Re: attaching new bar top

[George M. Kazaka]

Eric Definately Keep the plywood for a solid base, attach the your Edge strip with Glue & Biscuits to the top only If you are concerned about the differance of expansion and contraction Then Glue the mahogany down to the ply with silicone. Apply spots of slicone about every 12" in each direction let the weight of the Mah. top settle on the silicone. Make sure you finish the back side of the Bar top with the same material as the topside. You can apply a few screws to keep the top from creeping while the silicone sets up. Or you can use tape. Do not use clamps and if you use the screws don't set them down tight. This is the tryed and true method of preventing problems from the differance's of movement from differant materials.

Good Luck George

I've got a couple of questions regarding attaching a bar top I recently made > out of mahogany. > > The old bartop is 3/4" ply with formica glued to the top. I removed all the > formica so now there is just the 3/4" ply. Should I attach the top to the > existing top with screws (the new top is 3/4" thick) but cut slots in the > ply to allow for expansion? I would prefer to keep the ply to make the top > seem more solid. I thought about gluing it down but I'm afraid that the > solid top would try to expand/contract and eventually come loose or worse > yet end up cracking. > > For the edging I am making a 2 x 1 1/2" rail and rounding over the edges > 1/4". I think I'll have the rounded over part protrude above the bar top to > create a 1/4" ledge around the bar. I'm worried though that there won't be > a strong enough joint between the edge of the top and this rail with just > glue. I could put biscuits in but I'm worried it still not be > enough(especially if the top is only 3/4" - goes back to having the plywood > substrate which would get 1 1/2" of glue area for rail to attach to). > > Any thoughts/opinions? > > thanks, > > Eric > >

[EricY]

George,

Thanks very much for your suggestions! After I posted I decided to remove the plywood so that the mahogany would be flush with another shelf that extends behind the bar. I decided to attach the top via button blocks to allow for expansion.

However, my wife suggested that I replace the aforementioned shelf with mahogany as well so perhaps I'll put the plywood back; easy enough as it was just nailed straight down and came up easily.

As for the bar rail, I thought I might cut a 3/4" dado in the rail and glue it onto the top that way. My concern is that people will probably be resting their arms on the rail and I think the dado will provide a bit more support for the rotational force that will be applied (hope that makes sense).

So it would look like this: ___ | _|___________________ | |_________bar top_____ |___|

^---- bar rail

Wouldn't that be stronger than this (even with biscuits there the rail and top meet):

___ | |___________________ | |_________bar top___ |___|

^---- bar rail

The top of the rail is going to be about 1/4" above the bar.

I finished the top with Danish oil using the method that John Paquay describes on his site and I've put a couple of coats on the under side as well.

thanks again for your suggestion,

Eric

[George M. Kazaka]

Oh Yes the Dado would be much stronger When you put the Ply back on do use screws, and use enough that will make it survive a nuclear blast