General Woodworking

[The Yooper]

This is a bar I made in 2006 for a friend. It is 8' x 5'. The main panels are raised panels. The cabinets were finished with natural stain and polyurethane clear coat. The bar top is glued strips and finished with marine varnish. There is a garage door on the top cabinet. We hid the plumbing for the wet bar in the top cabinet. I was able to do all of the wiring and plumbing.

THe bar itself was made in panels and dry fit in the shop. There was no way to get the assembled cabinet in his basement, so I put the bar together in his basement. The long side is 8' and just fit down the stairs.   I put down a plastic tarp and glued and screwed the cabinet together. It was a challenge not to ruin anything that is already finished. 

The basement stairs challenge also meant that I had to bring the long countertop in two pieces and have a seam to deal with in the basement.  I put the varnish on the countertop in his basement.  We opened all of the available windows and shut off the pilot light on his furnace. 

[LOman]

Very nice job Rich. He must be a good friend.

[Ted in Michigan]

Holy cow! Dem Michigan boys, dey pretty good builders, eh?

But, really, Rich - nice work. I esp like the variation on the butcher block countertop - turning the pieces so they're perpendicular to the axis of the bar rather than parallel. Nice.  

[sitesr]

Excellent work!  You can build one for me any time.  Really like the top.

Ron

[The Yooper]

Thanks for the compliments, eh!  This was a real learning experience.  I didnt do it for free, but I made less than $1 per hour!  The countertop was very time consuming.

[woodgrinder]

Great looking bar, what was the process used to keep the top straight and level?  Did you use ash before the ash borer kills all the ash trees in the U.P.?  Did you have plans or was this your own design?  Good looking job on the top corner joint.

[The Yooper]

Thanks for the compliments.  I was gone for Thanksgiving, so I am late responding.

The bar top was made from rough cut ash, kiln dried that was purchased from Timber Products wholesale.  I cut the pieces in strips and squared three sides.  I used biscuits to keep one side flat and then ran the opposite side through the planer until it was flat.  Then I made sure the reference side was flat and jointed the edges.  the pieces were cut to final length (width of the bar).  Each section was biscuited and glued.  I used cleates in the final glue-up.

I believe this ash was cut before the borers got to these trees.

The design was mine from what my friends wanted.  I made the initial plan and gave it to them to discuss.  There were several itterations and we had the final plan.  No real changes were made after I got started, other than me making the top.

[RussBoyd]

Wow! That's spectacular Rich. Very nice workmanship. I love that top.