Hi,

I'm in the process of renovating the kitchen and bathroom and would
like some advice on building a kitchen benchtop and shelves using some
19mm T&G oak floor boards. The initial plan was to strap the
floorboards every so often by nailing them into a 25x35 joist (similar
to laying actual floor), then running around the edges with 45mm oak
beading.

I've since been doing a bit more reading and another possible solution
is to glue the boards over the top of a piece of MDF or plywood in
addition to putting screws up through the MDF into the hardwood. If I
use this method, I'm not sure how thick the MDF should be?

Can anyone suggest the best solution for the job?

Cheers,

I'm coincidently just finishing a workshop bench top that spans three
workbenchs, about 12' long, using left-over wood flooring (in my case,
Jatoba).

I used a 1/2" plywood underlayment. Because of the length, I had to use two
pieces of plywood, so I overlapped them, so that together they were 12' long
aligned them, then cut a "W" through the overlapped sections (throwing away
the unused overlapped bits) so that section #2 would stay in alignment with
section #1. Then I screwed a starter course to the edge of the plywood and
glued/clamped subsequent courses. On one end I was careful to align the
tongue ends of each course. I trimmed the other end square with a curcular
saw, then added a groove with a router and inserted a length of wood into
the groove to form the tongue part of a tongue and groove join for the
edges.

I edged the front and sides with additional pieces of jatoba, trimming off
the tongue and groove and making a new groove on the underside, to be glued
to the tongue on the front and sides. I installed a backstop in a similar
fashion. A cross section of the jatoba would look like:

_________________]
[

The flooring is T&G on the ends as well as the sides, but for the front
trim, where I had to join three pieces of flooring, rather than use the T&G,
I cut a miter at 45 degrees on each piece so that they overlapped. The
reason for this is that I found when I first put the backstop on, that there
are gaps when you look at the end-to-end T&G (which would be invisible in a
floor, but are visible when used as edging.

I'm also taking some of my sawdust and mixing it with white glue to create
some filler of the proper color to fill in a couple of voids, and I'll
probably use an oil finish.

The work went slowly because it needed a LOT of clamps.

Regards -- JimR

"


"crmay" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I'm in the process of renovating the kitchen and bathroom and would
like some advice on building a kitchen benchtop and shelves using some
19mm T&G oak floor boards. The initial plan was to strap the
floorboards every so often by nailing them into a 25x35 joist (similar
to laying actual floor), then running around the edges with 45mm oak
beading.

I've since been doing a bit more reading and another possible solution
is to glue the boards over the top of a piece of MDF or plywood in
addition to putting screws up through the MDF into the hardwood. If I
use this method, I'm not sure how thick the MDF should be?

Can anyone suggest the best solution for the job?

Cheers,

JimR wrote:
I'm coincidently just finishing a workshop bench top that spans three
workbenchs, about 12' long, using left-over wood flooring (in my case,
Jatoba).

I used a 1/2" plywood underlayment. Because of the length, I had to use two
pieces of plywood, so I overlapped them, so that together they were 12' long
aligned them, then cut a "W" through the overlapped sections (throwing away
the unused overlapped bits) so that section #2 would stay in alignment with
section #1. Then I screwed a starter course to the edge of the plywood and
glued/clamped subsequent courses. On one end I was careful to align the
tongue ends of each course. I trimmed the other end square with a curcular
saw, then added a groove with a router and inserted a length of wood into
the groove to form the tongue part of a tongue and groove join for the
edges.

I edged the front and sides with additional pieces of jatoba, trimming off
the tongue and groove and making a new groove on the underside, to be glued
to the tongue on the front and sides. I installed a backstop in a similar
fashion. A cross section of the jatoba would look like:

_________________]
[

The flooring is T&G on the ends as well as the sides, but for the front
trim, where I had to join three pieces of flooring, rather than use the T&G,
I cut a miter at 45 degrees on each piece so that they overlapped. The
reason for this is that I found when I first put the backstop on, that there
are gaps when you look at the end-to-end T&G (which would be invisible in a
floor, but are visible when used as edging.

I'm also taking some of my sawdust and mixing it with white glue to create
some filler of the proper color to fill in a couple of voids, and I'll
probably use an oil finish.

The work went slowly because it needed a LOT of clamps.

Regards -- JimR

"


"crmay" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I'm in the process of renovating the kitchen and bathroom and would
like some advice on building a kitchen benchtop and shelves using some
19mm T&G oak floor boards. The initial plan was to strap the
floorboards every so often by nailing them into a 25x35 joist (similar
to laying actual floor), then running around the edges with 45mm oak
beading.

I've since been doing a bit more reading and another possible solution
is to glue the boards over the top of a piece of MDF or plywood in
addition to putting screws up through the MDF into the hardwood. If I
use this method, I'm not sure how thick the MDF should be?

Can anyone suggest the best solution for the job?

Cheers,



I prefer the gluing to a substrate, using construction
adhesive. Do it after screwing the substrate to the
supports from BELOW, and then sanding off any screw tips
that protrude. Also, before applying the finish wood, I
very strongly suggest painting the substrate on all 6 sides
with several coats of polyurethane varnish to keep it stable
in a humid/dry situation.

Nonnymus

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the response. I ended up going with the joists for the
bathroom shelf. The reason for this is I'm concerned that if the
timber shrinks and water gets into the MDF, it will deteriorate. I've
nailed them in and just finishing sanding.

You said that you mixed white glue with the sawdust to fill the holes.
This sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure what you mean by "white
glue"?

I'm planning on staining the boards in a very dark colour and leaving
the beading natural. Then finishing with a two part clear gloss
finish. Can you please (or anyone) suggest how I should fill the nail
holes and sap veins? I've got some polyester resin that I could mix
with the sawdust, but will this stain unevenly?

cheers,