This might be a little unusual for this sub-forum, but it seems like the sawmill folks are the most likely to have good answers. Apologies in advance for turning the sawmill subforum into a kitchen remodeling forum. My wife wants a new countertop, and she's fine with wood. Thank goodness she isn't asking for stone. Our kitchen has some 50s-era cabinetry with (red?) oak veneers, and whatever finish is on them is the most medium shade of brown possible.. The appliances are stainless. Visually, I think some contrast would be nice. Maybe ash, maple, or perhaps birch. These will get used. What would you guys recommend? Also, I'm looking at countertops online, and it seems like I could do just as good of a job (or better) buying planking myself and edge-gluing it. Is there any real difference between a wooden countertop from, say, Home Depot, and planking that's been glued together, sanded, and finished?
apart from the fact that HD stuff is going to be a plastic laminate of some type on top of particleboard. I highly doubt it wood be a real wood laminate. Devil in the details. diy- your planks will need to kiln dried, to at least 8-12% then your glue up ( water proof glue). then the question what/how are you going surface finish it.
Something with a tighter grain. I know a lot of butcher blocks use maple for that reason ; "boos-Blocks" for example. You have any local sawmills around that might have something you could use? Please note ; I am not a kitchen remodeler or even close.
Hard maple will make a nice counter top and it will double as a cutting board. Hard maple is the only species of wood that the board of health will approve for use in a restaurant. Rub in several coats of mineral oil it will look great. Don't use vegetable oil it will turn rancid
I sawed some hard maple for a customer and had it kiln dried he finished it himself it was surfaced at the mill after kiln drying and it came out real nice he coated it with a bar top finish (Clear epoxy)I will see if I can get a picture from them for you ,I also quarter sawed some oak it almost had a fish scale look to it when it was done and he did a side counter in their kitchen with it he seems to favor that epoxy coating for countertops .I am no woodworker I just saw the rough product for people but I do get to see the end results sometimes all species have some pieces with unusual grains you just have to look at slabs to see what you like JB
Thanks guys. I showed my wife some photos of maple countertops, and I think I have some convincing still to do.
I like the idea of planks. Are you familiar with how wood reacts to changing humidity? This board is about 1 ft sq, and completely filled this opening when I cut it to fit in the summertime. Techniques like butcher block are ways to control/minimize movement across larger pieces, as well as to add durability by making the end grain the working surface. This countertop is strips of Sugar Maple, but not end grain butcher block.
My dad made a maple (western soft/ big leaf maple) counter top in their kitchen 35 years ago, beautiful figured wood that we milled ourselves. The biggest problem was the finish, the decision making dept. (aka mom and my oldest brother) wanted a clear finish that would not darken the wood at all, so they used a water based polyurethane, (super bad plan!) after three different finish attempts they sanded it all off and used epoxy, which still looks great, (just can't use it for a cutting board) Whatever you do, make sure the wood is good and dry before you use it, otherwise it'll be a mess for sure. I spent 5 years as a cabinet maker, and learned a few expensive lessons with wood that wasn't dry enough.
I echo the “make sure it’s dry”. I started by buying some 2” hard maple boards. Rough cut so I had to learn about jointing and planing. Found a local guy who has a 12” jointer. He showed me how twisty and cupped a couple boards were. So ended up having him cut and glue it all together and run it through his CNC machine. Buuuut, a week later, the whole thing started bowing. Need to fix. It’s annoying but we have a solution (I think) Despite the headache I LOVE my butcher block countertop. We lucked out and the got AMAZING grain and colour and patterns. Here’s the bowing:
The movement can be minimal if it’s at a normalized moisture for area and coated well with finish/poly all sides.
this is a top I made from a single slab of silver maple, unfortunately all the pieces I have are 6’ long because the 12’ piece was to heavy for my tree service buddy to load in one piece
I love Ash, its wild grain is amazing, but it is far too "open grained" to use for a counter, maple, white oak, or another closed grain wood is the best choice.
