As I wrap up the work on the workbench, it's time to turn to a "work bench" for my wife. She's sews and we converted a bedroom on the same level as my shop into a sewing room for her. One of the things she's wanted for a while is a cutting table she can use to layout and cut material. I designed a basic table, with two lower shelves. The first shelf is a narrow space for storing her cutting mats and templates. The lower shelf has a gap large enough to store a set of 4 storage chests I plan to add later for holding her cloth. (She collects cloth, like I collect wood!). Along with six drawers in the top apron, this unit will sit in the center of the room as her primary work station.

I plan on making the frame and drawers out of cherry. The top will be made out of melamine - a smooth slick surface that I hope will hold up. I will band it with 1/4" cherry to protect the unsightly edges of the substrate - which is basically a press-board construction The shelves are probably going to be made out of 3/4" cabinet grade cherry plywood that I've had for several years (I'll make a final decision on this later). Joinery will be mortise and tennon for the frame, and dovetails for the drawer bodies.

The top will be fastened to the frame with figure-8 connectors and the shelves will probably be left floating. Again, I may choose to anchor them later - I haven't decided on that yet. One thing I do know, is that with this design, once the middle shelf is in, it can't come back out. I think there will be enough room to angle the bottom shelf in and out as needed.

Time to make dust...