Blood, Sweat, and Sawdust

Here’s where all of that hard work on the Roubo bench top really starts to pay off.

After milling up two of the top sections, I took a couple of passes with my No. 7 to clean up any snipe. Then I broke out the saw benches for a test fit. Everything looked pretty good. With the boards oriented for optimal appearance, there was a slight bow in one of the boards that was preventing the ends from meeting. I brought out the No. 7 and planed down the hump until I was satisfied. A second test fit revealed that one of the boards had an edge that was slightly out of square. This resulted in some cupping that would be more difficult to remove later. Back to the jointer. I was fully satisfied after the third test fit.

Roubo Slab Glue-up

I proceeded to rehearse my glue up. I lightly tightened parallel clamp at each end of the slab and one in the middle. Then, I placed an F-clamp on the seam at each end to ensure that the boards would stay aligned. I tightened down the parallel clamps and checked for any defects. No gaps, no cupping. Everything looked great, so I proceeded with my glue-up.

Roubo Benchtop Looking Good

The assembly is now out of the clamps and looking good. I suspect it weights just shy of 100 lbs. I ended up with 10 5/8th inches of width and 4 5/8th of thickness. I hope to have the other half completed by the weekend. Stay tuned!

You can find links to my other Roubo posts here:  Project Index