This was such a fun project! It was also a huge pain in the ass! But the results were worth it. I wanted to find something cheap, but ultimately decided to try my hand at planing and finishing a raw slab to use as my countertop. I found my slab at Second Use Building Materials. I was lucky to find a slab long and wide enough to accommodate all of my countertop needs. The video about this had to be broken into 3 parts because it took a while and had many steps in the evolution from raw Douglas Fir slab to beautiful countertop.
After debarking the slab, I built a planer sled for my new router, and leveled out all of the dimensions. The prep work was interesting, but the fun part was still to come.We cut the tip of the slab off to use as the countertop piece for the fridge. This also served as our little test-piece to try to get the planing down.After the first piece was done, we set it aside and moved the big piece onto the sled rail jig. There was quite a bit of fir shavings on the floor. This was a constant problem. With the big piece planed, I used the remaining scrap to create test pieces for various finishes. This was how I selected the final finishing method, which was 3 coats of wax-free Shellac, followed by 3 coats of Waterlox.These finises were all rejected. I cut the back edge off the slab and put it in place as soon as possible after it was planed, to prevent it from warping as it sat in the basement. It required two people to move.Eric helped.No comment.The hole for the sink was cut after the slab was installed because I was not confident that I could get the measurements right otherwise. I was very VERY careful and used straight edges when I could. Some parts had to be done free-hand, though, like the rear-most indentation. It came out perfect!Here’s the other, smaller piece which was cut first. It goes right over my fridge.I cut another hole for the stove at the end. Each cut into this slab was nerve-racking, and kind of sad.Unfinished, but prepping to do the first coat.I started with wax-free shellac to seal the wood.Here’s how it looked after the Shellac.Then came the Waterlox.First Coat of Waterlox brought out some beautiful colors.It really started to shine after the 3rd coat.The next morning; different light. Testing the look of the backsplash made from the edge that I cut off the slab. It got the same treatment.
Check out the videos for much more detail about this portion of the project.
