Hah, great quote from that URL:
"Remember that the end grain butcher block is all cross grain. There
are two types of woodworkers in the world: those who understand the
significant difference between wood movement along the grain and wood
movement across the grain, and those who will."
On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 10:41 PM, Steven Owens <stevenjowens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Some good tips here:
http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/shop/articles_524.shtml
On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 10:23 PM, Steven Owens <stevenjowens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The butcher block construction process I've seem mostly is to take
strips of wood, say 3" x 3" by however long you want the finished
piece to be. Let's say 36".
You arrange them in a row on a workbench, glue them together and apply
lots of clamping pressure to make the glue work right.
Then you cut it back into 3" x 3" strips; cut perpendicular to the
joints of the boards, which also happens to be perpendicular to the
long grain of the boards.
So when you're done, each "strip" you produce will basically be a
stack of 3" x 3" cubes, 36" long.
Now rotate every strip 90 degrees around its long axis, i.e. pick up
an end of the 36" strip in each hand and rotate it away from you or
towards you, so one of the two freshly cut faces is pointing up.
Remember, that face is end grain, aka perpendicular to the long
dimension of the board (which is also the long dimension of the tree
trunk it came from).
Now glue clamp all of *those* together.
When you're done, you'll have 36" x 36" surface of end grain.
Now you plane or sand or route.
Then you're done.
You can get fancy by choosing different colors and grains of wood, and
arranging things during the assembly process so the resulting visual
pattern is interesting.
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
--
Steven J. Owens
stevenjowens@xxxxxxxxx
puff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
412-401-8060
--
Steven J. Owens
stevenjowens@xxxxxxxxx
puff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
412-401-8060
