Jointing Two Edges To Make One Roubo Style Workbench Top

Today I'm covering the techniques I am using to be able to properly join my two slabs into one bench top using hand planes, a try square, and a 4 foot straight edge.

The photo above shows my two slabs clamped together so that both edges to be glued are facing up. They are also oriented so that ether piece only needs to be flipped on the long axis, raised a few inches, then set back down on top of the other piece at glue up time. That last part is important so that while planing the edges I have less to worry about because if I am slightly out of square across the short face, I'm still OK for glue up. That is because when one piece flipped upside down it's high and or low spots will be opposite of the high and low spots on the other piece thus canceling them out!

Here are the three hand planes I have been using on this project so far. From left to right they are a Stanley No. 4, a Stanley No. 5, and a Stanley No. 7.

I used the No. 4 plane first the bring down the rough spots and get the dimensions correct. My first few passes with the No. 4 were cross grain and diagonal strokes with the blade set a bit deep to cut fast. Then I moved on to the No. 5, sometimes called a Jack plane, it is longer than a No. 4 and helps to keep the edge straighter than the No. 4 can. When the edges start looking even and square you move on to the No. 7 which is 22" long and helps even out any high spots.

Here is a shot of a try square testing for square from what will be the top of the workbench. As you can see on the right side of the blade, I have more work to do with my hand planes to get this square. As mentioned above, this does not need to be perfectly square however I need to get it better than this before glue up.

I use a 4 foot straight edge to check for flatness along the edge of the pieces. Another way to check

for flatness is to do a dry run glue up. To do that I stack the two pieces on top of each other and take notice of how well they balance. If the top piece can freely pivot back and forth with little resistance I have a high spot in the middle of one or both pieces. If both halves resist pivoting and no light is visible through the joint things are ready for glue up! 

A shot of my No.7 jointing plane after taking a pass down the length of the edge.

This is what about 4 hours worth if hand planing will produce! It's a great workout!