memilanuk
Gold $$ Contributor
I only surfaced the faces parallel prior to gluing. I sized the legs for width after the glue up so no need to surface all 4 sides prior. I just let the squeeze out go on the glue up since those edges will be ripped off on the table saw anyway. Once the edges are ripped off I finish size all 4 sides in the jointer and planer.
Gotcha. I'm in the middle of cleaning up the rat holes that are my shop area(s). Making a couple 8 ft. utility benches (one for the wood shop, one for the reloading/gun shop) and a 6-7 ft Nicholson style woodworking bench. I've seen some that are just banged together with unmodified 2x lumber, under the premise of "it's a workbench, not furniture" and "get it done and move on to more important projects". And then I see the clean crisp lines of projects made from the same dimensional lumber, but cleaned up, square flat and straight and laminated into blanks and cut to size, like Schwarz's Roubo bench build, any number of projects in Woodsmith/ShopNotes magazine, etc. And then my OCD starts kicking in...
I've pretty much *got* to do one with the lumber as is - just cut to fit and screw it together. I need the space, and I need it now. The subsequent ones... I think are going to be glued-up and done 'right'.