Help with joining Wood Countertop


Chrisjen30

Recommended Posts

post-2694-0-85919100-1290555812_thumb.jpOk here I apologize in advance for the picture, but here is my thousand words to try to describe my problem. I am building a wetbar in the basement. For the bartop I picked Red oak, with Brazilan Cherry running through it to give it a striped look. So it goes 5" red oak, 2 1/2" Cherry, 5 Inchs of Red Oak, 2 1/2 inchs of Cherry, 5 inchs of Red Oak for a total width of 20 inches.

The problem I am running into is mitering the top (Left of Picture). I have (2) 22 degree miters in this top. At these miters I am runnning some extra cherry I have along the miter to break up the stripes. However I am having problems getting a straight miter on these tops. Any Ideas would help becuase I am running out of them. I tried planing the edges with a long sanding block and some sand paper but the cherry it seems does not sand at the same rate and only creates more of a problem. And the best way to join them together? Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To join these two meeting surfaces you could (if you have enough wood), clamp the two pieces and run a saw blade with a guide right at the joint where the two pieces meet.

I have used this method based on a video from Matt Vanderlist on Matt's Basement Shop when he was explaining how to join two surfaces long grain to long grain.

Another thing I would do would be to use dominos or a loose tennon since you are gluing end grain to end grain.

post-2694-0-85919100-1290555812_thumb.jpOk here I apologize in advance for the picture, but here is my thousand words to try to describe my problem. I am building a wetbar in the basement. For the bartop I picked Red oak, with Brazilan Cherry running through it to give it a striped look. So it goes 5" red oak, 2 1/2" Cherry, 5 Inchs of Red Oak, 2 1/2 inchs of Cherry, 5 inchs of Red Oak for a total width of 20 inches.

The problem I am running into is mitering the top (Left of Picture). I have (2) 22 degree miters in this top. At these miters I am runnning some extra cherry I have along the miter to break up the stripes. However I am having problems getting a straight miter on these tops. Any Ideas would help becuase I am running out of them. I tried planing the edges with a long sanding block and some sand paper but the cherry it seems does not sand at the same rate and only creates more of a problem. And the best way to join them together? Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a similar issue with a teak kitchen counter I made. I decided the avoid the miter entirely, and went with a herringbone approach. I was a bit worried that I'd get gaps with movement, but the teak has been fairly dimensionally stable, and I haven't seen any problems in the last seven years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is the dimension of the cherry strip at the corner? Could you route a 1/4" rabbet on the front edge and the face of the two bar sections and then use a strip of cherry to cover the joint? I'm not sure how movement would impact that solution. Seems like a lot of moving pieces but it would be much easier to work with the small strips than the entire run of the bar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris, glad to be of service we all help each other on this forum. Marc made it possible for all of us. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving.

Bobby,

Thanks for the advise. I can not believe that I did not think of that because I have used it in the past. Now I just have to finish up some lose ends like the bar rail, and I will be all set. THANKS AGAIN!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris, glad to be of service we all help each other on this forum. Marc made it possible for all of us. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving.

Seems a bit late now to advise but I'm sure you must have the same kind of kitchen worktop jigs in the States as we have here in Europe. They normally have both 45 and 22 1/2 degree mitres in the same jig. They make this kind of joint very very easy and strong.

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a jig from Festool which will allow me to place it at any angle. So that is what I do use in situations like this one.

Seems a bit late now to advise but I'm sure you must have the same kind of kitchen worktop jigs in the States as we have here in Europe. They normally have both 45 and 22 1/2 degree mitres in the same jig. They make this kind of joint very very easy and strong.

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Thanks for all the helpfull advise, here is a picture of the near finsihed project. The joinery came out perfect, and I'll try to get a closer picture. I reinforced the joint with some countertop bolts. With the addition of the Bartop coating I do not believe that it will move.

Thanks again

post-2694-0-01398100-1295971367_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online   2 Members, 0 Anonymous, 51 Guests (See full list)

  • Forum Statistics

    31.2k
    Total Topics
    422.3k
    Total Posts
  • Member Statistics

    23,783
    Total Members
    3,644
    Most Online
    cokicool
    Newest Member
    cokicool
    Joined