I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Something to consider, there are numerous sites and businesses that sell
this already made up and IIRC for less than you can buy the materials
yourself.



"Dwight" wrote in message
om...
I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

On 3 Aug 2004 06:50:26 -0700, (Dwight)
wrote:

I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.


should work fine. it'll complicate the layup and slow you down- that's
a lot of biscuits- and it's not really necessary, but if it makes ya
happy, go fer it.

you'll still have to surface it when you're done.

I built one and bought one. It was about the same amount of money but I like
the one I made better.
You can get them from Grainger ready to go for around $200 but they are oiled.
I stripped it with mineral spirits and put poly on it.
I used biscuits for the one I made. It does make it easier to keep things
together while you are gluing it up but as the other poster said, I still
needed to surface it. I used my belt sander.

I applaud your efforts---but you might want to reconsider. I have found
that high-quality pre-made maple countertops can often be purchased mail
order for even less than (my) cost of the wood. We are re-doing our
entire (smallish) kitchen for about $1200 in materials.

If you do it yourself, I agree with the biscuits.

Dwight wrote:
I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I did a small butcher block table for our breakfast nook using white oak and
walnut. SWMBO is real happy. I drilled each piece and installed 3
stainless steel threaded rods through all but the two outside pieces.
Easier than a lot of biscuits but sanding was still required.

Rick

"Dwight" wrote in message
om...
I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 12:26:00 -0500, Elwood Dowd wrote:

I applaud your efforts---but you might want to reconsider. I have found
that high-quality pre-made maple countertops can often be purchased mail
order for even less than (my) cost of the wood. We are re-doing our
entire (smallish) kitchen for about $1200 in materials.


Any source suggestions?

Rick Gibson wrote:
I did a small butcher block table for our breakfast nook using white oak and
walnut. SWMBO is real happy. I drilled each piece and installed 3
stainless steel threaded rods through all but the two outside pieces.
Easier than a lot of biscuits but sanding was still required.


Hey,

I tried doing that when I built my workbench, but it didn't turn out so
well. I had hoped to avoid buying clamps. I used a homemade jig to
position the holes so that they would line up, but it ended up pulling
some boards higher than the others. Because I had to plane it by hand, I
ended up just buying the clamps and laying the boards down on another
table to glue them up. What was your secret? How did you get the holes
aligned well? Extremely dull bits could have been my problem...

-Jonathan Ward

"Dwight" wrote in message
om...
I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Are you talking real end grain butcher block or the pseudo ones made of
narrow strips? I take it since you are talking about holding 'individual
boards together' that it's the latter. The genuine end grain article is
much more time consuming both in cutting all the little blocks and also
surfacing when it's all asembled.

When I'm joining boards I generally cut groves on the TS to take plywood
alignment strips, lower the stock onto the blade to start the cut and lift
the stock before it breaks through the end. Much easier than fiddling with
lots of bicuits when the glue is drying....

Bernard R

Mine didn't line up as well as I hoped but I attribute that to an old and
cheap drill press that had some play in it and not using brad point bits so
they wandered a bit before biting in. Of course I didn't notice any of
this until after the top was built. A little time outside with the 4 inch
belt sander and some 80 grit paper and everything was as it should be.

Rick
"Jonathan Ward" wrote in message
...
Rick Gibson wrote:
I did a small butcher block table for our breakfast nook using white oak
and
walnut. SWMBO is real happy. I drilled each piece and installed 3
stainless steel threaded rods through all but the two outside pieces.
Easier than a lot of biscuits but sanding was still required.


Hey,

I tried doing that when I built my workbench, but it didn't turn out so
well. I had hoped to avoid buying clamps. I used a homemade jig to
position the holes so that they would line up, but it ended up pulling
some boards higher than the others. Because I had to plane it by hand, I
ended up just buying the clamps and laying the boards down on another
table to glue them up. What was your secret? How did you get the holes
aligned well? Extremely dull bits could have been my problem...

-Jonathan Ward

I made a true (end-grain) butcher block counter top. It's 3 inches
thick and about 10 feet long--nearly 500 individual blocks of 8/4
random width rock maple. I think the end grain stains more readily
than edge grain would, but stains add character by showing it gets
used, right?


"Bernard Randall" wrote in message ...
"Dwight" wrote in message
om...
I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Are you talking real end grain butcher block or the pseudo ones made of
narrow strips? I take it since you are talking about holding 'individual
boards together' that it's the latter. The genuine end grain article is
much more time consuming both in cutting all the little blocks and also
surfacing when it's all asembled.

When I'm joining boards I generally cut groves on the TS to take plywood
alignment strips, lower the stock onto the blade to start the cut and lift
the stock before it breaks through the end. Much easier than fiddling with
lots of bicuits when the glue is drying....

Bernard R

I made a true (end-grain) butcher block counter top. It's 3 inches
thick and about 10 feet long--nearly 500 individual blocks of 8/4
random width rock maple. I think the end grain stains more readily
than edge grain would, but stains add character by showing it gets
used, right?


"Bernard Randall" wrote in message ...
"Dwight" wrote in message
om...
I'm planning on replacing the counter tops in my home with maple
butcherblock tops that I want to build myself.

I'm still doing research to see what info is available. Any
suggestions on sites offering info about construction techniques or
hints would be appreciated.

One thing I'm considering is using biscuit joints to help hold the
individual boards together when I glue it up. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Are you talking real end grain butcher block or the pseudo ones made of
narrow strips? I take it since you are talking about holding 'individual
boards together' that it's the latter. The genuine end grain article is
much more time consuming both in cutting all the little blocks and also
surfacing when it's all asembled.

When I'm joining boards I generally cut groves on the TS to take plywood
alignment strips, lower the stock onto the blade to start the cut and lift
the stock before it breaks through the end. Much easier than fiddling with
lots of bicuits when the glue is drying....

Bernard R

"ed_h" wrote in message
om...
I made a true (end-grain) butcher block counter top. It's 3 inches
thick and about 10 feet long--nearly 500 individual blocks of 8/4
random width rock maple. I think the end grain stains more readily
than edge grain would, but stains add character by showing it gets
used, right?


snip
Ed,
I did 2 3'x2'x2" with a 2'6" lump of granite between the two for pastry,
finished with 'good stuff', but as you say stains very easily. Thinking
about re-finishing with something a bit more resistant, any suggestions?

Bernard R

The pastry setup sounds nice. Over most of our top, I just use liberal
amounts of mineral oil--it's amazing how much it will absorb. There
is a (home made) copper sink in the middle of the counter top, and I
did apply two or three coats of Poly in the area where the fixtures
come through the top. This was to protect the wood from the
inevitable seepage from the fixtures. The color in the Poly area is
lighter and less rich than the oiled part, but it doesn't look bad.
This is a potting table for us, and it gets heavy use. I'm not sure a
finish coating would survive. For your app, it might.

Based on the area I did Poly, it just doesn't look authentically
butcher-blockish to me.

"Bernard Randall" wrote in message ...
"ed_h" wrote in message
om...
I made a true (end-grain) butcher block counter top. It's 3 inches
thick and about 10 feet long--nearly 500 individual blocks of 8/4
random width rock maple. I think the end grain stains more readily
than edge grain would, but stains add character by showing it gets
used, right?


snip
Ed,
I did 2 3'x2'x2" with a 2'6" lump of granite between the two for pastry,
finished with 'good stuff', but as you say stains very easily. Thinking
about re-finishing with something a bit more resistant, any suggestions?

Bernard R