Thanks for the assembly table design, it is just what I needed as I am about to start building a full set of kitchen cabinets (my first real wood project). I built the torsion box, and although I did have problems with toenailing the grid it came out perfect – dead flat everywhere to within .002″. However I might have made a mistake when I chose to use the waxed mdf support sheet as the top skin. I was thinking I would just use it “as is” and apply more wax, but now I want a more durable surface.

The options I could think of are:
a) plastic laminate, but I am not sure if the contact adhesive will stick to the “thoroughly” waxed mdf… and I don’t know how I could remove the wax.
b) sand the surface a bit and the use poy/varnish mixture – again I don’t know if the wax will cause issues
c) use a harboard top the way you did it. Problem here is I don’t know how to get the screws flush with the top. I experimented with some scrap and I can’t get a good accurate countersink in the harboard, not to mention screwing into MDF; using fine-thread drywall screws seems to be the best bet, but still not perfect. Also, the hardboard I have does not lay flat, I would need a lot of screws. Maybe the type of harboard I have is not the same as yours – mine is like pegboard material 1/8″ think. What did you use?

Any suggestions on the best way to deal with the top skin will be most welcome; everything else is on hold until I finish it :)

Thanks agian for a great article/video

I just wanted to say that I just built this torsion box table over the last couple weeks and it turned out great! I doubled this as an out-feed table for my table saw and had to make a few modifications. But overall, it is outstanding!

Thanks!
Justin

Love your series. You and Norm Abram rule.

Question about your torsion box. Is there any reason one shouldn’t just half-joint a bunch of boards to form the internal structure rather than glue and nail the individual spacers?

I’m very new to wood working so pardon my ignorance.

Cheers,

Steve

My biggest issue with the box (other than cutting the grid pieces to 7 1/8 instead of 7 1/4) was getting the brad nails in the pieces. You just “toed” in the nails. I found this almost impossible. Maybe my Porter Cable brad nailer is too big, but I couldn’t hold the piece straight when I pressed the nailer to get it to fire. And many times, because of the angle, the nail hit the cross piece and skewed off to the side. The pieces, then, werent 90*, but skewed out a bit. I couldn’t figure out how to get it right. But I was able to hold them straight when I nailed in the cross pieces. I ended up with an ugly grid, but the skin I put on seems flat.

All in all, a good day in the shop.

Happy 4th.

Learned this trick from a fellow much more experience and way smarter than I am. Who knows, he may have stolen it from someone else!

After you shim the legs of the sawhorses as a level construction base, slop some of that putty or caulk you have laying around the shop over the sawhorse legs, shims and even the floor. It may prevent a clumsy footed builder from knocking the carefully inserted shims from flying across the shop floor and save the delicate ears of any innocent bystanders.

Just don’t use anything you’ll have trouble scraping off the floor when that part of the project is finished.

Beau

Ghana as always.

David