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jteneyck said:
I rehabbed one by taking about 1/8" off the entire top with a router sled. I just screwed jointed 2 x 4's to the sides of the bench, and used winding sticks to assure they were parallel.
Here's picture of a router sled I built to flatten a live edge slab, in case you don't know what one looks like.
John
I did the same thing to mine. For the sled I bolted two heavy angle irons to the sides and made a heavy angle iron slide to carry the router.
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This is my favorite work surface.
It's an old lab bench top, 8' x 30", made of a laminated pine core and skinned with 1/4" Masonite top and bottom. When I got it it was dinged up pretty badly so I used the router sled approach to flatten it. It took less than 2 hours to do, including building the sled. I skinned it with a sheet of tempered Masonite held on with brads around the perimeter. When the Masonite gets beaten up after a few years I replace it. Today was the day to do so.
I sometimes drill holes in the top, some intentionally and occasionally by accident. I've been know to run a router bit into it now and then, too. Some of those injuries go through the Masonite into the bench proper. When I replace the top I fill those holes and gouges with Bondo, as you see in the photo above. After the Bondo has cured I just scrap it flat and then put on a new Masonite skin.
Good to go for another few years.
John
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+1 for the router sled. I took off maybe a 1/16" and it looked just like the day I built it.
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+ 1 for the masonite. 40 years ago when I moved into this house I built my bench out of sandwiched 2 by 4's on edge. ( back then you could get a straight 2 by 4 ). Put masonite on top, and every ten years or so I replace the masonite.
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I think it really depends on your intended use. I have three work tables in my shop. The HD pine bench has Masonite tacked to the top, which is made from 1x6 like a picnic table. The table I built has a plywood top and the large chopsaw work table is a commercial door slab. Each serves a different purpose and all are great for what they are. My Ulmia woodworkers bench, however, is different. It is about 30 years old and has seen some use but it is dead flat. I use its flat surface for registration. Just this week I surfaced some raw 5/4 walnut. The board was cupped and needed work on both sides. I used the bench to tell me how things were proceeding.
If I were to use this workbench to plane wood, I would first plane it flat. First with scrub, then rough #7, and finally a finish #7. Good luck with your project.
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Before I spent any time tearing into it, I would dump a bunch of oil on the wood to feed it. Many old benches look like crap just because the wood is all dried out. Let the wood soak up some oil, and see if you don't start liking it a lot more. Unless the top is really cratered out, you will likely not notice how flat it is. I think Schwarz and PWW have turned bench flattening into an Olympic sport. Some of the nicest work I have seen made came off beat up old benches.
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GW
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Yeah, well, you can do good work on the floor, too, but it's easier on a nice flat bench. It just isn't very hard to make a bench flat, either, so why wouldn't you. Both my benches are as flat as I can make them. Not all my work is good, but I know the bench isn't the reason for the stuff that isn't.
John
