Scored the ply (good tip!). Feared tearout with power tools (and don't own a belt sander). It wasn't much material to remove after I checked with a straight edge so clamped on a support piece and used a flush trim hand saw on the end where there was about a 1/16 and then switched to a little hand plane (as I now see Mr. Rick suggested). Now, back to level.

Thank you for all the suggestions!

Now back to sorting clamps and getting a top tray built.

Edited February 28Feb 28 by BB1

46 minutes ago, BB1 said:

Scored the ply (good tip!). Feared tearout with power tools (and don't own a belt sander). It wasn't much material to remove after I checked with a straight edge so clamped on a support piece and used a flush trim hand saw on the end where there was about a 1/16 and then switched to a little hand plane (as I now see Mr. Rick suggested). Now, back to level

Great save Barbara. Ya' just upped your handtool score. Well done.

3 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

upped your handtool score.

I actually said to my husband that Mr. Rick would be proud of me for attempting the fix with handtools (please take that as a compliment @MrRick as all the hand tools that you make are quite inspiring!).

End of day, the top "tray" is done, other than adding a couple coats of finish and actually attaching to the rack. Plan to add a holder for a roll of brown paper plus some other items that I want handy during assembly and glue-up. Just set the tray on top for a quick picture.

Edited March 1Mar 1 by BB1

@BB1 I am indeed pleased that you used handtools and didn't shy or cave in but instead moved forward. Getting better and better in woodworking is achieved by first taking the risk at something that normally you may feel uncomfortable with and don't try. Always try and make the effort. It can always been done on the side first. Good on ya!

On 2/27/2026 at 5:42 PM, Grandpadave52 said:

I'm not much horsepower, but I'll step in for @Larry Buskirk this week. Perhaps Bruce has him crawling through the steam tunnels again.

I'm 2 hours north of Mr. 2 weeks from anywhere and must say the weather was so good during the day on Friday that Larry probably went out to sit by the fire pit and enjoy it. Unfortunately, this being Wisconsin we quickly reverted back to a "normal" weather pattern, and he's probably frozen to the ground yet tonight.

@John Hechel Our neighbor , who migrated from Wisconsin, use to say- " summers in Wisconsin are just 2 weeks of bad skiing"