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My brother wants to build a counter top this weekend. It's going to be a "breakfast bar." Due to my new wood working hobby, I volunteered to help! I need help with wood selection, process to build it (using my tools) and finishing options.

The top will be 15" wide and 8' long. I'd like to see strips of wood (dark and light), much like a cutting board. To be clear, this is NOT a cutting board, it will be more like a dining table top. I'm thinking 5 strips, 3" wide each. What type should we get?

I have a Mark V with bandsaw. I have craftsman Jointer. I've used the disc sander and I have a Makita Random Orbital Sander. I don't have a planer. Can I do this project with just these tools? I heard the local wood supplier can plane two sides, for a price, if I ask them but if they do all four sides it starts to get expensive.

Assuming we choose some good wood, what are my finishing options? I'd really like a deep brown on the dark pieces and he needs to be able to clean the top on a regular basis. I guess this would be close to the same finish as a good table top.

I'm still new to woodworking but this should be a great project. I've built some adirondack chairs from a plan but I haven't created my own project yet.

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

OK, you have a jointer, so you can make perfectly square pieces for glue-up. Get clamps... lots of clamps! When you do the glue-up, use dowels or biscuits between the pieces so that the pieces don't move relative to one anohter... unless you like planing wood. By the way, the local wood guy who will plane wood for you will NOT like planing a glue-up... not good for the knives (=$$$).

Give yourself some extra length so that you can trim the ends later. I did this and used some of the trimmed ends to make a 'rail' around the ends and back that matched the top.

When you have the pieces ready to go, use a glue applicator with a foam tip, and put a THIN layer on each side... use Titebond III. Get them together quickly... do a dry run to practice without glue, practice again, and why not once more... just to be sure.

Once you have them all glued up nicely, make sure (especially if you didn't use dowels or biscuits) to clamp the ends so that the pieces line up nicely.

Once dry, you will have to scrape, sand and/or plane anyway, so get a good long plane, and get used to sharpening (I use scary-sharp, but ymmv).

You can also glue-up groups of pieces, then when they are dry, check for trueness and glue-up the sub-assemblies.

Good lick, and welcome to the wild and wacky worl of wood!

Derek in Vancouver.

Question is, what species wood is available?

For dark black walnut is nice($:eek:$).

For light white oak or maple.

The 'dark' could be obtained by staining, but the glue up etc. gets complicated.

If you're gonna use 3" strips, purchase 3 1/2" or wider(jointing and 'straightening').

Dowels will work but IMHO Biscuits are better.

Use a finish recommended for 'bar' tops(impervious to various liquids).

Now what is going to hold it up off the floor?

Oh and how are you going to dress up the sides and end?

wingman2010 wrote:My brother wants to build a counter top this weekend. It's going to be a "breakfast bar." Due to my new wood working hobby, I volunteered to help! I need help with wood selection, process to build it (using my tools) and finishing options.

The top will be 15" wide and 8' long. I'd like to see strips of wood (dark and light), much like a cutting board. To be clear, this is NOT a cutting board, it will be more like a dining table top. I'm thinking 5 strips, 3" wide each. What type should we get?

I have a Mark V with bandsaw. I have craftsman Jointer. I've used the disc sander and I have a Makita Random Orbital Sander. I don't have a planer. Can I do this project with just these tools? I heard the local wood supplier can plane two sides, for a price, if I ask them but if they do all four sides it starts to get expensive.

Assuming we choose some good wood, what are my finishing options? I'd really like a deep brown on the dark pieces and he needs to be able to clean the top on a regular basis. I guess this would be close to the same finish as a good table top.

I'm still new to woodworking but this should be a great project. I've built some adirondack chairs from a plan but I haven't created my own project yet.

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

First are you sure you want to alternate light and dark in something only 15" wide? It may look really fakey.

Second how are you going to support the 8 foot length? The wood will have to be very thick or you will need a lot of supports.

What do you want the edges to look like?

How much are you willing to spend on wood?

If it were me I would use 2x6x8 clear pine. That should cost you less than most other woods but the price for clear will still stop your heart.

I would then rip or joint the chamfering off the edges and I would use dowels or biscuits to connect the boards.

I would choose a nice oil wood stain after I finished sanding the top so you could not easily see a joint.

Then I would give it a three or more coats of Poly, with the first coat thinned by half. I would allow 24 hours or more between coats. Lightly sanding each coat. On the finish coat make sure the area is completely dust free, that you have plenty of contrast lighting and put that coat on ultra smooth.

Or I would go buy a piece of ready made counter top (formica) cut it to size and never look back.

You didn't say what you have for clamps. This is a very good project to justify purchase of 8 or 9 good K body clamps. This won't be cheap, but will be an investment in your shop. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=30849

Another way to go, on the opposite side of the price spectrum is to get some bar clamps from Harbor Freight. If you glue up no more than three boards at a time these will work for this project. When using these clamps, you should put small wood pads between the clamp and the wood to prevent compressing the edges of the boards.

As for clamps, pipe clamps are also an option and they last forever, mine (like many of my tools) are hand me downs that are older than I am. Not as expensive as the K body clamps but not as fancy either.

You can never have too many clamps.

terrydowning wrote:As for clamps, pipe clamps are also an option and they last forever, mine (like many of my tools) are hand me downs that are older than I am. Not as expensive as the K body clamps but not as fancy either.

You can never have too many clamps.

Priced iron pipe lately?:(

JPG40504 wrote:Priced iron pipe lately?:(

Actually no, the ten pieces I have for clamps that I've had for decades are still working just fine.

I just looked on lowes.com
3/4" x 30" galvanized = $8.24
3/4" x 60" galvanized = $15.43

3/4" x 24" black iron = $6.86
3/4" x 48" black iron = $11.15
3/4" x 60" black iron = $13.10

Not Horrible I guess. compared to these form rockler plus shipping of course.

Bessey K Body REVO Jr Parallel Clamp - 12'', KRJR-12 = $32.99
Bessey K Body REVO Jr Parallel Clamp - 36'', KRJR-36 = $ 50.19
Bessey K Body REVO Jr Parallel Clamp - 50'', KRJR-50 = $57.89

and if for some reason you need longer than 50" well, you need a different clamping solution.

Don't get me wrong, the k Bodies are great clamps, but I'm frugal (read cheap) especially when it comes to things like clamps. Sometimes I wonder if the hobby is woodworking or collecting woodworking tools.

I recently joined 2 sections of pipe to create a 9 ft log clamp which I used to make 6 6ft circles and an 8 ft diameter circle from regular 4x8 plywood.

I like the flexibility of pipe clamps.

I have a fair number of clamps but with a large project I often borrow clamps from other woodworkers I know. Of course be prepared to reciprocate.

You might consider purchasing a cabinet grade plywood (cherry or whatever) and add hardwood edging to the four edges.

If you weren't in a hurry you could search garage sales for wood. I've purchased a couple of water bed frames and gotten some nice wood.

Remember to document your steps, especially finishing, it's great to a log to go back to in the future.