Forming Countertops

This phase of the kitchen remodel the hardest part is building the butcher block countertops. There are 3 options for building butcher block - edge grain, end grain, or face grain.

For end grain, you glue up blocks and cut squares so that then you can then glue the squares together. Getting the squares the same thickness is really hard, as is getting that many tight glue joints. The benefit is in the cutting surface, it's easier on knives and doesn't show scratches or cut marks. But to do something the size of an entire kitchen countertop? really tough. That's a lot of glue work.

Edge grain is the one that I see the most often. Basically you cut a bunch of boards to random lengths but make sure they are all the same width & thickness. It's a good idea to mix color & species of wood for an interesting visual effect. The time all goes into the prep work, if one board is too thick then you won't get a clean glue joint. You glue the faces together so you can get any length & thickness you want in the butcher block, so it is appropriate for a countertop. Plane the boards to between .75" and 1" thick, rip to about 1.5" wide, and you end up with a 1.5" thick countertop in any length you want.

I went with face grain. The local sawmill sells rough sawn oak 2x6 lumber $20 for a 16 foot long board. I bought 5 of them and had my countertops for only $100. First I cut them to length for the sections I needed, total was only about 13', but I had to pick the best parts out of each board. Then I ran through the table saw to get the boards ripped to width, I needed a 25" countertop so I cut 5 of each length and ripped to just over 5" wide. Then I ran them through the planer to finish dressing. Then it's time to glue up!

Notice the long boards on the back left

That's a nice tight glue joint

That is not going to add up to a nice tight glue joint

Plan 2 for the big section with a sink hole

Glue 2 pieces at a time

The 2nd largest piece

Only hit one real snag. The longest boards had a tough time getting through the table saw for some reason. So I didn't get a good edge for a glue joint. Also I was kind of wondering how to cut out the hole for the sink. So I actually got some decent measurements for the sides of the sink and cut those boards shorter so they would have an easier time in the table saw. Then I was able to get some decent glue joints.

After getting a reasonable glue up there is a lot of finishing to do for these. Scrape and sand everything flat, get the edges treated....