Tonight I got out to the shop a few minutes and got a piece of the pine tree that I have cut to boards out there. IT is probably not quite dry, but I am using it for a removable table on the Roman workbench anyhow. The idea is that the grain is set so it will do me two favors. The first is to cup in such the direction that the legs will spread wide if it does cup. So it cups upwards, in other words. Then the legs spread outward and since they are set into the tabletop, and into the Roman benchtop, it will pretty well stay in place against the cupping. I think so, anyway. The second favor is that the grain is put in the direction so that I can sit and plane it forward and it will not blow out. The grain is going uphill from where I sit. That will make it easier to flatten the top as needed. The top is two inches thick.
The Roman when it was first finished. One of the original legs broke on the tenon, and I have replaced it.
The raised top is simply four legs with tenons on both ends so it can fasten to the top of the Roman. Then I can sit on the end of the roman and work at chest height on the little table in front of me. I think with a clamp I can basically have a shave horse.
This photo is a bit dark, but it gives scale to the bench with some tools on it. I have a stick clamped down to the top to work as a push rail that I can push against, but I am thinking on how I can do the same with a notch. I also am thinking of how to do pull strokes against the workpiece.
I think this will make a good bench for under the tree out front where I have made a room under the willow.