Butcher Block Kitchen Island

[scooters]

@ Charlese: No, I bought the legs pre-turned from www.osbornewood.com . They were a little too large for me to try & I've not done much turning.

JPG: To attach the top to the frame I drilled 4 of the 1/2 inch holes in the base. I had some small metal plates with a hole in the middle in the junk box (a fender washer should work too). I put the screw (pocket type) through the middle of the metal plate, through the middle of the hole, and into the butcher block top. That should give it some expansion room. While I'm sure that it isn't really needed, but I attached some stick-on safety tape (like the non-skid stuff you use on commercial stairs) to the top of each leg. That should also keep it from sliding.

I have an workshop with a/c that is on when I'm working. However, the humidity has been really high here in Texas. I brought the raw wood and the counter top into the house during the weekdays when I wasn't working on the project. I also used the multi-size blocks to form staggered joints throughout.

My biggest fear is wood stress. I'm afraid that I will wake up to a loud crack and a pile of kindling.

[JPG]

Good you allowed for expansion.

I asked because of that, but also wondering if all those glue joints could not use some vertical support by having a sub base(plywood) between the base and the blocks.

You probably did not orient the grain of the blocks to minimize adjacent movement.

Time will tell!

Again, impressive!

[BPeter61]

nice project! Thanks for posting it with all the documentation.

what's the next project on your list?

[scooters]

Duplicate

[scooters]

JPG: Good Thought!

I decided not to do an underlayment. The frame below forms an "8" as it has a center runner. So most of the wood is within about 6 inches of a support. The top is 3" thick which gives me a lot of glue surface area between the blocks.

I read some stories about people putting underlayment or a runner on and gluing it, which didn't match the expansion of the butcher block. It wasn't pretty!

Also, I thought (right or wrong), it was better to have air circulate above and below the butcher block. That would create equal humidity/moisture content throughout. I don't plan to use it for daily butchering, so I won't be whacking the block constantly.

I did try to keep the grain aligned as much as possible in the blocks. Should be going left to right (vs up and down in each of the slabs.

Again, time will tell!


Bpeter61: Not sure what is next. I suspect a quick weekend project to build a "baby gate." Need to keep the dog out of the bedroom. Will likely be a swinging "cafe door" model.

Next big project is likely a 8 buffet for the living room. Probably in the fall.

Thanks all for the compliments and ideas!

[algale]

As others have already said, this is a very nice looking project, congrats! I only wish the pics were a little bigger.

[JPG]

As others have already said, this is a very nice looking project, congrats! I only wish the pics were a little bigger.

BUTCHER BLOCK PORTABLE ISLAND.jpg (383.97 KiB) Viewed 5106 times

BTW I did not say to glue the underlayment to the blocks.

[scooters]

Lets see if these are a little easier on the eyes

[algale]

Thanks for the bigger pics!

[Skizzity]

Beautiful! That is an impressive exercise in patience.