Help with bar top

[Scott Pagington]

I’m finishing our basement and we decided to put a small kitchen there which will include a bar top. We have hickory cabinets and decided to go with live edge hickory for the bar top.

We’re not big drinkers, so the bar will mostly be used for snacks, serving table when friends come over, etc.

Just got back from the lumber yard. They had a beautiful hickory board. The problem is that it’s only 14” wide, I was wanting 18-20. I went ahead and bought because it had beautiful grain pattern and color.

Any ideas how I can make this board work? Or, am I better off finding a wider board?

Thanks!
Scott

[Robert Engel]

One idea is to add boards to each side that which will accentuate the character.

[Scott Pagington]

Hi Robert....thanks for the idea. Do you mean to wrap the board with edge banding like you would wrap plywood?

[Yonak Hawkins]

If it's got a live edge, and you like it, you surely wouldn't want to cut it off to attach another board. You might want to add to only the cut edge or, if both edges are live and you like both edges, cut down the middle and add a complementary center piece.

Lots of bars I've seen have a drop-down section on the bar side for drink preparation, etc. It seems like 14" may be wide enough for the business surface of the bar.

[Scott Pagington]

Well, I did say live edge didn’t I. That was my intent but they didn’t have any at the lumber yard. The edges are roughsawn so an edge of contrasting would is a good option. I also like the idea of something down the middle. What do you think would be a good complementary wood? Walnut maybe?

Thanks!

[Mark Bolton]

The walnut strip down the center would be nice. As an aside, if you are wanting to get a rustic edge that can somewhat mimic a live edge without doing all kinds of speculative artsy sawing along the grain and so on, what we often do on table where customers want a rustic edge but the boards are sawn edges is to take a good solid hardwood mallet (you can make one from oak or hickory in a few minutes) and pretty aggressively beat the edges and corners of the top. You will crush the wood fibers and they will begin to splinter off along the grain. You can often just collapse some fibers and peel away the crushed portion with your hands. Repeat the process as many times as you'd like til your happy with the edge then go at it with a draw knife, spoke shave, or just your RO sander. The fibers will collapse perfectly with the grain pattern on the edge and youll be left with a very natural looking rustic edge from a sawn board. You can always test a few scraps but its never failed us yet.

[Tom Bender]

Walnut is a good choice, but Mahogany might be better. Whichever, if you want a bold contrast you should stain it before gluing it up.