Shop Project: Finally flattening my main bench top

[Jim Becker]

Ken, my flattening system is from TrueTrac, but yes, there are a number of them commercially available as well as lots of "shop built" solutions. What I bought is USA made by a small business, so while it wasn't inexpensive, it was supporting our economy for what is essentially a specialty item. The support structure was built from their plan and disassembles easily for storing away should I want to have the space available. But my ulterior motive with it that keeps it setup all the time is that it's also a support table for track saw work as well as a great clamping table for larger things.

For your table project, before you attack it with a belt sander, see if there is a shop somewhere near you that will run the top on a wide sander for a few shekels. It's usually pretty inexpensive and will get it dead flat so you can just go right to all your finish sanding.