Laminated Butcher Block counter top

[Charles DeVoe]

On a scale of rookie, novice, amateur, expert, I consider myself Novice +

That said

I have a very large pile of rough cut oak, most of which is 5/4. I'm redoing my kitchen and I'm planning on doing an epoxy coated butcher block.

My first thought was to plane the boards and then cut them into 2 1/8 inch strips. Turn them on their sides and glue them together to get the desired width. So roughly 24 pieces for 24 inches. My thought here is the 1 inch overhang of the countertop will have no support. However, I suspect the glue is strong enough to support that.

My second thought was to plane the boards cut 3 inch strips and laminate the one inc boards one on top of the other to get the 2 inch thickness. For the bottom boards I would start with a 1 1/2 inch strip so as to offset the joints.

I've a feeling I know the answer, but I would like to hear from the experts on the pros and cons.

[Jimmy Harris]

Your first method would be my choice. Assuming your oak if flatsawn, you'll effectively turn it into a quarter sawn tabletop which will give it more stability. Plus the expansion and contraction of the top will happen more along top to bottom direction than side to side. And since you're gluing face grain to face grain, and having a TON of surface area, the glue will hold easily on any overhang.

In your second method you have to worry more about the wood bowing when you rip it. Unless the wood bows terribly, in the first method you can alternate the direction of the bowed pieces so that forces of the bowed wood cancel each other out and it remains fairly straight and stable once glued. Clamp it tight and the wood glue should hold the boards straight once the glue dries, despite the wood itself wanting to warp. You can kind of do this with the second method too, but with overlapping joints, you might get some warp and twist in the pieces since you won't be able to cancel the bow out as accurately. Probably not enough to be a big deal, but you may notice it start to wave a bit as the seasons change. Plus I don't think it would look as nice on the ends, unless you did breadboard ends to cover up the staggered pieces.

If you watch the guys who make workbenches, especially roubo style benches, you'll see some tips and tricks to get it done. There are a ton of videos out there for this. Two things I would do is to orient the grain that winds up being on top in the same direction to make planing the top easier and reduce tearout. And the other is glue them up in small sections first to get them through your power planer before glueing the whole top together. That'll save a bunch of time flatting it by and will also make glue up a little easier since you're not having to glue a bajillion pieces at once and get the clamps on before the glue wants to set up.

I also recommend a mini paint roller with either a really short knap or a foam roller for the glue application to make gluing all of those surfaces easier. Just be sure to glue both surfaces if you do this, because those paint rollers may not apply enough glue to just glue one side. I've done the apply a bunch of glue to one side and rub the two surfaces together method and it works well, but it creates a huge mess. With the paint roller you get a lot less squeeze out, but since you applied the glue evenly and everywhere, you don't really need much squeeze out to ensure a proper joint. And you waste about the same amount of glue either way, either in the tray and in the roller, or all over the floor.

[Thomas McClurg]

Epoxy coat a butcher block? Knife cuts will damage the finish and you'll end up with epoxy chips introduced into the food.

[jack duren]

Make it on sections you can control. At that point through a planer., no planer? continue on and then clamp the sections together. Find a professional/ cabinet/ skilled shop, etc and run it in one pass thru the wide belt, finish….

[Michael Burnside]

Your first method is fine. Don't go silly with glue, you'll just give yourself more work. You can use epoxy for the glue-up process, but for the final surface I would sand and use an oil based stain and food-safe sealer. I would not use epoxy for a myriad of reasons for the top surface of a kitchen counter top that will see food prep.