Reply To: New to woodworking, workbench build
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If your planing skills need improving, this is a great opportunity to practice! The thing to accept is that, like everyone, you’re going to make mistakes again in the future, so it’s important to be able to correct them.
Look closely at what you have. Take a pair of winding sticks, or a couple of straight edges, and examine the bench top. Find out where it’s flat and where it’s twisted, so you can see where you need to remove wood in order to get it flat and remove the twist. You’ll need to check across the length and width of the top, in several places across both axes, in order to become familiar with the top. Then sharpen your plane and go to town hogging off material. Focus on one particular area (a one foot length at one end, for example) and check your work frequently – you’ll be amazed how quickly the wood comes away. It’s all too easy to over correct! Once you’ve got one section of the top flat, you’ve then got a reference surface to work with.
Paul’s videos on YouTube show him flattening the bench top and aprons. The stock preparation videos will also give some good guidance.
It’s frustrating but is very good practice and getting surfaces flat is absolutely fundamental to woodworking – you’re going to be doing a lot of it in the future (although not always on this scale!) so it’s an important skill to master.
If (when!) I were to build my bench again I’d do many things differently. What I learned from the mistakes I made, however, was far more valuable to me than the actual bench itself. The techniques and skills I learned while building the bench get used all the time on every project I build using the finished bench. It’s the journey, not the destination, that has the real value.
There are many people on the forum who have been through the same build, so can and will help with any questions.
Hope this helps!
George.