Woodworker's Journal Summer-2008, страница 47

ly managing the assembly this way, I needed to remove only 1/16" to flatten the top. It's possible to make three glue-ups a day: morning, noon and evening.

Flattening the Top

Make the top flat by planing across the grain. This may seem counterintuitive, but it's the best way to remove the slight but inevitable unevenness in the laminations. All woods plane well across the grain with minimal tearout. It's important to follow a planing pattern. Begin at one end and concentrate on a band 6" to 9" wide. Move to the next band as flattening occurs. After flattening the final band at the other end of the top, set the blade finer and start again. Use your straightedge from the very beginning and check every direction. Use a bench brush repeatedly to avoid planing over shavings. And

Locate the numbers so they are undisturbed when the joints are cut. The numbers read clockwise and are marked on the side where the long rails meet the legs. The arrows point to where the short rails meet the legs.

The rail numbers match the leg numbers. Top rails are marked on the top edge, bottom rails on the bottom edge.

keep the blade sharp. As the surface becomes more refined and the depth of cut is reduced, the shavings become like duck down and the planed surface is left very smooth. Don't sand the benchtop because the residual abrasive grit will dull your blade after only a few plane strokes when the occasional re-flattening is required.

The top must be flat in length, flat in width and out of winding. Use a two-foot straightedge to check your flatten-

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Glue the rail blocks to the long rails and clean up with a smoothing plane.

summer 2008 47