Butcher block

[Matt Sollars]

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I have a 60 x 31 x 6 inch two piece butcher block. Each piece of block is dovetailed throughout. It's well used and cracked in several places. I would love to refinish and use as a bulky coffee table or kids desk.
My question is this: how do i secure or give back the integrity to all of the cracked pieces and void throughout the piece? I have attached several pictures.
I'm assuming I would have to set up some sort of router sled to level one side to the other. I may lose an inch or two of thickness, but to know that it was solid all the way through is the most important thing.
Thanks for any help you can give. I haven't losted in a long time but I read here often.
Matt
ps. got the pics up!

[Lee Schierer]

ps. for some reason i can't upload my 6 pictures. on a MacBookpro, uploading from my photos app. any suggestions?

How to post photos. Make sure your image files are less than 1 meg in size before uploading.

[Matt Sollars]

thanks for moving the thread where it belongs, i wasn't sure.

Got the pictures figured out.

as you can see, there are little splits all over. I'm wondering if there is something anybody could recommend to pour down into the cracks, etc. to give some rigidity back to the piece overall. i'd like to be able to route it back to flat and use it, but i would think that unless i expoxy/glue/fill up all of those splits, i'd just be asking for breakage/chipout and a non smooth surface when it was routed flat.

thanks for any suggestions. the more specific the better.
Matt

[Jim Riseborough]

I would leave as is, make sure the structure below will ensure it does not fail, and fill with a clear epxoy, for character.

[andrew whicker]

My dad has done a few of these, I've done one.

We came up with the following formula:

pour tons of wood glue down all cracks from bottom and top. Screw on 3/4" plywood on bottom.

Here is the one I finished. There are some areas where glue is on top vs wood, but mixing wood dust and glue makes it hard to notice. You'll notice, but no one else will. Takes a good amount of belt sanding to get the top kinda / sorta flat. I routed the bottom away so you can no longer see the 3/4" plywood. Welded up the frame. On rollers to make moving easy.

(PS: bolt caps were put on after photo)

butcher block.jpg

[Stan Calow]

How about flattening and just getting a sheet of glass to put on top?

[Ben Abate]

You might consider pouring epoxy in the cracks. The plywood sounds like a solid idea. I use a lot of epoxy in when working with slabs. You can color it if you like. After your level it you might want to think about using Dutchman's/bow ties. A black dyed epoxy might look nice

just another opinion very cool pieces. Great coffee table

[Matt Sollars]

Thanks for all the help. Is there a particular kind of epoxy you'd recommend. I think I'll need a decent amount but stuff like "west" is so expensive. Any others you recommend?