Build a Shaker Work Bench

Building the Base (Cont'd)

To determine the dimensions of the raised panels, I dry assembled the base frame, first fitting the legs, center stiles and rails together to make the bents and then adding the stretchers between the bents to complete the frame. This allowed me to check my 'as built' dimensions against the 'as planned' dimensions. After taking measurements for the panels, I marked out the locations of the panel grooves on the frame members. I marked the locations prominently to prevent myself from cutting a groove in the wrong face of a frame member. With the layout complete, I disassembled the base and plowed the grooves for the panel grooves with a dado blade on the tablesaw.

The raised panels were glued up from 5/4 soft maple and thickness planed to 7/8 inch. I cut the raised panel profile in two steps on the tablesaw. I use a simple to mill 45 degree beveled profile on all my raised panels. I have also made the profile in several different ways. Tim is a stickler for saftey, and objected to my standard set up, where I form the tongue on the panel first using a dado set, then cut the beveled edge of the profile with a fine toothed blade set at 45 degrees. For this series of photos I cut the raised panel profile first. Then cut the tongue on each panel using a shop-built sliding panel jig to cut the tongue.