Beachside Bungalow - Butcher Block Busy-ness

Picking back up where I left off on the Beachside Bungalow's kitchen, it was time to make countertops. Instead of the polished natural stone look counters I made for the upstairs bathroom, I opted instead for something a little less pretentious: Butcher Block. 

I wanted a subtle contrast, not as much as the butcher block counters in Natasha's Kitchen. I ordered bundles of 1/8" x 1/8" in maple and oak from Bill & Walt's. I was hoping they would tie in with the other wood tones in the project.

I had to make counters for three cabinets: The drawer units on either side of the stove, and the center island.

Units needing countertops.

The drawer units were each under 4", and the island was just under 7", so I figured out how many 1/8" pieces I'd need, divided that number in half for each of the wood species, then cut them into 8" lengths.

Maple left, oak right.

The next step, gluing them, was relatively straightforward. I like to glue one of each species at a time to one another, clamp, and then let dry. Some tricks I have learned in doing these is:

• Use wood glue.
• Apply with a small nozzle bottle applicator.
• Use glue sparingly, but cover every millimeter.
• Apply glue to both pieces of wood.
• Spread glue thin and even with a toothpick.
• Clean up any oozing, excess glue immediately.
• Use plenty of clamps.

Gluing in pairs of maple and oak.

Once the pairs were dry, I begin to glue sets of pairs to one another, clamp and let dry. I repeated the process until I had the depth of counters I needed. For the drawer units the depth was 2" and for the island top it was 3-3/4".

Once my pieces were glued and dried, I cut them down to the widths I needed. I marked my lines with an architectural square to get exactly 90 degrees, then cut them with my mini table saw.

Here I am testing the fit to be sure everything looks good. I made extra boards in various sizes.

This wood came really rough and raw, unlike basswood that comes pre-sanded from brands like Houseworks that you purchase through dollhouse retailers. It requires extra work, but it's worth it.

I started with 100 grit sandpaper to remove the really rough finish. This abrasive grit also helps to remove any glue I may have missed that oozed out during clamping. Then I moved through sanding sponges in progressively finer grits, ending with a completely smooth surface. If anyone is aware of any mini sized electric planers and belt sanders like in real sized woodshops, let me know!

Top board is raw, bottom board is after the 100 grit sandpaper

Once all of the pieces were smooth, I applied Howard Paste Wax. It gave the wood a nice sheen and brought the natural wood colors to life. It also smells fantastic, like lemon oil. The piece on the left is right after sanding, and the piece on the right is after one application of the wax. I applied three coats, buffing in between with a soft cotton cloth. The more you buff, the shiner it becomes. I don't want my counters too shiny. After a couple hours, there is no residue, just a hard surface.

Raw wood left, waxed right.

Here I have all of the pieces cut, waxed, buffed and ready for the next steps. You can also see that I have cut to size, sanded and waxed some cherry for the drawer unit backsplashes. Why the seven extra pieces of butcher block? I'm glad you asked!

I have always wanted to make butcher block cutting boards in fun shapes. Making these countertops for the Beachside Bungalow's kitchen gave me the perfect excuse to give them a try. I found several great, free cutting board patterns at Sun Catcher Studio. Because they offer an svg export, I was able to easily upload them into Cricut's Design Space program. I thought if I cut the shapes from 2 mm chipboard, I could use them as jigs. By attaching them to the tops of the cutting boards, I could follow the edges with my scroll saw blade. 

The orange rectangles represent the sizes of the extra cutting boards I made. All I had to do was to resize the patterns to fit my cutting boards in Design Space. 

Resized to fit the cutting boards.

I let the Maker do the work of cutting the patterns. 1-1/2 hours isn't so bad when you're not the one holding the blade! I was able to fit them onto a leftover strip of chipboard at the bottom of the last sheet I cut. Using up leftovers is so thrilling!

Shapes cut and paired with their cutting boards.

Before I got my butcher block pieces anywhere near a blade, I wanted to make sure to protect the wood from scratches or from splitting out. I covered the "good" side with masking tape.

I saw this next trick on a YouTube video published by a guy who claimed that he'd bet you didn't know at least one of his tricks for blue tape. He was right, and this is a good one for many things. To stick two pieces of wood together without using glue on them, apply a piece of masking tape to both sides. Then, apply CA glue to the tape and stick the pieces together. Ha! So clever! That's how I stuck my chipboard jigs to the butcher block pieces, and it worked like a charm! This method is also amazing if you ever need to cut two shapes exactly alike.

Tiny dots of CA glue on the masking tape.

Jigs attached to butcher block boards.

After carefully measuring for the sink hole, I taped both sides of the island countertop, too, just to be safe.

Now was the moment of truth. Would this chipboard jig idea work? More on that in a moment...

If you read my posts from Natasha's Kitchen, you know I have a little experience cutting a sink hole with my scroll saw. But that was acrylic countertop, not hardwood. Would it be as easy? I made access and pivot holes in the corners with the Dremel, then threaded the scroll saw blade through the access hole. A quick prayer, and I was off!

I found that there was a significant difference in cutting basswood and acrylic vs. the hardwood. The saw blade definitely wanted to grab into the harder wood and yank it out of my fingers. And a little force was required to pivot into the blade for the curves. Once I realized it was a fight, I was ready! After all, I have wrestled alligators a time or two! Overall, the cutting went pretty well on the saw. But how did they look once I got the tape off?

I peeled off the chipboard jigs and all the protective tape and was pretty happy with my first attempt at cutting wee hardwood butcher block cutting boards with a power tool. They definitely needed sanding and shaping, but I was pretty pleased with the results! Like most things, practice will make perfect.

After sanding and rewaxing. I am still deciding whether to add holes to
some of them so that I have the option to hang them.

And here's what the island looks like in dry fit. I glued the dishwasher face on, and am experimenting with printing 3D faucets. Some are meh, some are a disaster!

The drawer units with their countertops and backsplashes affixed and ready for installation.

And the in their places...

In the interest of keeping this post from becoming a novella, I'll just tease you and say you'll have to come back to see the full kitchen install in next week's post. ;O)

xo xo,

Jodi