Jointing One Side of Desk Top

I laid aside the writing shelves for a moment to get the desk top ready for sizing and the addition of the breadboard end.  I picked the board with the nicest quartersawn features from both sides and left the other to be trimmed down later.  The edge of the best side was still rough from being run through a table saw and glued up.

The top was laid on one side and clamped at the end in the vise.  The weight of the desk, the rubber mat and the vise all provided great stability for the next step.

So, I got out Judy’s Dad’s Stanley #7 again, and ran across the edge several passes until the edge was nice and flat and in pretty nice shape.  Then I used my trusty #5 bedrock with a hock blade to put that beautiful nice finished surface on the edge.

The next step is to use this reference edge to cut off both ends and use the router to put a 5/16 inch groove into the ends for a spline.