The laminated top had cupped almost three millimetres over the winter. Winding sticks, a jack plane set rank, and a lot of patience got it back to flat in an afternoon. The trick is to work diagonally first, then with the grain, and to check often rather than trusting your arms.
I finished with a smoothing plane and a coat of boiled linseed oil. No finish on the top beyond that — a bench should be a little grippy.
Two diamond plates, a cheap honing guide and a strop charged with green compound. That is the whole kit. Fancy water stones are lovely, but the plates never need flattening and they live on the bench instead of in a drawer.
Through tenons, wedged, with a gentle curve on the stretchers. Quarter-sawn white oak moves very little, which matters for a piece that lives next to the kitchen sink. Total cost of wood: about forty dollars from an offcut bin.
You can never have enough clamps, they say. After the twentieth one I realised most glue-ups only need four, plus some cauls and a bit of planning. Dry-fit everything, label the parts, and the glue-up stops being a panic.