Kitchen remodel/countertop build


Cliff

Recommended Posts

46 minutes ago, Pug said:

Or use a shoulder plane and trim them to fit to your liking

 

I am sorta trying that but I'm having some issues doing that. Though it just may be end of a long day type thing. 

1 hour ago, TIODS said:

The West Systems is thin enough to fill in without injecting..  Not sure what you're using..

Yup West Systems. Was only thinking of injecting it to keep it cleaner. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TIODS said:

That's what blue tape is for ;)

 

Yeah I thought of that like 30 mins after I posted my response. i'm a bit slow. 

In a bit of bad news, I'm going to have to redo the small countertop I made. :( 

5kLK0yo.jpg

I've determined it's mostly likely due to the temp when I glued the panel. It was 50ish to 55F degrees when I glued it and dropped as low as 30 that night. Maybe even 25. I used 207 WS. I didn't know until afterwards what temperature range to use it in. I also had no idea it would get that cold that night. If only there was some service that would tell me...

Another possible option is because of my cletus wood. But I think the temp is more likely. Luckily I should have enough width to my panel to saw on the joint, then clean my boards back up and reglue. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slowly progressing.

I got my second complete row glued up. Skipped the jig. It ended up not being as useful as I thought it would and it's actually easier to just clamp it like normal.

1.jpg

Then I taped it both of them off and filled the gaps with epoxy. My second board was much better due to more proper finessing with hand tools. I think the third will be even better as well.

2.jpg

 

Filled up. Still pretty messy.

3.jpg

 

I'm also switching to table saw to make my lap joints. The router bit into the jig too much at certain areas and rendered it useless. I think I have corrected my original problem with the table saw, which is the squareness of my miter bar. However, It's going to be annoying to set the proper depth on this. However, I wasn't perfect setting the depth even with the router so I guess that is just how it goes. Maybe I'll get closer with the dado blade.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I cut up my short counter due to the glue failure, squared the boards, glued them back. Then I discovered my new favorite tool, using @Tom Cancelleri's advice on the Veritas variable burnisher. Holy crap it's amazing. However, there is still some staining and such from the epoxy and I'm sure it needs to be flatter, so next it goes through the drum sander when I can get it over to one. 

Officially a fan of card scrapers. Though I need to spend some time learning what angle to use for what. I just set it to 10 because that is what Tom did in his video and it sounded like it might be more aggressive. Perfect for this application.

20160508_151650.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Cliff said:

I cut up my short counter due to the glue failure, squared the boards, glued them back. Then I discovered my new favorite tool, using @Tom Cancelleri's advice on the Veritas variable burnisher. Holy crap it's amazing. However, there is still some staining and such from the epoxy and I'm sure it needs to be flatter, so next it goes through the drum sander when I can get it over to one. 

Officially a fan of card scrapers. Though I need to spend some time learning what angle to use for what. I just set it to 10 because that is what Tom did in his video and it sounded like it might be more aggressive. Perfect for this application.

20160508_151650.jpg

Where might I find this video?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I came to a conclusion yesterday - why am I sticking with a giant 10' counter when it already has seams? There is no reason I can't cut it in half and put two pieces in. So that's what I did.

Time to square the boards - yet again. 

First had to clean up my giant epoxy mess. I was very concerned that it would stain the wood so far that I'd have to plane it down to an inch or something. Luckily that did not happen. 

1.jpg

 

They turned out decent. I'm pretty happy with the "show" sides of the counter. 

2.jpg

3.jpg

 

Did my test fit, one board in particular was a super pain in the butt to get an edge that was straight enough to glue. I had to take it back to the jointer a couple of times. It was higher in the center of the edge than the ends, and somehow just seemed a lot harder to get straight. Finally I got it close enough that I am decently satisfied. 

4.jpg

 

There was still a bow in one of my boards so that it stuck up a little more than the others, but I figured my cauls would take care of it. 

So turns out my cauls suck. I got the idea of using unistrut from a lumber jocks discussion. It wasn't a discussion I was part of, just what came up when I went searching for alternative caul solutions that were cheaper. I can hearby confirm this solution - DOES NOT work. they flexed the same as any piece of wood that is clamped. The center board in my counter was able to move up and down freely. 

By the time I realized these crappy cauls was a no go, I couldn't really run back out to the garage to get clamps to get the boards perfectly even. I had some small c-clamps down in the basement so I used those to help out. It's still not bad, I think it will go through the drum sander well enough. 

5.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On glueups where I dont have a lot of moving parts, I prefer to skip cauls and just use two clamps per seam. If you are confident in how you milled your boards, this process works very well. This was a big piece of a kitchen set, and i did NOT want to jerk around with flattening this thing through numerous drum sander passes. It was too heavy and long. So, I took my time milling the handful of boards, and glued them up using a clamp at every seam. I think all but 1-2 seams were 100% dead nuts on. The other two seams were 2-3 passes with my no8 and then on to sanding with 120 up. Doing a few of these grunt projects really makes you respect the glueup. If you F a glueup, you screw yourself so badly. Do it well, and you are rewarded beyond imagination.

IMG_2353.JPG

IMG_2357.JPG

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree on clamping the seams. I did that on the smaller counter and I think it's pretty flat with just some card scraping. I think I will personally never do cauls or biscuits again, as they just turn out poorly for me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Eric. said:

Joints.  They're called joints.  We're not sewing here. :P

Well the joint refers to the whole area that is glued. The seam refers to the top visible portion where end grain meets end grain. I've been referring to them as "gaps" as they were kinda large in some areas, other areas they may have been trenches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Cliff said:

I've been referring to them as "gaps" as they were kinda large in some areas

LOL

No, they're still joints.  Seams are joints in fabric.  "Glue line" is what you call a joint it if it's visible.  Hopefully it won't be. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Eric. said:

LOL

No, they're still joints.  Seams are joints in fabric.  "Glue line" is what you call a joint it if it's visible.  Hopefully it won't be. :)

There is technically no glue between the end grain portions. It just happens to be where two boards meet, the glue itself is on the long grain underneath. I think you are stuck on this sewing thing. Anytime two things meat in a visible line it can be considered a seam. Or not. I don't actually care. :D

At my level of woodworking, the glue line is very often visible. But I turned it into a feature. Because I'm clever. And awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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   3 Members, 0 Anonymous, 60 Guests (See full list)

  • Forum Statistics

    31.2k
    Total Topics
    421.8k
    Total Posts
  • Member Statistics

    23,757
    Total Members
    3,644
    Most Online
    R Parekh
    Newest Member
    R Parekh
    Joined