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Thread: Advice on very large butcher block countertop for island

  1. #16
    Join Date
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    This picture show the three slabs.. on this top, the width was only about 28" .. so the middle slab was only about 6" .. the outside slabs where 11" ..

    If you flip the slabs face in, face out on the jointer just prior to final assembly, you can get nearly perfect seams..



    After the final assembly .. a card scraper is a real bonus.. your thumbs will burn but the final finish is better.





    This unit went in a builders own home.. he wanted something wild and left it up to me to decide.. its Sapelli..

  2. #17
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    Here is a better example of making it in Jointer width slabs.. This one is a maple top ..



    Each piece is totally manageable to work with .. the only risk is final assembly, which means cleaning up only a few seams by hand.

  3. #18
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    Nov 2008
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    I've done a number of tops just about as big.

    Here's how I'd do it:
    -Glue up in widths of 12-16" using biscuits to help line up.
    -With a helper, run through wide belt sander (or planer if you don't have a sander.)
    -DRY clamp up entire top, using biscuits to help line up.
    -Cut to final length using jig saw and router flush trim.
    -6" ROS the joints and the perimeter

    Transport in pieces, final glue up where it goes. A little more touch up sanding and finishing and your good.

    Or better, do final glue up in shop and finish in shop. Get 4 guys to help move and transport.

    You can also buy prefinished maple tops and glue those up. These come with a lousy lacquer finish which you need to sand off.

    Or hire this out to a capable cabinet shop and spend your time building other stuff for the house.....

  4. #19
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    Other options to consider is using wide planks, rather the little 1.5 or 2" guys. I think it looks better and it definitely saves material and labor time.

    You could also make it out of 3/4", and fold the edges and ends over to get 1.5" thickness. This basically cuts your weight and material cost in half, and makes machining easier. Two guys could move it around.

  5. #20
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    Aug 2007
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    I did what Steve Griffin recommends. I was going to go with the butcher block edge grain but went with face grain planks. It came out really well and was not to hard to work with. I made an L top that was 48" at its widest point and 96" long, and also just finished an island top that is 48"x60" both made out of maple.

    Either way I think you can do it, the key is several small sections get each one flat, and then glue up into a large one. On both of the tops I just made I was in a hurry so I used pocket screws on the underside since I will most likely never crawl into the cabinets and see what the counter top looks like underneath this way when I glued up each piece I was able to force the top flat and hold it while the glue set. This method actually worked out better than I thought it would, I had minimal sanding, it took me about 15 minutes of hand planing on each top to make everything level and flat and then finished sanding with 150 and 180 grit.

    There are thousands of ways to skin this cat but I think you will come up with a good plan with comments from the other posters.

  6. #21
    First, I would never put wood around a sink as in the photo the OP provided. I guarantee that no matter how careful you are and I mean surgically careful, the wood around the sink will be compromised over time as water works away at the finish. This design will cause major grief down the road. I have made several wooden countertops for kitchen use in the past 15 years and they are all in service to this day and have required no maintenance to speak of.

    Second, take a close look at the grain orientation in Rick's photos. It looks nice overall but again this is a poor idea, tangential and radial grain make poor bedfellows - one moves alot , one moves a little. I would predict that this top of Rick's will suffer failure at several of the gluelines. I would avoid this situation as a woodworker, especially a woodworker who warrranties his work!

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Fournier View Post
    First, I would never put wood around a sink as in the photo the OP provided. I guarantee that no matter how careful you are and I mean surgically careful, the wood around the sink will be compromised over time as water works away at the finish. This design will cause major grief down the road. I have made several wooden countertops for kitchen use in the past 15 years and they are all in service to this day and have required no maintenance to speak of.

    Second, take a close look at the grain orientation in Rick's photos. It looks nice overall but again this is a poor idea, tangential and radial grain make poor bedfellows - one moves alot , one moves a little. I would predict that this top of Rick's will suffer failure at several of the gluelines. I would avoid this situation as a woodworker, especially a woodworker who warrranties his work!

    Uh, this summer I was standing on the deck of a 125 year old square rigger made of wood, mostly. Lots of boats are made of wood. My house is made of wood and has spent most of the summer getting wet on the outside. My toilet seat is in fact made of wood. I was in my bosses kitchen toady and noticed his 25 year old bird's eye counter w/under mount sink seemed to be in fine order, has been refinished several times, but has not spontaneously decayed yet. I'd argue that wood and water can play nicely if a decent finish is applied, some care is given to minimize standing water, and maintenance is done as needed. Granite needs sealing, soap stone requires oil, tiles will eventually need grout. Solid surface scratches and will need detailing eventually. The only really no maintenance counter surface I have ever seen is stainless with rolled integral back splash, but thats not for everyone. Major grief? Not really, just a bit of proper steward ship. And a bit more than mineral oil is probably required, though I do have one friend with a sink in maple counter top that is 10 years old, nothing more than mineral oil twice a year has been done, looks great and no problems even with a house fill of kids!

    I would also argue that the grain orientation issue is minor. I've seen stave core blanks on doors close to 100 years old made just like that. They rip a wide pine board, it yields anywhere from perfect quartered to perfect plain sawn grain, the strips are narrow, they hold each other in place as no one member is strong enough to exert its will and take control. Sort of like watching C-span these days. I have several wooden tops in my own home made this way that are doing just fine. Most commercial edge grain tops are made similarly. I would not want to see great expanses of tangential and radial grain mixed for reasons of both stability and asthetics, but in small strips I have not experience any issues.

  8. #23
    "I was in my bosses kitchen toady and noticed his 25 year old bird's eye counter w/under mount sink seemed to be in fine order, has been refinished several times,".

    Refinished several times over 25 years - that's my point. Wanna R&R a 12' X 6" top several times? Not me!

    Ripping a wide board is no biggie if the staves are put back in sequence, that's just nature tweaked, not meddled with.

  9. #24
    Join Date
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    Excellent points Peter.

    I just took a look at our 9 year old maple tops. Look just fine around the sink--there's a little water staining near my leaky coffee maker and the main work area, but the sink is fine. Lots of dings and dents, but that's ok with us.

    I've done maple counters next to sinks for clients too, after giving them a long lecture on what could go wrong, nothing really has.

    I finish tops with semi-gloss poly. I recoated ours once after 5 years--took about an hour of sanding and brushing. Hardly a burden.

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