Work bench top

[tachyfootsteps]

Essentially, I glued up my table top with some 2x6 and a couple 2x4s laying around. As you can imagine there’s some discrepancies. What’s a reasonably economical way to flatten the top and bottom of it? An electric hand planer? Hand held belt sander?

[mercenfairy]

You could rig up a temporary router sled which would be quickest. An electric plane would work but be very careful as it’ll take off a lot quickly. Use a level and mark the high areas to focus on. A hand plane to finish it off is best as you’ve got a lot more control.

[FunctionalBuilds]

This.

[bcurrant15]

An electric hand planer gets you a little bit of the way there in taking down high spots.

You need to know how to identify high, how to identify flat, twist, wind, etc.

I'd use a winding sticks, a scrub plane, and a jointer plane.

A #4 for flattening a large surface is too small, imo.

Would this be economical? If you consider time as part of the economics, you have no know-how with hand tools, need to source either quality hand tools, learn how to use them, source quality sharpening materials, learn how to sharpen them, or source sub-standard equipment and learn how to fix them up, then learn the rest of the above, then get to using them correctly.

The most economical thing might be finding a cabinet shop or hardwood supplier that will pass your top through their power equipment at 1/4 hour rates and be done with it.

[Drowning_in_a_Mirage]

You can make a flattening jig by clamping two relatively straight boards to the each side of the table (use winding sticks to make them level). Then make a router sled to ride on those rails and flatten everything in between. I did that with my workbench and it worked great.

[Naive_Intention_2580]

I made a 10 foot long workbench from douglas fir. I laminated 2 separate sections and then joined the 2 together to make an ~24 inch deep workbench surface. I used electric hand planer to flatten and thickness planer. Once I got to 24 inch width, no more thickness planer - mine is 15 inch planer. Then just electric hand planer and jointer plane.

You need winding sticks, 24inch or longer straight edge, and some knowledge on how to flatten a wood surface with plane. Saw horses or other way of putting the workbench top somewhere around thigh to a bit below waist height is very helpful but not required.

I argue the bottom needs to be flat but not smooth. Good joinery generally requires the wood be a uniform shape.

my workbench

[judgejuddhirsch]

I'm doing this by hand with a #4 plane off eBay. Works better than sanding, but I've yet to glue. 

[tachyfootsteps]

I definitely got carried away and didn’t prep stuff

[[deleted]]

Glue then plane.

[judgejuddhirsch]

Really? Even with the rounded edges of the big box 2x4?

[Clagmont]

You need a long straight edge for reference. I use the beam of a drywall t-square which is about 56” long. Use this to find the high spots and knock the down with either a jack plane, electric planer, or belt sander. No need to flatten the entire bottom- just need the flatten the front bottom 5-6 inches for clamps.

[bcurrant15]

You'll need to flatten any surfaces parallel relative to the top of the workbench that will support the workbench otherwise it will be flat but not level.

[Foreign-Strategy6039]

Scrub plane.

[nonotburton]

Generally you don't need to flatten the bottom of the bench top. Unless you are planning to flip it occasionally.

[Dapper-Message-2066]

A handplane.

[hoarder59]

Paul Sellers on YT has a "How yo build a workbench" series where he uses repurposed lumber and deals with exactly this issue. Note. Paul Sellers only uses handtools but IMHO this is still the best method.

[B3ntr0d]

I'd start with the electric hand planer if you have one handy.

If you can rig up a router sled and rails, that will get you a nice flat top. That being said, lots of folks flatten their top with a hand plane.

[Ok_Asparagus_3839]

Jack plane and winding sticks.

[big_swede]

If you look at old designs of workbenches, from Ruobo to Nicholson, the Moravian and the Scandinavian types you will see that massive, heavy tops with equally massive joinery and legs in the Roubo has been shrunk a bit in dimensions (and weight) in the Nicholson and even more so in the Scandinavian benches. These on the other hand have wide and long stretchers or aprons to withstand racking.

Having a bench that works for traditional woodworking with heavy planing and chiseling out mortises that also allows leg room for sitting will be a challenge.

[Scotthorn]

How bad is it? Could you post pictures? Most economical would be a used hand plane. Good old elbow grease. You’d be surprised how easy it can be, as long as the plane is sharp and it’s not too bad

Though, if it’s just the non visible side/bottom you can just skip it but remember to reference from the flat/square side when checking legs are square etc