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Hi, I am going to order the straight bar, but I have two questions for you,1. What’s the best type of wood to use? 2. After I print out the bar plan with the material sheet and hard ware sheet, how do IMHO bout getting everything cut and getting my hard ware? Do I jut take the papers o lowes or home depot and give it to them and say I need this stuff cut and pulled? And do they charge to do all of that? Some one please help!
Typically you just bring the stuff home and cut it up yourself.
Ask a friend with a pickup truck or trailer to help – the promise of a few free beers helps.Started my bar (45 degree bar) about 3 weeks ago, my first “carpentry” job. I took the cut list for the studs (regular 2×4) and purchased those from HD. Cut those at home per the specs and put together. Knowing how I am with measuring, I didn’t get any plywood until the frame was together then measured what I did to see how far off I was from the cut measurements from the spec sheet. Then went back to HD, for some plywood sheets (Pine) for the interior counter level shelf and bottom shelves. Had HD do the major cuts for me (took the spec sheet with me so they had an idea what I was doing. At home, if the cuts weren’t exact, I did what I had to do to make fit and look right. (best they cut too big and you cut down to your size)
Just went yesterday and bought oak (hardwood) plywood sheets for the outer wall and oak (hardwood) planks for the bar top layer. I again had HD cut the boards to my measurements. I just followed the wood recommendations in the instructions.
Even though I have already made numerous trips to the store, I found it better to get the pieces in the cut sizes I needed as I went along. I am glad I did because some of my measurement were a little off and I had to make the adjustments. I still say it looks good for my first time…will post pics when I am done.
Next trip or two will be for the trim wood pieces. Not sure what type of wood I will use, but I don’t think these need to be oak
Oh, by the way, if the instructions state to make sure you get boards that are straight, follow it! Trust me, lol…I’m still working around my glitches!
Good Luck…Always a wise approach. No matter how good or bad any set of plans may be, I always start building the frame, then measure off the work I have created, no matter if it’s a bit off of what the plans say.
I’m planning on using rough cut cedar for my bar. I know its a soft wood, but the room I’m putting it in was already finished in rough cut cedar wainscoting and it looks really nice. I’m hoping since I’ll be putting a thick coat of poly on top if I decide to use it for the bar top it should be OK. The only issue will be that the bar edge molding won’t match since I only see it in maple/oak/cherry. But I should be able to stain some oak to look decently close. If I can afford it when I get the entire remodel finances settled, a black granite top would look terrific on top of the rough cut cedar.
Any woodworking experts have comments on whether I am making a mistake with such a soft wood, that it might not hold up very well? I don’t want it to look like crap in 5 years that’s for sure!
@dg –
I’d avoid cedar (bar top) if possible. It’s naturally water repellent, so I would NOT apply and finish to the sides. As far as using it for the top, I’d go with a nice A/C grade plywood with a decent grain pattern (requires sorting through the stock pile) and then just applying a cedar color stain and perhaps a Envirtotex finish.
The problem with using envirtoex on cedar is that since it’s water repellant already, I’m not sure how well it would stick and might form a bubble skin between the wood and the epoxy.
I did a Google for “enviotex on cedar” and found a few articles related to fishing lures, so it looks like it will stick, But I’d do a small test section on some scrap first.You can apply a stain to cedar, but I prefer the rough unfinished look by far!
I’m not saying you can’t use cedar for the top…if you have thicker timbers and laminated them together, that would look pretty cool. It is soft, so of you go this direction, be sure to at least have a rough bar top layer (3/4″ plywood) underneath for support. You don’t want someone slamming the bar dice cup down and Karate chopping through the top!
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