The Woodshop Shed 10 2026

Top Coat for New Work Bench Top (Picture)

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)

Hello All,

I am putting the finishing touches on my new workbench top. Its made from Southern Yellow Pine from Home Depot. I bought a bunch of 12 x 2 x 10' boards and cut them down to about 3 3/4", laminated them together and then used a shop made router sled to flatten the top. The sled worked great! The top is nice and flat. I highly recommend using the "string method" to get the supports boards in the same plane. I also made sure the support boards were level to each other as a starting point. I used a 2" bit from SPE and I used overlapping 1" cuts to get everything uniform and smooth. It took me about 2 hours to flatten the top as it is about 60" x 33". I am happy to share other tips if anyone is interested. There are lots of youtube videos about the topic. Wood Whisperer had a nice one that explains everything pretty well.

BTW, on the left you will see a spacer area which I created so that the 2" bit could start off without hitting any wood and be pushed into the top from the side. I used a surfacing bit and they do not have any way to cut from plunging (at least that is what I read) so you must approach from the side vs plunging. The ridges you see in the picture come out pretty easily with some light sanding.

So now its time to finish the top with some type of clear coat. What are the suggestions? Tung Oil? I have some water based stuff I bought from Home Depot on sale which is for external use too. Maybe that is a good choice? If its external, presumably its a bit tougher than the internal stuff? I expect my workbench will get beat up a bit over the years but I want to try to avoid stains and glue from adhering to it. At some point, I can just re-flatten it too.

New Workbench.jpg (Size: 274.85 KB / Downloads: 53)

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Another Headboard

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(from WoodNet.net)

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif][font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif][font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]The same customer I built a headboard for a few months ago asked if I'd build one for the guest bedroom. Of course. This one is cherry and of the same style as the last and is made with a veneered panel and solid wood frame wrapping it. I had a large "beam" of cherry that I was able to get both the solid pieces and veneer from, so the color is consistent. I had to do a fair amount of color matching work to get it close to the other furniture in the room. I did that on another cherry piece I built at least 8 years ago, and the color surprisingly hasn't changed compared to the one I matched it against, so I have some confidence this one will remain unchanged, too, although I did warn the buyer that it very well could. Being the instant gratification society that we now are, they choose to have the colors match now. Here is a drawer from a dresser that I used to match the color. The grooves you see in the panel were cut with a narrow kerf blade right on the veneer seams. It gives some visual detail and also hides any imperfections in the seams.[/font]

The headboard is held to the wall with a French cleat top and bottom. The cleat on the wall makes it so the headboard sits 1/4" proud of the wall which allows it accommodate variations in the wall not being flat. Again, that turned out to be a good decision. The pictures need to get recentered over the headboard, something the owner will do.

And here it is near a nightstand, one of the cherry pieces in the room.

Happy customer.

John[/font][/font]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]So' how do you go about matching the color of a new piece to existing ones. Well, it depends upon how you think the original was finished, and also the effects of time on clear coated pieces of pieces made of cherry, sapele, maple and several other species. The existing pieces looked like to be finished with clear lacquer, but clearly the color had darkened over fresh worked cherry, so I couldn't just finish them with clearcoat. Using stain to adjust the color would muddy the grain so even if the color turned out correct it wouldn't look correct. The way I went about adjusting the color was to use dyes. But since cherry has a reputation for blotching, and this wood looked like it would do so badly, I used toners made from dye in the shellac and in the final clearcoat. This only works well by spraying. I've done it by hand, but the results are not nearly as predictable.Here's a sample board I made showing the process.[/font]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif][/font]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]I had to adjust the sheen of my clearcoat to match the existing furniture, too. At the top is the raw wood with a coat of Sealcoat shellac, which I did because I was worried the toner would blotch, even spraying it.Below that is one and two coats of Sealcoat plus Transtint Golden Brown dye. And the darker stripes over that is the clearcoat with Golden Brown plus another Transtint colorto adjust the color. The first dark stripe was the final choice, made with Golden Brown and a little Medium Brown,and has some waterborne flatters in it to bring down the sheen. It took at least 20 samples to get it right.[/font]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]John[/font]

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Help with Norm's Router Station

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(from WoodNet.net)

I've already made some minor errors. Such as when applying the drawer cleats I failed to apply glue and didn't realize it until after I glued the sides on. I was able to correct that error. The vertical interior panels are 1/8' higher than they should be. But I can correct that by making slight dados in the bottom of the top to deal with that FUPA. Fortunately, I haven't glued on the edge trimming yet.
My major concern is cutting and dadoing the cut out for the router lift plate. I can make the template for the recessed dado for the thickness of the plate but I don't want to make any further goofs. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Like what mistakes not to make, etc.

Jim

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Hex bit stuck in impact driver

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(from WoodNet.net)

Once in a while a hex bit would get stuck in my Milwaukee impact driver. I found that tapping on it directly on the end and/or the side would release the bit. But this time it's really stuck and tapping isn't releasing it. I've tried tapping it harder than ever before, but not too much. I want to save the driver not the bit. I've tried holding the bit with pliers whilst driving but the driver forward and reverse. I've tried spraying it down with lubricant. Nothing is working.
Any ideas to get this bit released before I resort to disassembling the driver?

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retail workbench

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(from WoodNet.net)

Hey folks,

I have a friend who is shopping for a workbench for her husband who just turned 70 and moving into retirement/hobby mode.

Besides Woodcraft, what other retail entities sell decent (while maybe over-priced) workbenches that won't take ton of assembly to get up and running?
I'm in central KY so please keep recommendations in mind please!

Thx, Eric

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Anyone ever build a pulpit for their church?

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(from WoodNet.net)

Now that I'm retired (lil' gloat there....) I've been asked to build a new pulpit. Here's what I'd like to do.

The issue I'm dealing with in my melon is how to get it out of my basement shop once completed. I figure I can build (as one unit) the front and the first tapered sides. (they look to go back about 10-ish degrees). I don't think I can add the "full returns" until I get it in the church hall. (the door out of my shop goes through the garage so I'd guess it's 30"-32"wide, with he hinges off). Boy, I wish I had a Bilco door in my shop!!!

Assuming I go that route, how would you make the returns so that they can be attached once it's in the church.

I also thought about building the entire thing without the floor and doing the "turn, turn, turn" method to get it out of the door. and then attaching the floor once I get it in the church.

I'll be re-using the book holder from the existing pulpit which should make the build go more quickly.

How would you build this so it can be transported out of my basement shop?

front_view.JPG (Size: 21.96 KB / Downloads: 36)

side_view_2.JPG (Size: 10.21 KB / Downloads: 36)

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Branding Iron

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(from WoodNet.net)

Looking to purchase a branding iron. Feedback appreciated.

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Maloof-inspired rocker (From the Way-Back machine)

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(from WoodNet.net)

In the other thread about stabilizing defects in walnut, I posted a pic of the arm of my ricking chair in which I had used epoxy to fill a large void. A couple of members have requested pics of the rocker. I didn't want to hijack the thread, so here it is.

I thought I had posted this rocker on the forum shortly after I made it, but a search turned up no pics. I'm pretty certain I posted it over on Lumberjocks.

This rocker was built from a set of Hal Taylor plans back in 2013. It was my second rocker using these plans.In the other thread, I said it was done in 2012, but I was mistaken.

  Rocker 1.jpg (Size: 44.06 KB / Downloads: 34)

The void in question is on the right arm rest. That void went all the way through the wood and was large enough to almost stick one's finger through it. I first filled the void halfway with clear epoxy and used ground coffee as a colorant/fill material. Then I mixed up more epoxy and used turquoise colored acrylic craft paint as the colorant. I wouldn't use acrylic craft paint today as there's a large risk of overdoing and ruining the epoxy mix, but I didn't know that at the time. I got lucky.

  Rocker 2.jpg (Size: 36.86 KB / Downloads: 34)

There's another epoxy fill on the facing surface of the chair and it's in the headrest. The black area near the left side the pic is filled with epoxy, also colored with coffee.

  Rocker 3.jpg (Size: 46.37 KB / Downloads: 34)

I guess this build took me about 120 hours or so to complete. I learned much about proportionsand how to make something look light when you're actually using a LOT of wood.

Thanks for looking.

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Stabilizing defects in walnut slab

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)

Hey all,

I'm about to start on a live edge walnut coffee table and am looking for recommendations on dealing with cracks/voids. The slab has three defect types:

1. Two bark (or walnut?) inclusions, about 1-1.5" diameter. They appear contained/stable. I'm not terribly worried about these.
2. A decent sized knot with a crack through the middle. The knot and crack go all the way through to the other side. This is the defect I'm most worried about, as I think it'll continue to move through the seasons.
3. Some hairline cracks along one edge of the slab, roughly 2-6" from the edge. I assume this was due to drying.

At least for #1 and #3, I planned to fill them with epoxy (thin for the hairline cracks to get deep penetration), both to stabilize and flatten with the surface. Perhaps with mica powder mixed in (not sure if I'll use black to hide it or turquoise to make it a feature).

For #2, I worry that epoxy would not be sufficient, and the cracks would either open back up or the knot would create a new crack since the existing one would be locked down. How would you approach this? Would butterflies plus epoxy fill be better? Just butterflies and leave a hole? Something else?

Thanks,
Tyler

(Pictures in next post)

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