the_sean•1d agoTop Commenter

Thought I had my countertop setup dialed but I was dead wrong

I’ve been doing custom butcher blocks for about 4 years now out of my garage in Nashville. Last month I was working on a 30 inch walnut board and my planer kept leaving chatter marks no matter how slow I fed it. Spent 8 hours over 3 days tweaking blades and checking the rollers, feeling like an idiot. Turns out my workbench wasn’t level by just 2 degrees, so the board was wobbling ever so slightly during passes. I never even thought to check the bench because it’s been fine for smaller stuff. Has anyone else had a setup issue that hid in plain sight like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleycooper1d ago

and man, that exact same thing happened to me with my Jointer last year. I was chasing this weird snipe on the ends of boards for like a week, cleaned the blades twice, adjusted the infeed table, even replaced the belt. Finally my buddy came over and was like 'is your floor sinking or something?' and I checked with a level and sure enough the whole Jointer was off by almost 3 degrees on one side. Felt like such a dummy because I'd been using it fine for smaller pieces for months. It's crazy how something so basic can totally mess up your work and you just don't think to check it.

emerycarr1d ago

Read an article in Fine Woodworking a while back where a pro cabinetmaker said the first thing he checks when he has a machine issue is the floor or bench level. Dude said he learned that lesson after chasing a thickness planer problem for two days. I think we all get so focused on the tool itself we forget the foundation matters just as much. My bench sits on an old concrete slab in my garage that has a slight dip in one corner. I put a couple of shims under the legs a year ago and it fixed a ton of small issues I didn't even know I had. It's one of those things that seems too simple to matter until it's the whole problem.

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