Butcher block island

coalsmok · January 01, 2021, 02:53:51 PM

Started on a butcher block island for my wife yesterday. Not much progress yet. The top is glued up and waiting final cut off, sanding and breaking the edges. Maple plywood for the base to match the rest of the kitchen with walnut trim to match the top.

Larry · January 01, 2021, 04:08:02 PM

Looks good. I used to make lots of tops that way. Good way to turn low grade boards into a high grade top.

coalsmok · January 02, 2021, 04:40:09 PM

Got this far on the base cabinet for it last night. My phone needs a new battery so I'm not getting many photos. This is all maple plywood. I used pocket screws and glue to join the sides of it together.
I am open to suggestions on how to join plywood at the corners to make it look good without trim like I am doing here.

coalsmok · January 02, 2021, 08:21:44 PM

And here's where I'm stopping for the day. The bottom is in the base cabinet, trim is started around the base and the top is roughly cut down square.

coalsmok · January 03, 2021, 06:42:35 PM

Well I'm pretty much down to the step I hate, sanding and finishing. Got all the trim cut and put on today and the top is now square and the edges broke with a 1/8 round over bit.

WDH · January 03, 2021, 09:10:10 PM

Looks great!

bitternut · January 04, 2021, 09:24:02 PM

Looks really nice. You might want a little bit larger radius on the top edge, 1/8" is pretty small. For sure you should put a much larger radius on the four corners of the top. You will understand why the first time that you bump one. ;D

Stephen1 · January 04, 2021, 09:52:30 PM

Looking pretty good!

kantuckid · January 06, 2021, 08:56:31 AM

Finishing is the woodworkers glory run! Enjoy seeing the wood come to life? Sanding is a necessary evil...

coalsmok · January 06, 2021, 11:42:41 AM

Thanks for the good comments. I prefer to build things so that I don’t have to sand much at all to finish them but the light color of the maple plywood need some marks sanded out.
I may go back and put a heavier radius on the corners but the 1/8 was in the router. I don’t want to much radius on the top and bottom due to clamping things to the top. We process a lot of food for canning and it seems like everything needs clamped to something for a base.

kantuckid · January 06, 2021, 01:21:34 PM

To clamp kitchen gizmos, like our Abe Lincoln (handy dandy!) apple peeler, just cut up a cereal box and pad the top of your work island.

My kitchen island is made of Wormy Chestnut, has 4" sq corner posts, frame panel ends and back, open on one side with a shelf and two drawers above. The top is black African granite like our counters. It has a 10" overhang where the stools sit and is siliconed to the island. The one before that is a roll around that my wife calls "the chopping block, it's made of virgin white oak 2 1/2" thick It has a life as a "see pretty" in retirement.

firefighter ontheside · January 06, 2021, 02:45:00 PM

When building cabinets for kitchens, the back is typically hidden against the wall, so need to worry about joints being seen there. For fronts, I would use a face frame applied in any number of ways; glue, biscuits and glue pocket holes from the inside. When using a regular base cabinet as an island typically you put a finished panel on the back and then some corner trim hides the joints. For my own island I made the back and both sides as rail and stile panels that were just pocket screwed together on the inside. I made a face frame for the front as described.

The butcher block looks very nice.

coalsmok · January 09, 2021, 05:33:34 PM

Well the weekend is here and I had some time to sand and apply finish.
Went with spar varnish for the base and watco butcher block oil for the top. Still have another coat to do on the top.

coalsmok · January 11, 2021, 10:18:32 AM

Got it installed this morning thanks to the fact that the dentist canceled some appointments on me and the kids. Looks a lot better in the kitchen lighting.

WDH · January 12, 2021, 07:34:51 AM

Looks like it is home.

Trackerbuddy · January 12, 2021, 08:11:27 AM

Quote from: Larry on January 01, 2021, 04:08:02 PM
Looks good. I used to make lots of tops that way. Good way to turn low grade boards into a high grade top.

I have 400 bdft of beech 1"x2"s from another project. First on the list is butcher block top for my workbench

Trackerbuddy · January 12, 2021, 08:15:19 AM

Quote from: coalsmok on January 01, 2021, 02:53:51 PM
Started on a butcher block island for my wife yesterday. Not much progress yet. The top is glued up and waiting final cut off, sanding and breaking the edges. Maple plywood for the base to match the rest of the kitchen with walnut trim to match the top.

Newbie question. Glue it up all at once or add a few boards wait for the glue to set then repeat?
I found a local guy with a 36" belt sander. Paying him to do most of the sanding seems like a good idea.

kantuckid · January 12, 2021, 12:28:04 PM

Might want to consider doing it in three parts or whatever facilitates keeping things doable for your glues set time and trying for as aligned as possible too. If you did that you would then later glue up those sections. I made a coffee table from walnut strips- about 50 years ago and wished I'd sectioned it.
I guess the 36" sander thing is OK but I'd just do it all in my shop where it would go through my planer in those sections (in spite of the 20"'s of planer width) then use my handheld, 4 x 36 Bosch belt sander then either an oscillation type disc or a DA sander.
The more perfect the strips, the less hassle to glue it up of course.
Also, choose the "right" glue, goes w/o saying.

WDH · January 12, 2021, 05:02:33 PM

Sections a bit less wide than your planer so you can run them on a very light skim pass after dry. Saves a load when sanding. Also much less stressful on the you, the Gluer-upper.

coalsmok · January 12, 2021, 10:52:08 PM

I glued this one up in three sections then ran them thru the planer and glued the sections together. Real important to make certain each section is the same thickness to make glue up easier.
I have to make a large cutting board/sacrificial top for this next. Don't think my wife would appreciate meat saw marks in her new island. I could take some photos of the process if someone wanted it.