On a scale of rookie, novice, amateur, expert, I consider myself Novice +

That said

I have a very large pile of rough cut oak, most of which is 5/4. I'm redoing my kitchen and I'm planning on doing an epoxy coated butcher block.

My first thought was to plane the boards and then cut them into 2 1/8 inch strips. Turn them on their sides and glue them together to get the desired width. So roughly 24 pieces for 24 inches. My thought here is the 1 inch overhang of the countertop will have no support. However, I suspect the glue is strong enough to support that.

My second thought was to plane the boards cut 3 inch strips and laminate the one inc boards one on top of the other to get the 2 inch thickness. For the bottom boards I would start with a 1 1/2 inch strip so as to offset the joints.

I've a feeling I know the answer, but I would like to hear from the experts on the pros and cons.