I’ve completed the torsion box workbench top!
I milled the cherry boards using my jointer and planer and finished with a little hand-planing to remove the mill marks. I attached them using screws, keeping them flush with the top surface. Even so, I had to hand plane the cherry top in some places because it was a little higher than the table top.
I counter-sunk and counter-bore the screws, leaving a 3/8” diameter hole. I used a plug cutter to create some plugs from birch that also came from our property. It was straightforward to plug all the screw holes and then flush-saw and block-plane them smooth.
I took one last pass with the router and a chamfer bit to add about a 1/8” chamfer to the top edge of the cherry. I then did some hand sanding on all the cherry, up to 220. I rounded over all the edges so I won’t get cut or snag anything.
I did add a support leg near my vice since it’s very heavy and had bowed the previous top. I don’t think there’s any concern about bowing this time (torsion box!), but no harm adding an extra leg to help bear the weight on both sides of the vice.
I finished the top with 2 coats of shellac and a coat of paste wax. It was easy to apply and makes the whole piece really shine!
I had an awesome time building this project and look forward to building future projects on it! Please leave me any comments, questions or thoughts. I’d love to hear from you especially if you have something like this or plan on making something similar.
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I’m glad i found ur blog.Not everyone can provide information with proper flow. Good post.
I am going to save the URL and will definitely visit again. Keep it up.
Great post, Morton. I’ve been looking at building my own torsion box assembly table / workbench for a couple years. I watched Marc’s video with great interest. It’s nice to see how someone else has used part of his plans to build a table.
Now that you’ve been using it for a little over a year, what changes do you think you’d make to it if you were to do it again? You mentioned reinforcing for bench dogs along one side. Did you ever put the holes in for the initial vice you put on the table and have those worked out well? I saw your subsequent post about the vice from June and didn’t see any wholes yet. If you did put them in after that video, would you use another type of wood or another approach for that?
Do you think it’s important to screw the 1/8″ hardboard down or is lying it over the skin enough? Just wondering if all those screws are just waiting to scratch a project if they work their way out.
-Jeff
Jeff — Thanks for the comments and questions. I continue to absolutely love the assembly table for all kinds of bench work and of course, assembly. Having a dead flat reference surface is invaluable. Actually, I wouldn’t change a thing about it. It’s flat, stable, and the size is perfect. If you can go a little bigger, that’s always nice, but not necessary – it provides plenty of support.
I actually have still not added the dog holes to the top yet. I keep saying I’m going to do that 😉 It woud be very helpful. They will be in-line with my fornt fence which has a built-in metal dog. Other bench-like accessories would be great to, like a planing stop. To date, I simply have been clamping planing stops to the table rather than build a useful add-on to the table.
I think that the screws are fairly necessary. In fact, where there aren’t screws, the hardboard pops up a tiny bit, making it not flat (barely). I can easily push it back down with hand pressure. So, I think all those screws are keeping that hardboard top flat to the surface – without them it’d warp up in all kinds of places. I’ve never come close to scratching anything with the recessed screws.
Good luck!
Morton++