Thread: Making a flat top (step by step)

6. With the tongues and the grooves removed. The boards are now down to 11cm wide. The edges are still very rough. The jointer will take a few mm off when we joint the edges later on.


7. Arrange the boards so that any bows are facing down and the grain directions are going with the jointer. Place them on a pair of saw horses and they are ready to go. Try not to put too much pressure on the board. It should be just enough to move the board forward.


8. When finished, turn the boards back to front and they are ready to go through the thicknesser. For hardwood I use the slow feed rate to get a better finish. Lift the board slightly on exit to minimise snipe.


9. Now the boards are flat and equal in thickness. Arrange the boards again to get the best possible upper face. Draw a triangle on the top to mark the order.


10. Turn every second board upside down and mark them with a cross.

11. Plane the edges on a jointer with the marked side away from the fence.


12. Mark the positions for the biscuits. The biscuits are 40cm apart and about 10cm from the end of the board.


13. Invest your money in a good biscuit joiner and you will get a perfect join every time.


14. Spread the glue and tap the biscuit in with a small mallet.


15. Apply glue to both faces. Notice that I use masking tape to protect the clamps from the glue.

16. Align the boards by tapping them with a mallet.


17. Use plenty of clamps but do not over tighten them.


18. Remove any excess glue with a chisel when it is touch dry. It is easier to do it when it is still soft.


19. When try, remove glue lines with a cabinet scraper.


20. Sand it with a ROS. Sand both sides with 120 grit sandpaper and sand only the top side with 320 grit sandpaper. Do not move the sander too fast or you will get pig tails.

Thanks Wongo, very imformative.

(picture number 4. You might want to add the word guard)

21. Use a carpenter's square to mark the ends.


22. Use a router and straight bit to cut the ends. Make the cut in 4 to 5 passes. Cut slower and stop at about 1 cm from the end. Cut the remaining part in reverse direction.


23. Trim the end grain a couple of low angle planes.


24. Fill all the defects with some clear epoxy.

25. So there you have it. It is a flat top and all the joins are perfectly tight. The whole thing is done in 4 hours excluding drying time.






I hope you find it useful.

Cheers.

Nice work wongo

very informative thanks for sharing
les

Good one Wongo Thanks

Very nice job Wongo. aset a good lessons for us all.

A Question: I used clear epoxy on a Hoop Pine table top and it let dark finger print sized smudges. Any such problems in your experiences?

top job wongo

That's a good one, Wongo. Take a virtual greenie, as I can't hit you again yet.

Of course, your method assumes the worker has access to those tools. Without a jointer and thicknesser, it's a bit dicier. But there are many ways to skin a cat (oops, sorry ).

For example, I do my edge jointing on the router table, using a split fence and a shim.

Great tutorial Wongo, thanks for sharing, all those photos would have taken a bit of time.
Greenie sent.

One question if I may?

You cut the boards to length before you put them through the thicknesser, then you advise to lift them slightly on exit from the thicknesser to minimize snipe.
Wouldn't you normally put them through the thicknesser first, then cut them to length? That way any snipe is then cut off.

Thanks Wongo, nice turorial. I will keep that in mind next time I do a top.

Robert