No, it's mainly just gluing the blocks, and understanding how glue
works, and clamping properly, and then planing/sanding/routing/etc the
resulting surface.
Which is essentially that almost all* glue shrinks as it dries, which
is why they tell you to clamp the hell out of wood when doing a
glue-up. If you don't have lots of constant pressure, the glue will
draw away from the wood as it dries.
(Gorilla glue doesn't, but it's also different from most glues in
several other important ways.)
Supposedly, with modern glues, the glue permeates the wood cells on
either side and essentially replicates* the binding action that holds
the wood itself together, in some cases supposedly even stronger than
normal wood.
(* I'm not saying the binding mechanism is identical, but rather that
a properly glued up joint is like wood in how well it's connected to
either side).
Steve
On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 9:36 PM, Andrew C. <soshumasamune@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bob,
That's a pretty cool trick, that would definitely work.
I just need to learn how to glue it all together and expect it to stay
together. I imagine there
are joints involved, or at least more to it than just gluing square blocks
together. I keep thinking
just glue wont be enough- there has to be wood keys of somekind between
them. But I don't know.
-Andrew
On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 8:10 PM, Robert Berger <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You could surface it with a router attached to a long board, as shown
here:
http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/surface-rough-lumber-witha-router/
- Bob
On Apr 25, 2016, at 4:57 PM, Andrew C. <soshumasamune@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I would gladly make my own butcher block top- but I have no idea how,
other than
gluing blocks together. Plus, we don't have anything big enough to surface
it after
gluing, I'd need a large mill to flycut the top and shape it.
Chad mentioned someone had done it at hack, made their own butcher block.
Was it you James Hyde? Anyone who can make these, I'm interested in
learning.
-Andrew
On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 11:49 PM, Steven Owens <stevenjowens@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 11:10 PM, Andrew C. <soshumasamune@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Normal butcher block isn't thick enough for me... I want to build an
ergonomic custom bench here that
will survive centuries as a true piece of serious furniture. I want to
go
all in on it, without breaking my
bank... Maybe a lumbermill can cut me something 1pc out of cherry or
hickory
or oak, 3" thick? But
I'm afraid it would warp... It needs to stay very flat for some of the
other
work done on it....
Thicker butcher block is gettable, or not that impossible to make
yourself, which might be kind of cool for you.
If you want to go the lumbermill route, I can talk to some of the
people I've used. One place, I bought a really nice, two full inches
thick plan of white oak from, for a particular use. That stuff is
very massive.
I love big, solid pieces of wood too,but the big problem is cracking
and warping - the thicker and bigger the piece is, the more that's an
issue. I talked to one of the lumbermills about getting a "round"
(i.e. an entire slice of trunk, a big disc). Never did try it, but he
warned that it was very, very likely to split or crack as it dried
out.
Wood "moves", i.e. it expands and contracts with moisture. Wood
*always* moves. Carpenters tend (or at least carpenters have told me)
to avoid large single pieces of wood for that reason. They make more
cuts and they play the grain of the different pieces off against each
other, or they design the bigger pieces to "float", like an old
fashioned door or a nice tabletop.
--
Steven J. Owens
stevenjowens@xxxxxxxxx
puff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
412-401-8060
