Butcher Block Cabinet - Project of the Week

April 19, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week 

This week’s project comes from Tim. Here’s his story:

Unfinished BBWell, I have finally grown a skin thick enough to submit 3 project pictures of an end grain butcher block cabinet that I made for my parents recently. It just got shipped out to Singapore; cost me $800 for the freight!! I got the inspiration by watching you build your cutting boards, and have made up to about 20 so far. It’s a great way to use up scrap wood!!! Saw David Marks’ version on his woodworks show that day and thought that it would be an interesting challenge to build one. The top is larger than David’s design; it’s about 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep - a nice size for a single person to work at, and just enough counter space. You are probably wondering why I would put a semi-gloss finish on the top? Well, my parents want it as a piece for a corner in the house, so I thought I would spend a little time practicing my varnishing skills for a semi-gloss look.

I used 7 types of wood on it - purpleheart, black walnut, yellowheart, ash, mahoganey, jatoba, maple and cherry. Flattening the top was a major pain!! I have a 22-44 performax drum sander, but still had to use router rails to slowly but surely flatten one side before drum sanding the other. Touched it up with a Lie-Nielsen 7 1/2 bevel up jointer plane. The face frame is made of purpleheart (a major pain to plane, I might add), and the drawer fronts are made of ambrosia maple. Made a little effort to match the grain on the drawers + doors as well. The cabinet is finished with shellac (3 coats) via my Apollo HVLP spray unit, and rubbed out to a satin sheen with Howard’s feed n wax.

And yes, I did use casters - double locking ones - they put a strong brake on the wheel plus a lock on the swivel. They actually cost about $20 a piece from Linco Casters at Clairemont Mesa Blvd (next to the San Diego Rockler); They really do look a little utilitarian, but those were the best I could find in terms of durability and stability. Those red shop-grade ones at woodcraft were too tacky for my taste. All in all, it was tiring; but I have to give you the credit for the original inspiration via the cutting board! THANKS

Comments

11 Responses to “Butcher Block Cabinet - Project of the Week”

  1. mare on April 19th, 2008 11:08 am

    Why make a butcher block that you can’t use to cut anything because of the varnish?

    My kitchen butcher block counter top (bought) is just soaked in mineral oil and I actually use it to. It get cuts in it but I think that adds to the beauty.

  2. Victor on April 20th, 2008 7:26 am

    BRAVO! BRAVO!! BRAVO!!!

  3. Steve Goldsmith on April 20th, 2008 7:54 am

    Tim, I like the randomness of the top … very artistic.

    Steve G.

  4. thewoodwhisperer on April 20th, 2008 7:57 am

    Hey Mare, I think Tim mentioned that the project is going to just sit in the corner of his parents’ house. Sounds like its going to be largely decorative.

  5. Quiglag on April 20th, 2008 1:04 pm

    A little too colorful for my tastes, but It looks like he built a nice solid rolling cabinet.

  6. alexander on April 20th, 2008 2:27 pm

    i make cutting boards and I must say that this is impressive! Very nice. It must weigh a ton. What type of glue did you use and is the top just held in with butt joints?

    Thanks

    Lates

  7. CrackPotWoody on April 20th, 2008 5:27 pm

    Nice job on the table glue up. I imagine that wasn’t an easy task.

  8. Steve Carter on April 21st, 2008 1:57 pm

    Tim — please excuse my ignorance here — why was “Flattening the top was a major pain”?

    After watching Marc’s cutting board video, I thought that using cauls with enough clamps would prevent any problems with keeping the top flat.

  9. Tim TAN on April 21st, 2008 10:12 pm

    Hi all :

    my answers :

    alexander : I used titebond 3 for both rounds of glueups. For the 1st round, it was just butt joints since the long grain still needs to be cut again. for the 2nd round, I used biscuits, though dominoes would do as well. And yes, it weighs close to 120 lbs by itself. Throw in the cabinet and it exceeds 200 lbs.

    steve : flattening the top was a pain because of the glue squeeze-out. Yes, cauls help to get the board close to 90 to 95% flat, but believe it or not, the top still needs to be worked on after that for the final sanding and finesse. With it being so large, my performax 22-44 drum sander could not handle it well. I could have and should have rented time on a giant belt sander in a commercial shop.

    Tim

  10. Robarov on April 23rd, 2008 7:15 am

    Nice job Tim !!

    Marc you inspire us all :o)

  11. Nancy from EarthWood in NH on April 23rd, 2008 12:17 pm

    Tim, I think your piece is fantastic! Lucky parents. I will try some of this patterning in other applications thanks to your bravery :)

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