So, the dresser top valet is done, and I’m planning on going to Woodworking in America later this week. Which means, of course, that I’m just gonna cruise into the big woodworking summit with a clear workbench…

Right…

No, two things triggered my newest project. First, where I work, I have a corner office. Granted, it’s the back corner… and it overlooks the dumpster… but it’s still a corner. And, I have plenty of space, but I need someplace in it to sit and meet with people, spread out some paperwork and get some work done.

There was also an article from Chris Schwarz about building projects from construction lumber, and how he digs deep into the bins to find the sweetest, tastiest boards. Since we get southern yellow pine by the truckload here in Florida, I thought I could go and search some prime wood out in the dimensional bins.

I had a plan – to build a trestle table for the office.

So, yesterday, I headed off to the big blue box store and found this – a sweet 2 x 12, 16 feet long southern yellow pine board with a ton of quarter-sawn wood on the sides and very few knots. Oh, and it was dead straight the entire length. Something I have never seen before…

So, I took it home on top of the Jeep, and slapped it down on the bench. Since I had bought more than I needed, I decided I was going to take my time and cut out the knot-free boards from the edges, keeping the top of the table looking nice and clear.

As far as jointing before the glue up, the straight-grained pine yielded beautifully under the jointer plane’s blade, making the joints nice and tight.

It took a ton of clamps and a whole bunch of glue, but I was able to get the pieces glued up with just a little bit of wrestling.

After the glue dried and the boards came out of the clamps, I snugged the panel up between the bench dogs on the bench and those in the vise jaw. I then took my jack plane and started planing the assembly across the grain to level things out. With a sharp, cambered iron, a few swipes of wax across the sole and a whole lot of sweat, I was able to level the panel out – both top and bottom – in about half an hour.

Now, there’s a whole lot more work I have to do. I have to make some breadboard edges and put some battens across the bottom to hold things flat, and then work on the trestles to hold the entire thing up.

I’m pretty sure I won’t get it done before the big trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but I’m pretty happy that I got done what I did.