Yet another breadboard question – joining countertop sections
This is my first post here, finally figured I’d ante up to learn from the ridiculous amount of knowledge on the FWW forums.
I’m working in France (although I’m American) and there’s very little here in the way of activity or support for individual woodworkers – I’m very envious of folks doing woodworking in the US for the options you have in material, tools and know-how.
I’m in the middle of a large project building cabinets for a couple of bathrooms and a kitchen. Boxes are birch ply; face frames, doors and drawer fronts are maple. Everything exterior is painted (I know, why use maple if you’re painting… long story.)
I’ve committed myself to doing cherry countertops with breadboard ends on these, which have gone fine for the first few small individual cabinets. However, the bathroom countertop is supposed to be… 9 feet long! And I was the designer… sigh. Nothing like the clueless ambition of the first-timer.
As the supply of 9-foot-long cherry is limited here , my idea was to do three sections, and join the sections of the the long countertop with a double-faced breadboard, with a mortise in both sides, and routed tenons in the ends of the tops. Does this make sense? I don’t know of any other way to join the sections together.
Any tips or thoughts pro or con would be really helpful – thanks!
Replies
Design
Is it safer to run all the boards all one way given the limited lumber supply - no breadboard -the width way say about 24 inches deep ? - show the end grain -
SA
Sinks?
With a 9' length, am I correct in assuming two sinks? If so, how are you handling the affects of wood movement on the under-sink connections? Flexible supply lines to the faucets shouldn't be a problem, but the drains probably would be.
Two interior breadboards would seem to divide the counter into logical sections, with the two (presumed) sinks in the outer ones. I'd be concerned about water getting into the joints of the breadboards, however, with all of the issues associated with that. Plus, there's the issue of sealing the sink to the countertop.
Thus, I'm wondering if (well sealed) cherry veneer on an MDF base might not be a better idea.
If your plan is to run the "breadboard" connector pieces across the grain of the main panels, you will have a problem. Your panels will want to expand and contract with changes in their moisture content caused by changes in relative humidity. The cross grain boards will restrict this movement causing probable warping, cracking or other damage.
If you plan to not glue the breadboard junctions, you will be left with an unsealed seam where water will surely penetrate. This will cause discoloration and damage to the finish allowing water to get under the finish.
Breadboard treatments are only used on the ends of surfaces and are constructed so that the panels can freely expand and contract. They are never glued on or otherwise rigidly attached.
Hmmm...
HowardAcheson wrote:
If your plan is to run the "breadboard" connector pieces across the grain of the main panels, you will have a problem. Your panels will want to expand and contract with changes in their moisture content caused by changes in relative humidity. The cross grain boards will restrict this movement causing probable warping, cracking or other damage.
If you plan to not glue the breadboard junctions, you will be left with an unsealed seam where water will surely penetrate. This will cause discoloration and damage to the finish allowing water to get under the finish.
Breadboard treatments are only used on the ends of surfaces and are constructed so that the panels can freely expand and contract. They are never glued on or otherwise rigidly attached.
Well, that's something I hadn't thought of, obvious though it seems. I appreciate it.
Trying to figure out how to salvage this...
1. Ignore the problem, hope the water getting in isn't too bad. Obviously, limited appeal.
2. Butt-joint the ends of the long-wise pieces using a hidden birch ply spline, finish over seam. Might be OK, if it would work.
3. Use the original idea, but polyurethane the inside of the mortise and the outside of the tenon before joining together in an effort to seal the wood sufficiently. Useless?
This isn't a piece of furniture to hand down to my grandchildren, it's a bathroom countertop. If it lasts ten years, I'll be happy, and probably living in a different house, and the new owners of this place will have ripped this out to put in granite.
Any thoughts?
why not use
those materials elsewhere. and procure the right dimension to do the job properly. it must me wonderful to not have a conscience and pass on a piece of poop to someone else to deal with. we all must deal with our own mistakes, but is a real pains to deal with others.
ron
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