Trimming the benchtop end

Today I trimmed the end of the benchtop. I cut a knife line about 10mm from the end, squared off from the front edge, down the top side and underside, and then cut along the line with a handsaw.

I did make a dumb mistake when drawing my knife line – part of the edge did not lie square to the top face, and I didn’t check this before marking the line.
So now I have a knife cut running across the face of the benchtop that really shouldn’t be there.

Even though this is soft pine, cutting through that volume of material took a surprisingly large amount of time and significant effort. I had intended to cut both ends of the benchtop today, but the other end will have to wait for another occasion.

After finishing the cut, I planed the end grain smooth using a small block plane.

benchtop end trimmed — The benchtop end after trimming and planing the end grain

Lessons learned

Check all surfaces for square before marking lines!