Hi folks. I haven't posted here much lately as we finally finished the 5 month renovation of our store, and have been getting the deli business back off the ground. We did all of the work other than electrical and plumbing ourselves. I built a nice new counter and installed $4000 worth of butcher block counter tops. Sorry Larry, but I slathered on the poly! It was an oil based Sherwin Williams and after curing for a couple of months now it seems pretty impervious to things like hot coffee containers and various spills. I actually thought I'd add a layer of carnuba wax to even out the finish, but haven't had time yet.
I wanted to thank those who helped me with questions about joining counters and so on. The pics at the link below are mostly "before, during and after" shots. I have to warn you there are a lot of them!