I recently completed my first workbench, a large traditional design with a heavy laminated maple top. After assembly, I flattened the top of the bench by adapting Tage Frid’s method from Scott Landis’ The Workbench Book. First, I installed a 1/4-in.-thick Lexan plastic subbase on my router. Then I screwed 1×2 fir strips down each side of the bench, extending the strips far enough past the ends so I could rout the entire length. To make sure these two runners were parallel, I used two winding boards. Then, using scrap maple, I made a sled that bridged the tabletop and incorporated grooves for the Lexan router base. To surface the table, I simply started at one end and, with a 1/2-in. bit in the router, cut 1/16 in. in a pass. It is a little slow, but it works.

Herb Hunter, Denver, N.C.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, April 1993 No. 99

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