How to Maintain a Workbench Top – Shawn Graham

Posted February 21, 2018

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Check for flatness with winding sticks.
Determine areas that need to be planed down.
Plane the surface with a jack plane.
Use a toothed plane blade to add roughness to the top.
Go over the surface with 36 grit sandpaper on a random orbit sander.

Shawn Graham of Worth Effort Woodworking, shared a video on YouTube detailing his approach to flattening and preparing a workbench top.

I know that many woodworkers stop once they’ve gone over the surface with a jack plane. But Chris Schwarz and many traditional hand tool woodworkers advocate for the grippy surface that a toothed plane leaves behind. Workholding is simplified when you’re not fighting a film finish on your workbench.

It’s a great video and in the end, he reveals that he uses two reference books. The “blue” and “red” workbench books – both by Christopher Schwarz and available at ShopWoodworking.com.

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David Lyell

David is the senior editor of Popular Woodworking. He builds furniture that his three-year-old son can't destroy.