Since the base is wrapped up (mostly) I turned my attention to the workbench top.  I took a sub-assembly approach to the top and will expand on this throughout the post.

The top is going to be 30″ deep X 78″ long X 3 1/2″ thick.  I am going to shoot for the thickest I can get.  The top will have two “breadboard” ends to help keep it aligned over time.  It will also have a channel for the wagon vise to move in.  One other feature that is rather unique, and may not work as well as I think, is a double row of T-Track.  It will be  on the opposite side of the deadman/leg vise combo.  I am somewhat splitting the bench between traditional clamping methods vs alternative clamping methods.  I aslo think the double T-track can be used to hang small boxes that can contain chisels, planes, rulers, etc and keep them out of my way.  Sort of like a tool tray, but with more versatlility.

Here is the majority of the lumber I used for the top.  I ended up buying more (twice)

Sub-Assembly Method

I wanted to create sections of the top that could be jointed and planed to minimize the amount of work that had to be done later.  In order to do this, I made a lot(9) of laminated sub-assemblies.  The first three I worked on were the three sections around the Wagon Vise.  I chose the straightest boards and began, what seemed to be an endless process, of milling, laminating, milling again.  I started with the area around the wagon vise, so I could cut the grooves (that the vise rides in) in the top before it was glued up.  This also allows me to use the straightest boards possible.   The process of making these laminations is time consuming and pretty boring.

Creating Sub Assemblies (Laminations) with some pictures

1. Choose a set of boards that equated to 3-4 inches in total thickness and larger and it gets too heavy (for birch)
2. Joint 1 board surface and 1 edge (with the help of roller stands)
3. Plane each board to get two parallel surfaces and maintain as much thickness as possible
4. Rip each board to max width as a set (for me ~ 3 7/8″)
5. Mark grain direction of each board and mark “bottom” or “top” depending on defects, grain reversals, knots, etc
6. Align grain direction and orientation for all board in set
7. Glue and Clamp
8. Clean glue after dry
9. Check across boards for 90 to a surface
10. Hand plane areas that are far off
    1. Mostly due to boards shifting during glue up.

       

11. Joint board edges with reference surface against fence
    1. Use featherboard, when possible
12. Use bandsaw to cut lamination down in size to be close to 3.5″(bench top thickness), use featherboard.
    1. I was around 3.65 or so

       

13. Use planer to plane surfaces to be parallel while maximizing size (benchtop depth)
14. Use planer to plane lamnation edges down to 3.5″ (bench top thickness)
15. Square cut one end and cut to a rough length of 74.5″
    1. Save a couple pieces for clamping later on (wagon vise area)
16. Repeat, a lot

Some Jointery

After the “wagon vise” laminations were done, I could cut the groove the vise would ride in.  I chose a 3/4 wide by 1/2 deep groove and set up my router with straight bit and edge guide.  I always referenced the edge guide off the top of the bench top piees.

Since I wanted to have a double t-track, I decided to cut the dadoes for the t-track on the table saw.

I will also use the top surface for my biscuit jointer later on.  I used biscuits to align all the sub-assemblies together for the glue ups.

After the sub-assemblies were milled I created 2 large sub-assemblies and left the third (center) one to mill for my bench depth.  Below is  a picture of dry clamping and then measuring to check my progress on the bench depth.

I needed to create a 30 deep top and the middle one was the piece I milled to get to 30″.  More biscuits and time to clamp it all up.

 

Some thoughts at this point:

I drastically underestimated how much lumber the top would use.  I also over estimated how good some of my existing lumber was.  A lot of  it was too narrow or too twisted too use.  I hit a cost constraint and had to back off the birch and go with standard douglas fir 2X10 for the last 8-9 inches in width.  Rather dissapointing, but it should still work just fine.   Birch is pricey near me (6.50/bf from Owl).  Luckily I paid nowhere near that for the first 100-150 bf.

My new jointer and I got really  familiar with one another.  I was strugglng for the first half of this project with my jointer but made a slight height adjustment and everything was perfect.  I lowered my outfeed table by a couple thousanths and decreased my depth of cut (on the infeed).  So easy to joint after this adjustment.  It was a  world of differnce. My outfeed is now a little lower than my knives, but it works great for me.

The laminations are heavy and awkward (and sharp).  I started wearing gloves due to all the cuts and slices on my hands.  I also have a couple pulled and sore muscles due to maneuvering and jointing these things.