Home bar, stools, and sofa table for my son-FINISHED, FINISHED, HOOORAYYY!!!

allen levine

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new york city burbs
Hopefully, he will finish the basement before I finish all the pieces.
I started with the bar.
I thought my wide boards were sapele, but when I bring them into the sunlight so I can see a bit clearer, and wear my readers, the boards look very close to mahogany, so maybe it is mahogany. bonus for him.
I didnt have enough to make the raised panels, so Im using some of the mystery wood I have. Im hoping someday someone can identify it for me. It looks pretty, so I use it for panels.
The bar will be approx 54 inches wide, with a 60 inch long top shaped in a U. Approx 20 inch depth, the top bar counter will extend a few inches over that in front.There will be a lower counter approx 10-11 inches lower for the bartender to prepare on. Id prefer more, but he is putting a fridge under the bar and I needed to make room for its height.
Next to the fridge, I will put in a small open cabinet with a shelf.
The cabinet will be plywood, everything else is hardwood. Tops, front and sides, all hardwoods.
The only thing I changed in the design last minute was I decided to do all the panels and construction using pocket screws. Yes, pocket screws.
I dont mind mortise and tenon construction, but pocket screws seemed adequate for this project.
I have all the parts cut(no tops yet, there will be alot of hand planing with the big boards, so I have to pysch myself up for that, and sharpen my blade. I own a 3.5 inch electric handheld planer, but Im going to flatten any high spots out with the smoother, as its the only hand plane I own for this job)
ONe thing I got from this build so far, is my panel making is right on par now.
Totally flat panels, and running them through the 22-44 is a nice thing.
Ofcourse, you cant take too much off with the 22-44 at once, so its a slow process, but the machine does all the work. I made the panels 7/8 and let the drum sander handle the rest.
I started to raise the panels, and ofcourse, my feed rate was wrong on one, and I got some bad tearout. I called it a day, had to glue back a piece that actually chipped off the panel, and will fuss with it tomorrow.
I expect to have all the panels and frames glued up by saturday afternoon.

Id continue tomorrow, but, Im embarrassed to say, I have to deal with another injury. I believe I gave myself a torn muscle, bad strain, hernia? when I had a coughing bout this week. I thought it was a strained abdominal muscle, but my wife is concerned, IM angry and ashamed , I hate burdening her with my ailments. She didnt sign on for this, I never expected to have one crud thing after another. I figured Id work through it yesterday and today, but the pain is increasing, so like the torn out panel, I have to deal with this. Maybe my doctor can suggest what to do with the bad panel.

anyway, after the bar, Ill start the stools, then the table to go with the bar.

Heres some shots of where IM at.
 

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jim i know yu know wood but i havnt seen any hickory in my parts that was that clean,, is it heavy and hard allen? if not then its got be something else..

Its lighter and much easier to sand than oak.

as I mentioned before, the guy who sold it to me could not remember the name of it, other than he said its something south or central american. Some exotic species that he used on a job years earlier. I remember clearly it was on a dolly in his storage, and he said, just take it all for 100 bucks.
When I got home I sized and measured it and it came out to 89 cents a bf.
Not all of it is straight, and there is some end checking, but nothing that Ive had to waste or toss more than a couple board feet.


when I ran it through the drum sander, it had a particular odor about it. Not unpleasant, no pleasant, just an odor.
where its white, its really creamy white, alot of the pieces have no white, they are pinkish with the colors running through it. No big knots, just some tiny ones, very few. I planed down some poplar, not the same.
 
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When I go up to Rosenzwieg Lumber, Im going to take a piece of it plain unfinished and a piece with oil on it and show it to all the guys in the office.
(there were a bunch of guys behind desks).
They are a major hardwood lumber dealer in this area, one of them will know what it is.
 
WARNING: this post contains a graphic picture, viewer beware

the maybe good news is both doctors were in yesterday and not busy, so my strained abdominal muscles was talked about and both checked me for hernia, and both doubt its a hernia. The muscles are sore as hell, and I feel a little burn, but woodworking must go on.
This is where Im at as of this afternoon. I had to take time this morning to build a dolly/base to move it around so I can work on the top and the inside top and guts. I was concerned using the lighter wood for the panels, but I think the combination with mahogany looks fine, as it will amber up after waterlox.
I think I found a bonus with the wood IM using for the bar top. I think its mahogany, but really old mahogany, great great color and grain.
The bad thing was it was way too heavy for me to handle and put in the drum sander. I planed off some of the higher spots by hand, but running it through the sander proved impossible, so I had to cut the board and Ill have to glue it up later on.
some pics, and at the end of the day, I asked my wife to help me move some plywood around so I wouldnt have to kill myself, and put down to her means ok, drop it. So my second toe took a nasty hit of 1/2 inch mdf and started swelling up. I need time off, I need time to heal, so I closed up the shop till next weekend and will do some light day trips or overnighters with the wife and rest this body. Sorry about the long post about my injuries, Im just a freekin mess. btw, if you looked, dont complain about my ugly feet, I posted a warning first.
Oh, the stop sign picture, I hung that sign a while back and its working great. Noone, tries to enter the shop/garage while I have a machine on.
Even the meter reader stood there until I shut down and saw him.
Everyone should put a few of these up at the doorway to their shop.


(I attach a few pieces of mdf to bottom of unit so when its transported noone will damage the bottom edges draggin it in or out of truck or down stairs)
 

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Sorry to hear about the toe. Hope you feel better.I wacked my toe one time and it turned purple just like Vaughns compressor. That bar is going to look awesome when you get the finish on it. Your gonna cause us all to go into withdrawal having to wait a week to see some more progress
 
Im going to put some base molding, very short, because Im also installing a brass foot rail, and the brackets need 4 inchs to install, the base rail on the panels are 6 inchs, so maybe a 1 and 3/4 base molding.
as of right now, Im happy with the looks of this project so far. Its all going to pop when it gets finish.
(Im also not sure of the bar top edge right now, Ive been experimenting with making my own bartop edge molding/railing)
 
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Looking real good Allen. You are a woodworking MACHINE!!!

Sorry about the toe.

My guess on the mystery wood is Tulip Poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera-not a true Poplar (genus Populus).
 
Its brent fault, he didnt use time this morning, and it was glorious outside, so I had an hour and a half to kill, so I worked on the top and took his time.
ya snooz ya lose brent.
Its so heavy, I decided I better use some #20 bisquits to align and give some more glueing surface.
Now I can leave the unit alone for a few days.
 

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Its brent fault, he didnt use time this morning, and it was glorious outside, so I had an hour and a half to kill, so I worked on the top and took his time.
ya snooz ya lose brent.
Its so heavy, I decided I better use some #20 bisquits to align and give some more glueing surface.
Now I can leave the unit alone for a few days.
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
the construction is finished.
I had a couple of concerns about the height of the inside working surface, but had to keep it a couple of inches higher because a fridge is going on the right side inside.
I used all the cut off pieces from the 8 + inch wide mahoganies/spanish cedars to make the inside work surface. Had to glue up about 8-9 strips, but it was a good use of the wood.(It would have eventually become cutting boards)
I glued up in sections, then ran the complete piece through the drum sander.
The drum sander is by no means a machine to take off rough surface. It can be used, but it will be a long process. Feeding table tops and panels is not easy work, as they become heavy after lifting them a few times, and if you try to take a bit too much off on one pass, the belt binds and burns the wood. I lost 2 belts so far that ripped. So I learned better to get my panels as flat as I can first, then run them to get a smooth even surface. It still takes alot of passes.(Ive only used 80 grit belts, so after the belt, I use an orbital sander and went to a quick pass of 220 grit)
I only had oak ply so the inside shelves are oak ply. I hope waterlox takes well to plywood, it was my first application of waterlox to plywood.
I mounted the inside top surface using a cleat on the right side, only one screw in center and a few screws only in center to plywood cabinet top. This way the top wont present problems with expansion and contraction.
(I felt it wasnt necessary to make the inside guts with solid wood. They are just shelves and wont be seen, I did put a mahogany edging over them)
There is a small cleat inside holding them to bar panels and a piece of plywood in front so when I attach the foot bar, I have the extra thickness for strength when passing through bolts to hold it in place.
The bartop is 1.25 final thickness. IN the picture, thats 2 coats of waterlox original, and one coat of waterlox gloss. It will get one more coat of gloss, then a few coats of either some bar top product of plain oil based gloss polyurethane. After the top cures for a couple of weeks, I will use a very light rubbing compound and rub it out.(I will attach it with a cleat along the inside top of the front of the bar, and a couple of z table top clips so the wood can expand and contract)
Thats where Im at. The waterlox does not look even, which is not a problem, the woods soak it up first coat, and it will even out beautifully by the second coat.

Its a very simple bar, at my level of skill.

My favorite part will be when I attach the front foot rail(brass rail)
I think it will add a nice touch. I believe brass and mahogany go well.
(rail ordered from Kegworks)

oh, I didnt have any mahogany pocket screw plugs, so I used cherry, and was a bit dissapointed they didnt darken up more. Again, they really wont be seen, only by the bartender, and he isnt going to complain much since the price for the bar is right.
 

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