Where to buy staves for making kitchen worktops?

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Closest I can see in wickes is 34mm whitewood pse which isn't really ideal. Can anyone advise?
Thanks
 
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Needs hardwood , if you have skills and machinery to make a worktop you could also produce the staves .
 
Thanks for the reply foxhole. I do have the tools to buy the staves but wondered if they can be bought of the shelf. All I find from a google is old beer barrel staves. Also im guessing they dont need to be beech but can be hardwood timber with a beech stain?
 
I'm afraid that what you have just written demonstrates your niaivity, at least to me.

Most hardwoods are darker than beech, some are unsuitable for worktops because they have open pore grain (meaning that dirt sticks to them like a magnet). The ideal worktop material is close pore and fine grained whilst being relatively stable and hard wearing, e.g. beech, maple, sycamore, etc. What makes each hardwood unique is a combination of colour and grain. Not stain

Many years ago I actually went through the process of making myself some maple staved cutting boards as a test run to see how awkward this process is. I'm a trained, qualified carpenter and joiner and at that time I ran a workshop, so here's a few pointers for you -

Firstly, you don't buy staves - you buy hardwood and it comes in planks, rough sawn and random sizes. For a 35mm thick top I'd be looking for rough sawn timber at about 1-3/4in (nominal) thickness. You may be able to get it finish dimensioned (i.e. planed all round), and possibly even ripped to stave dimensions, but not many timber merchants offer that service, and those that do charge a premium for it. Hardwood is often sold waney edged - you can get it square sawn, but that is very wasteful and costs a lot more. Consider that your waste will be in the region of 35 to 45% of the rough sawn timber to get to the stage of having staves and allow for that when ordering

Secondly you need a rip saw, an overhand planer and a thicknesser (or a planer/thicknesser - note that all of these are static machines, not power tools) to reduce the timber to exactly dimensioned staves. The reason is that the glue joint faces need to be absolutely perfect to get a good joint in the finished worktop

Third you need sufficient cramps to cramp-up the worktop full width. Typically manufacturers use pneumatic or hydraulic presses for this but assuming you have neither the space or the money for this (many thousands of pounds) you'll need a heavy T-bar cramp at least every 12 inches (300mm), or better every 6in (150mm), of the full length of the worktop you are making (so on a 10ft/3 metre length piece, that's about 30 of them - at about £35 to £40 a pop, assuming 36in capacity which will accommodate the timber cauls you need to even out the pressure along the length). No good trying to do this with undersized sash cramps or F-cramps or skimping because if there aren't enough cramps you'll get open glue joints. Oh, and I didn't mention that you'll need a strong, perfectly flat work surface to build this on unless you want a 10ft long wooden propellor at the end. The cramped-up worktop blank needs 12 to 24 hours to cure fully (assuming a reasonable quality RF or UF glue - this is not a job for PVA or PU glue)

Finally, when you are finished you'll need to uncramp the lot, scrape off the glue squeeze out then plane and sand the surfaces (which I assure you won't be level after all this). Good luck finding someone with a 24in wide thicknesser to dress the surfaces. In fact good luck getting it to and from their workshop

Are you still so sure you have the tools?

TBH doing anything other than buying-in pre-made worktop lengths from a specialist manufacturer is going to be costly and difficult. It is far easier and cheaper to buy in than trying to do your own thing. Find a manufacturer and they'll sometimes accommodate your wishes (like having alternating bands of light and dark timber). They'll also guarantee their workmanship, in the main. Which is probably why almost everyone in the trade does just that - buys-in
 
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any years ago I actually went through the process of making myself some maple staved cutting boards as a test run to see how awkward this process is. I'm a trained, qualified carpenter and joiner and at that time I ran a workshop, so here's a few pointers for you

I used to run a joinery shop with resaw, 4 sider, panel saw, 3 head wide belt sander. I have made full length stave hardwood worktops.

They work out more expensive than buying them from worktop direct.

I wouldnt want to think about making a worktop with no means to dimension sand flat -it would be a right ball ache to do with a belt sander.
 
I wouldnt want to think about making a worktop with no means to dimension sand flat -it would be a right ball ache to do with a belt sander.
I take it from that that you've no desire to go "old school" and level the surfaces buy alternate diagonal hand planing with a scrub (Bismark) plane, then? Me neither
 
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Thanks for the replies guys, ive decided to shelve the stave worktop idea and go with plywood with tiles on top. I would just buy a wickes worktop and be done with it but Ive bought a flash kitchen corner sink off ebay and need to have the worktop coming out an extra 5cms on one of the inside corners (so 2 x 45degree bends rather than one 90degree if that makes sense). One day I might have a go at a softwood stave worktop for a shed or something though, even if it comes out a bit poo it'll be more than good enough for its needs.
 
I take it from that that you've no desire to go "old school" and level the surfaces buy alternate diagonal hand planing with a scrub (Bismark) plane, then? Me neither
I can feel the blisters just thinking about it :)

Its many years since using a scrub plane - or a bailey with cambered blade to flatten a laminated top.
 
Nuzuki. Heed the advice on here. Its very satisfying making something. But that something got to work properly. 5CM. Pick a worktop.. Sorry i meant to say ask the otherhalf what worktop she likes and the piece for the sink to be mounted in can be made from a breakfast bar section usually 90cm deep to match the worktop. Had a go a few years back at a worktop.. Will post the picture of it as the coffee table it turned into lol.
 
... Ive bought a flash kitchen corner sink off ebay and need to have the worktop coming out an extra 5cms on one of the inside corners (so 2 x 45degree bends rather than one 90degree if that makes sense).
Ah, but you didn't say that in the first place. In which case why do you need to make an entire worktop? You could just buy-in a pre-manufactured staved worktop, and many manufacturers will sell you a shorter length of 900mm wide breakfast bar worktop to make-up just such a corner infill.

If your manufacturer of choice doesn't do the wider tops (unlikely), you can always extend a 600mm "standard" width piece by adding another piece onto the back of your corner section. This will require near perfect jointing and I'd recommend some form of alignment mechanism, too (such as 12 to 16mm dowels or Dominos within the joint) and you'll also need heavy T-bar cramps or cramp heads and bars to do the glue up. Once done the joint can be scraped and finally belt sanded (because Sodt's Law means it is highly unlikely to be perfectly flat) and finished.

All a lot more "do-able" than trying to make-up your own worktop from scratch
 
and the piece for the sink to be mounted in can be made from a breakfast bar section usually 90cm deep to match the worktop.

In which case why do you need to make an entire worktop? You could just buy-in a pre-manufactured staved worktop, and many manufacturers will sell you a shorter length of 900mm wide breakfast bar worktop to make-up just such a corner infill.

If your manufacturer of choice doesn't do the wider tops (unlikely), you can always extend a 600mm "standard" width piece by adding another piece onto the back of your corner section. This will require near perfect jointing and I'd recommend some form of alignment mechanism, too (such as 12 to 16mm dowels or Dominos within the joint) and you'll also need heavy T-bar cramps or cramp heads and bars to do the glue up. Once done the joint can be scraped and finally belt sanded (because Sodt's Law means it is highly unlikely to be perfectly flat) and finished.

All a lot more "do-able" than trying to make-up your own worktop from scratch

Was about to suggest trying a bit of breakfast bar!

If you go on YouTube and look at Matt Cremona's stuff he's got a couple of videos from a while back making end grain cutting boards from offcut staves - he's got a full workshop with static machines. One thing he does do not mentioned here (because it would be a nightmare on a piece that size) is flattening using a router sled but iirc he still runs the pieces through his belt sander afterwards - having said that I know 'The Wood Whisperer' uses a router sled for levelling the top of the roubo workbench he made but again the set up for that is a bit of a mare!
 
One thing he does do not mentioned here (because it would be a nightmare on a piece that size) is flattening using a router sled but iirc he still runs the pieces through his belt sander afterwards - having said that I know 'The Wood Whisperer' uses a router sled for levelling the top of the roubo workbench he made but again the set up for that is a bit of a mare!
IMHO you need more time than sense to spend that amount of effort and time (and all with a screaming router) to level timber when you can achieve almost identical results (at least on one surface) with a scrub or Bismark plane a steel straight edge and a belt sander probably in the same or less time. In any case if you have a workshop full of equipment why on earth would you do that?(use a router flattening jig, that is)

Experiences installing both domestic wooden kitchen worktops and solid hardwood bars in pubs has convinced me that in the real world the joints will never be perfect and they will almost always require 'fettling' with a good sharp plane and a belt sander
 
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