construction adhesive down the length of each strip of flooring. This is, of course, working on the underside of the benchtop. Then I placed the plywood sheets on top of that. I tried to get it relatively centered.

Attaching the plywood with the construction adhesive.

I clamped and cauled the plywood sheets to the benchtop and let it dry for 24 hours.

My original plan was to mill down some more of the flooring scraps and make a border along the front and back of the benchtop that was 1-1/4″ tall and 1/2″ deep. This was mostly to cover the plywood that is being attached to the underside of the benchtop. I started by cutting the tongue off the side of the flooring pieces.

Cutting the tongue off several pieces of flooring.

After that I cut off the groove on the opposite side.

Removing the groove from several pieces of flooring.

Then I trimmed the tongues and grooves off each of the ends.

Using the miter gauge to remove the tongues and grooves from the ends.

Finally I trimmed off the grooves along the bottom of the flooring pieces. I also ended up shaving a bit off the tops just to clean them up.

Cutting the grooves off the bottoms of the flooring pieces.

This left me with some nice oak stock to use for the front and rear trim.

Now this gives me some nice usable stock to work with.

The final width of each piece was a little over 1-7/8″ wide…

This leaves me with ~1-7/8" of material to work with. — This leaves me with ~1-7/8″ of material to work with.

…and 5/8″ thick.

This gives me some nice 5/8" stock. — This gives me some nice 5/8″ stock.

I removed the clamps and cauls and decided to get my wife’s opinion on the front and rear trim idea. I’m glad I did. She had the idea of just cutting the milled stock into strips and gluing them to the lip, therefore just covering the plywood and not the edges of the oak flooring.

The lip runs the whole length of the benchtop on both the front and back.

I cut some of the milled oak stock down to usuable pieces. I decided to just make them 5/8″ X 5/8″.

Cutting the oak stock into 5/8" X 5/8" strips. — Cutting the oak stock into 5/8″ X 5/8″ strips.

I was able to get enough strips by cutting down just 4 of the milled oak pieces. This leaves me with some more milled oak stock to use for other projects.

I laid out the pieces and applied a bead of Titebond 2 to the lip.

Applied a bead of Titebond 2 to the lip on the underside of the workbench.

I attached the oak strips and clamped them in place with small quick-release clamps.

Holding the strip in place with some small clamps.

The strips wanted to pull away from the plywood in a few spots so I used some larger clamps to apply lateral pressure. I don’t have a lot of clamps that are over 24″ so I had to get creative with some of them, but it all worked fine in the end.

Getting creative with some clamps that are just a bit too short.

After the glue dried I did the same thing for the back of the bench.

Applying some lateral pressure with some larger clamps.

There was some glue squeeze-out on the underside of the benchtop.

I used a random orbital sander on the entire surface of the underside and…

Sanding the bottom smooth to get rid of the glue squeeze-out.

…it looks a lot better now.

Now it was time to cut everything down to size. I took the glued up benchtop to my SawStop table saw so I could trim off one end.

Trimming off the edges of the benchtop at the SawStop table saw using my sliding crosscut table.

The ends of the workbench will be covered in metal. I’ll get to that in a future article. All I need now is for them to be flat.

I then trimmed off the opposite end.

Trimming off the opposite edge at the table saw.

It looks so much better now that I have trimmed off the excess on the ends.

I then trimmed the excess material off the front and the back.

Trimming the front edge at the table saw.

This was the look I was going for.

The benchtop was pretty unwieldy since it was so huge. As a result, the table saw left some burning on the edges.

The table saw caused a little burning on the edges.

The random orbital sander easily removed the burn marks.

The burning is easily removed with a random orbital sander.

The plan was to turn this into a 5′ long workbench with a 2′ long flip-down wing. I marked the benchtop at 5′.

Marking the benchtop at 5'. — Marking the benchtop at 5′.

I used my SawStop sliding crosscut table to cut the workbench at the 5′ mark.

Cutting the benchtop to length using the SawStop sliding crosscut table.

The sliding crosscut table makes it very easy to perform this type of cut.

Cutting it down at 5'. — Cutting it down at 5′.

It cut cleanly and didn’t really burn it except for where I stopped pushing the material so I could take the picture above. A little sanding and it disappeared.

The workbench is now cut to the final size and is ready to be finished.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I’d love to hear from you.

Back to Workbench: Part 4 – Gluing up the new top

Back to Workbench: Part 3 – Change of plans

Back to Workbench: Part 2 – Gluing up the top

Back to Workbench: Part 1 – Milling down some 2 x 4s

Workbench: Part 3 – Change of plans

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisDecember 19, 2016January 12, 20173 Comments

This is a continuation of Workbench: Part 2 – Gluing up the top.

After gluing up half of the top, I repeated the process and got the other half glued up as well.

Both halves, ready to be glued together.

Once it was dry I joined them together with glue and biscuits just like I did for the individual boards.

After taking the clamps and cauls off I was left with a fairly warped but completely glued up benchtop.

At this point, the project wasn’t looking too promising. My goal was not only to make a benchtop but to see if it can be reasonably accomplished using common 2 X 4 material. Unfortunately, they are so dimensionally unstable that they do a lot of twisting and warping as they dry. Maybe if I had these sitting in my shop for a few seasons so they can thoroughly dry then the end result would have been better. Still, I was somewhat determined to make this work.

I started sanding it using a random orbital sander.

This was taking a long time so I switched to a belt sander. This want a lot faster but I was still unhappy with the results since there was so much warpage to this. I know I can eventually get it to work but I’ll have to remove so much material that it won’t be as sturdy as I want it.

It was at this time that my wife asked if I had any of the leftover wood from our newly installed hard-wood floors. She had the idea that I can just use that since it already has the tongue-and-groove in place, plus she likes the look of oak more than fir. Normally, I’m not a fan of oak but I had to agree that this would look better and be stronger even though the tabletop would be 3/4″ rather than 1″.

I decided to give it a shot. I gathered up the scrap wood flooring and started laying it out. I needed to get enough material to make a 7′ X 2′ section. The plan is to have a 5′ wide bench with a 2′ wide flip up extension.

I had to cut some mating grooves in a few of the pieces but I was able to get enough material. Once it was laid out, I attached a piece of blue painters tape to each piece so I could label them.

I labelled each piece with the row (number) and which order it is in from left to right (letter)

Now, this is where this gets interesting. One of the reasons my wife wanted me to use the oak flooring is because she wanted me to try to get “mill marks” on some of the boards. Normally, I’m not a fan of faux-finishes and antiquing techniques, but this was an interesting challenge.

I tried approximating it by hand with 24 grit sanding pads and the result wasn’t pretty (as I expected). The other technique I wanted to try was to put actual milling marks on the wood.

To accomplish this, I needed to get a blade that I could damage. Specifically, I needed a 10″ table saw blade without carbides. I knew I wasn’t going to find this in the store so I would have to look for a used blade. I started my search at Habit for Humanity ReStore. I couldn’t find anything there that was 10″ so I decided to try at a pawn shop. I eventually found an old Craftsman blade that had all of my requirements and was new in the box. To top it all off, after I told them why I was getting it, they knocked $6.00 of the price.

Found a cheap 10" blade with no carbides. — Found a cheap 10″ blade with no carbides.

As you can see, it's cheap but in decent shape. — As you can see, it’s cheap but in decent shape.

To add the mill marks I took one of the teeth and bent it towards what would be the right of the blade after it was installed on the saw.

Bending one of the teeth with a pair of vice grips.

Then I installed it on my saw and made a few test cuts. I then bent it a few more times until I found the right amount.

The blade installed. The bent tooth is marked with an arrow.

Here’s a test cut. I’m going to do a bit more distressing and see the final result after I stain this wood.

Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know if you’ve tried this technique or have any other ways of distressing wood that have worked for you.
Up next: Workbench: Part 4 – Gluing up the new top.

Back to Workbench: Part 2 – Gluing up the top.

Back to Workbench Part 1 – Milling down some 2 x 4s.

Workbench: Part 2 – Gluing up the top

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisDecember 15, 2016December 19, 20168 Comments

This is a continuation of Workbench Part 1 – Milling down some 2 x 4s.

We got another snow day so this gave me an opportunity to work some more on my wife’s workbench.

Now that the boards have all been milled down, it’s time to start gluing them together.

For this project, I knew I was going to need a few sets of cauls. If you are unfamiliar with a clamping caul, read on…

A clamping caul is simply a set of boards that are used to keep the top and bottom of a wide glue-up relatively flat. Their use will make sense at the end of this article. They are extremely easy to make. I made two sets for this glue up. I started with some 1 X 3 stock that I cut down to be a few inches longer than the width of the final glue up.

The benchtop I am making is going to be 24″ deep so I made my cauls about 28″ long. There’s no need to be exact, just make it a bit longer than the final glue up.

The boards have been cut to 28" long. — The boards have been cut to 28″ long.

After cutting four pieces that are 28″ long, I took them to my oscillating belt sander. This step is optional but I find it really helps. What you want to do is add a little bit of a slope at both ends of one side of each caul.

The end goal is a set of boards that have a gap between them at the ends. This is so when you attach them, the clamps will pull them together but it won’t bow up in the middle.

After I shaped them with the sander, I covered them in packing tape so the glue won’t stick to them.

Now, time to work on the actual benchtop. First I laid the milled boards out how they will be glued together.

I am going to be using biscuits to align everything so I put little pieces of painters tape on the edges of the boards where I was planning on putting the biscuits.

Afterward, I made marks where I should center the slot for the biscuits. The placement here isn’t critical.

Next I added some tape so I could number each board. The reason I’m doing this with tape rather than just writing directly on the boards is because these boards are douglas fir and are pretty soft. I didn’t want to make indentations from a pencil on them if I could avoid it.

The boards are all numbered and in order

Using the marks I had drawn, I used my biscuit joiner to make slots at all of the marks.

Lining up the biscuit joiner to cut the slot on the mark.

Biscuit slots cut into one of the edges.

Now it’s time to try gluing this all together. I decided to do this in sections, gluing up half at a time. Setting up a few pipe clamps, I arranged the boards up so I could glue up four of the eight boards.

The boards are arranged so that the glue can be applied.

I applied a liberal amount of glue to the edges of three of the boards, including some extra glue in the biscuit slots. Then I inserted a size 10 biscuit in each slot on the three boards with glue applied.

The biscuits are in place after the glue was applied to three of the edges.

Then I carefully rotated the second, third, and fourth board and inserted some glue in those biscuit slots. After that, I laid the boards out on the clamps so the biscuits inserted into the slots on the adjacent board and started to bring the clamps together. I didn’t really tighten them that much since I needed to nudge a few of the boards with a rubber mallet to get the marks on the tape to line up again.

I got them all aligned and started to tighten up the clamps.

The glued up pieces being aligned to the marks on the tape.

Now it’s time to attach the cauls. I started by sliding one of the cauls under the glued up boards. The side of the caul that I sanded the slope onto is facing up.

The bottom part of the caul set in place.

Then I set another caul on top of the glue up with the sloped edge facing down.

Then I clamped them together. The slopes on the edges allows the cauls to bend as they “give” a little bit but will direct most of that deformity to the edges of the cauls instead of raising up off the glue up in the middle.

Both parts of the caul clamped together.

I attached the second set of cauls at the other end along with a few more clamps.

The second caul attached near the other end.

Time to wait…

After this sets up, I’ll do the same to the other half. That’s going to have to wait until another day.

Up next: Workbench Part 3 – Change of plans.

Back to Workbench Part 1 – Milling down some 2 x 4s.

Tag: caul

Studio Desk – Part 1: Preparing the top and bottom

Cutting the pieces to size

Marking the outline

Cutting out the first (and most important) piece

Using the first piece to cut out the second

Cutting out the first bottom piece

Cutting out the second bottom piece

Gluing the tops together

Gluing the bottom pieces together

Final shaping

Closing remarks

Workbench/Outfeed Table Work Surface

UPDATE:

Removing the Existing Work Surface

Laying Out and Sizing the New Work Surface

Securing the New Work Surface

UPDATE:

Workbench: Part 7 – Installing The Hardware

Attaching the angle iron to the ends of each piece.

Attaching the legs to the bench-top.

All finished.

Workbench: Part 6 – Finishing the benchtop

Adding a shallow rabbet on the ends of each piece.

Applying a stain to the tops and sides.

Protecting it all with polyurethane.

Previous articles in this series…

Workbench: Part 5 – Cutting the benchtop to size

Workbench: Part 3 – Change of plans

Workbench: Part 2 – Gluing up the top