Solid Wood Island Benchtop

[JehuAB]

Hi All,

We are starting a kitchen reno project soon, and I'm just trying to decide what way to go with the bench tops. I'm looking into making the island bench top out of solid Jarrah (about 1000 x 1700). I can't decide between laminating some 150-200mm planks together, or maybe embarking on a massive end grain style butchers block construction with sliced up chunks of 4x4.

Has anyone got experience with construction a large bench top in this fashion? It seems like it would be a big job, but quite possibly a lot of fun as well.

What sort of pitfalls await me?
What sort of glue would be appropriate for strength/waterproof/kitchen use?
Does anyone know of any references for butcher block construction techniques?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[OBBob]

I have a fantastic Jarrah bench top made of 3 big planks glued together. I'm not sure about the butcher block idea because it will get quite cut up and be very hard to keep clean and smooth. I also butchrs blocks are normally deeper than 20 or 40mm and I don't think you'd want that on a bench.

Finally, the grain really comes out on the legths, so a normal style planked bench top would probably look better for longer. Plus you could make a matching butchers block from the left overs?

[silentC]

I'm about to make one of these. There are three benches, two will be edge laminated (strips of timber glued together side by side). The third will be an end grain butchers block. It's going to be 5" thick and will weigh a tonne.

To make the end grain block, you rip long strips and glue together as for edge lamination but then you cross cut into sections which are as long as the block is to be deep, then you stand them on end and glue together, forming the checker board pattern. If you want to get serious about it, you can run some all-thread through the block and put a nut either side to protect against splitting. You want well-seasoned hardwood for this.

Google "titebond" for glue. There is a waterproof one which I'll probably use. Or you could use an epoxy like West Systems.

Google "butchers block" and you'll find plenty of photos. I did a bit of a search myself the other day but didn't find a lot in the way of construction details. They are pretty simple though.

An end grain butchers block is actually a tougher surface than edge laminated or face laminated boards because the end grain is self-healing to an extent and it will absorb a lot of the damage without marking the surface.

[Vernonv]

To make the end grain block, you rip long strips and glue together as for edge lamination but then you cross cut into sections which are as long as the block is to be deep...

SilentC, what is the logic behind doing it this way, as opposed to just cutting up blocks of non-laminated timber?

[SilentButDeadly]

SilentC, what is the logic behind doing it this way, as opposed to just cutting up blocks of non-laminated timber?

Basically it is easier/faster/less prone to alignment foul-ups to glue and clamp together as strips rather than doing it using lots of little chunks of timber.

[Vernonv]

OK, I think I get it now ... if you are (for example) wanting 40mm x 40mm blocks you would laminate 40 x 40 x whatever together and then cut it to the required bench top height (thickness).

When SilentC mentioned long strips, I was thinking that he was laminating thin strips together to make up the 40 x 40

[silentC]

Sorry, yep 40 x 40 x whatever long. Glue up a board same width as the finished top and then dock into short boards eg. 100m for a 100mm thick bench. Then glue these together face to face to form the top.

[JehuAB]

Thanks for the construction tips SilentC... I probably would have tried gluing all the little blocks together in one hit, with disastrous results.

Also the TiteBond III glue looks like it will do the job nicely, not sure of pricing yet though.
http://www.titebond.com/IntroPageTB....e=94?prodcat=1

This is an example of what I was hoping to achieve, but there are lots of other interesting examples there as well. Looks like they do some nice work.
http://www.devoswoodworking.com/Butc...aEndGrain3.htm

Is doing the whole island in this fashion overkill? Will it be structurally sound at those sizes? I'm looking at nearly 2 sqm (1700 long by about 1000-1200 wide), and am a bit worried about shrinkage/expansion at his size.

[silentC]

It can certainly be done, they have an example of something slightly smaller on that site: http://www.devoswoodworking.com/Butc...able-Maple.htm

However, for that size, you might be better just going for the edge grain version - basically just the first step in the picture above. The idea is to have the quarter sawn edge of the timber facing up and the faces glued together, so if you look at the end of the glued up board, the growth rings are roughly perpendicular to the top of the board. This is supposed to help prevent cupping.

I think a top that size made from end grain butcher block would be a big undertaking and would be very heavy. Very impressive though and would last forever.