A very wide butcher block

derosa | Posted in General Discussion on November 6, 2011 09:21am

I have a friend who wants an island for there kitchen with a 48” L by 40” W butcher block top. I would fabricate this buy gluing up two manufactured maple tops together. With seasonal movement, is this too wide of a top to be of wood? Or should I encourage them to go with a different type of top?

Replies

RalphBarker | Nov 06, 2011 10:11am | #1
seasonal movement

I'd say you should be OK, as long as the design (and, method of attachment) allows for the expansion/contraction.
Quickstep | Nov 06, 2011 05:45pm | #2
Most of the commercially manufactured butcher blocks that I've seen are oiled with a mix of mineral oil and parrafin. I'd think this would make achieving a good glue joint challenging.
user-64052 | Nov 07, 2011 02:16am | #3
are you talking true butcher block or just laminated maple strips?

ron
MikeIke | Nov 07, 2011 06:00pm | #4
A very wide butcher block

I did this, except ours is 72 x 50 inches. I purchased two tops from McMaster Carr, and jointed the edges. I made sure to keep the end courses exposed, as they are nice looking. The glue up with adequote numbers of pipe clamps was no problem, and we attached with slotted brackets to the insides of the cabinets with no trouble. We do see the seasonal movement, but it works well. We finished it with a tung oil based topcoat from waterlox. Very happy with it. Good luck!