End grain counter top

[Cooler]

I bought some butcher block counter material from Ikea. After cutting the two boards to size I have a couple of feet left over from both.

I had to trim about 1/8" from the end of one board and I was looking at that cutoff the other day and it looked very nice. I applied some stain and a coat of clear and I was further impressed.

My question is this:

I have enough scrap to cut about 1/8 inch strips x 1-1/2" that I could piece together and glue up to a substrate. I figure I have enough to cover about a 2 foot by 3 foot counter.

Question #1. Will this work?

Question #2. What substrate should I use?

Question #3. I can only figure out how to glue down one strip at a time. Any ideas on how to do more and keep the rows snug up against each other.

Question #4. Do I align the squares in a brick lay stagger or do I align them so that they stack over each other?

Question #5. How thick should I cut it? 1/8", 3/16"??
Brick pattern: http://plantsandlandscapes.com.au/prov_s.../brick.png

Stack pattern:


http://www.euval.com/cms-contents/upload...uzfuge.jpg

[PedroOhare]

My first thought is that a 1/8 or 3/16 end grain veneer is going to be very chip/crack prone and not provide the benefits of an end grasin cutting board anyway.

Pedro

[iguana]

#1 - yes

#2 - plywood (Baltic birch) or MDF. Basically, something stable.

#3 - I'd use a series of clamping cauls that go the entire length of each strip. Glue 1, clamp it, Glue 2, clamp, etc. Make sure to use glue on the edges of the strips, too, so they bond to each other. And try to direct the clamp pressure so that each strip is pulled into the preceding strip.

#4 - doesn't matter. Whatever look you like better.

#5 - 1/8" or thinner. Thicker and you risk the wood expansion inherent in both axis will cause the top to warp seasonally.

[rwe2156]

Substrate: good quality plywood.

Glue: Epoxy. When done, apply surface coat to fill in any gaps.

Clamping: Glue squares together in a row clamped between two straight edges and clamped end to end. Add additional rows the same way. Use a caul to press each row down to plywood and another to clamp row to next row. Cover with wax paper before clamping.

Alternative is a vaccuum press but you still need to keep all the little squares tight together.

[atgcpaul]

Are you using the older Numerar countertop or their newer stuff? I guess the old one because their new stuff is a thick veneer over particle board which isn't going to look good for what you're planning. Their older stuff is solid wood (you know what I mean).

I installed the older Numerar stuff over Christmas and I found three unexpected things about them.
1) The boards in the long dimension are finger jointed together. You may get some interesting patterns (or voids) if one of your cuts lands on a joint which is highly likely considering how short each individual board is.
2) In the field of the countertop, the boards aren't all a solid 1 1/2" thick. Some of them are laminations of 2 boards to make that thickness. Again, won't affect anything but the look.
3) I used 3 of their boards and not one of them was perfectly smooth. There are little valleys everywhere predominantly near the joints. They also gently slope towards the edges. If you can't sand them down to a uniform thickness, you will end up with voids or worse when you make your slices and try to glue them up.

Paul