The Bar. This summer has been time spent getting into craft cocktails, classic cocktails and well…more cocktails. I had been wanting to try a sunburst pattern and always loved the look of padauk. It’s a beautiful wood grain with a natural fiery color. I purchased 6/4 stock and milled and resawed to create the sunburst. The base is 3/4 birch plywood and the trim is mahogany. The bar top is a douglas fir end grain pattern that was born out of repurposing an old work bench top that warped.
gluing the end grain to 3/4 ply
Sanding with 80 grit, used the belt sander for a lot of the initial sanding and leveling. Due to being an end grain pattern I didn't want to risk putting it through the planer.
Sand it some more!
Sizing up the bar top on the base to get a sense on the size of the wings.
3 separate pieces that will create the bar top.
Mahogany trim, using mitered angles even though I know the base won't be perfectly square.
Resawing the padauk to start the sunburst on bar front.
The coolest saw dust...
Mock up of sunburst design.
4 down... many to go... You can see the sketched pencil lines as my template to follow for the tapered cuts of each piece.
Getting there.
All the pieces of padauk lined up and face trim attached. Once I routered out the piece of birch for the circle in the center, I traced it on the padauk and cut each one with the band saw.
It worked!
Getting the 3 pieces to be one solid top. Trimmed with pine before the mahogany. Lot's more sanding.
Getting a sense of the final build and sizing.
Lots of sanding and many coats of spar maritime varnish.
Sheet aluminum for the work surface and a large ice bucket. Two speed rails for the liquor bottles.
What are you drinking this evening?