# Paul Sellers workbench: double-aprons a good idea?



## Malone (Sep 15, 2012)

I'm building the Paul Sellers workbench. I just glued up my first apron board. I'm using 2x SYP, so I'm starting out with a 1.5 inch thick apron. Of course I had to plane it approximately flat before I glued up, and I'll have to plane it again put the two glued boards in plane. After all that planing, I think I'll be a bit below 1 3/8, flirting with 1 1/4.

In Paul's video, he starts out with a very thick board. It looks 1 3/4 to me, though the cutting list says 1 5/8. With a 5/8 housing dado, that leaves Paul a full inch of wood and a strong apron. If I really am down to 1 1/4, then a 5/8 dado leaves me with only 5/8 thickness left over. Is this enough for a strong apron?

I was thinking about maybe doubling up my apron boards. Then I could make one solid, say 1 1/4 thick. Then I could make another 1 1/4 thick, then simply SAW out my housing dado and laminate that onto the solid board. Now I have a huge 2 1/2 inch thick apron with a deep 1 1/4 dado. It would be held together by a huge glue area (~890 sq in), so I wouldn't think the strength would be compromised.

Is this overkill? Is there some reason that this is a bad idea?


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

I would think 5/8 thickness where the dado is, is good enough and the rest will still be 1 1/4. The apron's purpose is to stop left-right raking.

Why so much planning?
I would not have done it before gluing.
It is a workbench, it doesn't have to be planed to furniture grade 
Certainly not the inside face that will not be seen by anyone.

Of course if you intend to use holdfast in the apron, you could double it on the all surface of the (front) apron.
Use plenty of screws to clamp boards together , remove when the glue is dry.

edit: the apron on mine is only 1 1/8 thick, (3/4 where the dado is which gives a 3/8 dado) . The workbench is rock solid.
So there is some flexibility in the dimensions.


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## Malone (Sep 15, 2012)

I'm very new to hand-tool woodworking, so I probably over-planed due to inefficient technique and also due to the fact that one of my boards developed a little bit of twist after the initial planing, so I went back and took a little more off to correct that.

Thanks a lot, Sylvain, for your helpful input. It makes me feel a lot more confident as I proceed.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

I believe in europe a lot of their sizes are different, so 2x in UK is thicker than ours.

I think that 5/8 at the joint will be fine. Like mentioned as long as that apron keeps it from racking and still has the weight to not move around on you it will be fine. The benefit of thicker wood on hand tool benches is just the mass of keeping it in place. Paul doesn't use his apron like a lot of traditional woodworkers do, he actually puts a drawer in it etc. If you do decide to use holdfasts and its to thin you can just glue a scrap behind and drill the hole through both pieces.


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