Project Information
With the help of LumberJocks, I successfully completed this island project. There are 3 separate 20a circuits in the island to virtually eliminate circuit blowing from countertop appliances. Sketchup was immensely valuable, as was setting up each of my tools ahead of time to be completely square, flat, parallel, etc. It's amazing how stress-free the door glue-ups were since the cuts were square. This was a great project to work on with my 2-year-old son. He was really, really helpful.
The Base:
The Countertop
Walnut and Cherry, but I found that some of my walnut was actually Claro Walnut (from an amish mill over a year ago), and some was Black Walnut. Due to sizes needed, the 3 longer boards are Claro Walnut, and the 3 shorter boards are Black Walnut. It's not noticeable in person to the untrained eye, but is neat to observe the subtle differences.
The most interesting challenge was thinking through wood movement for a countertop that large. From underneath, I attached the top firmly to the middle of the cabinets. That way, the wood will expand relatively equally on both sides. Under the countertop is 1/2" material with grooves routed in it. The rest of the top is mounted with drawer-face screws going up through the grooves so that expansion/contraction can take place.
Anyway, thanks for the advice over the past few months, it was very helpful.
The Base:
- Sassafras finished with Varathane Waterborne Polyurethane.
- Walnut plywood for the end panels is finished with EnduroVar.
The Countertop
Walnut and Cherry, but I found that some of my walnut was actually Claro Walnut (from an amish mill over a year ago), and some was Black Walnut. Due to sizes needed, the 3 longer boards are Claro Walnut, and the 3 shorter boards are Black Walnut. It's not noticeable in person to the untrained eye, but is neat to observe the subtle differences.
- Finished with BLO + DW Shellac + Arm-R-Seal
- I haven't rubbed it down yet, but over time the finish has flattened out nicely (become less plastic like). It's crazy how polyurethane can change subtly as it cures. (it looks a lot better now than it did 3 days after finishing it)
The most interesting challenge was thinking through wood movement for a countertop that large. From underneath, I attached the top firmly to the middle of the cabinets. That way, the wood will expand relatively equally on both sides. Under the countertop is 1/2" material with grooves routed in it. The rest of the top is mounted with drawer-face screws going up through the grooves so that expansion/contraction can take place.
Anyway, thanks for the advice over the past few months, it was very helpful.