Making the top.

Top pieces planed and ready for glue   The first step in making the top after
 the wood has been cut is to plane them
 to a uniform thickness. To the left is a
 picture of the 4 pieces I've chosen for
 the top. They have been planed and one
 side rough sanded. The plane in the
 picture is also homemade. It's interior
 blocks are of some willow with oak
 on the sides and bottom. The blade
                                                                           and chip break are from an old
                                                                           Stanley plane. It was in an old tool
                                                                           box I bought at a junk sale. I have not
                                                                           gotten the handle on yet, will post another
                                                                           photo when I'm finished.

View of the top clamp.
   The next step is to glue the top pieces
 together. To the left is a view of the
 clamp system I found while wondering
 around the local junk yard. It uses lock
 clamps and is made of 1/2 inch thick
 aluminum. To keep the pieces flat I've
 used a few heavy objects in the shop.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Another view of clamp.
    Here is another view of the clamp. In the
 future I would like to run some bars over the
 top and place vertical clamps to take the
 place of the weights.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Top before sanding.
     Here is a view of the top after being removed from
  the clamp. The piece on the top left is just a filler.
  Lessons learned: Wood glue will stick to aluminum.
  Next time I will put wax paper under it first. The
  clamp worked well but I will need to put the vertical
  clamps in to hold the stock flat.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Top after cutting.
  Here is a view of the top after being cut to rough
  size  and sanded. The average thickness is .125.
  Click here for a close up view showing more detail.
  And yes, some of those are worm holes.
 
 
 

Kerf lining cutter.
    The next step is to make the kerf lining. Here is
  a photo of a simple jig to do that. I used and old
  jig saw I had (broke handle) and made a simple
  slide. The dept is controlled by the back stop.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Gluing the lining...
   Now it's time to glue the linings in place. I sure
  hope the wife doesn't need to do the wash. Cloths
  pins make short work of this job and their cheap.
  But the 50 cent spring clamps from wally world
  are also nice. Will be getting more those.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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