making a kitchen worktop out of oak floorboard offcuts

[simonafloat]

Hi all

I have enough offcuts of English oak floor planks (not tongue & groove) to make a new worktop for our kitchen. Going to remove the worktop tiles to reveal the ply base and screw the planks down on battens so they run over the top of the sink and then fix an oak edging strip round so it looks thicker than the 20mm plank thickness.

Going to finish with a clear oil. Should I oil the underside though? I don't want the planks to cup. But, I'd prefer to glue and pin the planks down rather than screw & pellet, and the glue won't take on an oiled surface. Maybe I should kerf the underside of the planks first? Any ideas/suggestions? Planks are random widths up to 13 inches.

Cheers

Simon

 

[foxhole]

Not ideal material for worktop, but , oil all round and screw up from below, glueing t&g joints.

 

[simonafloat]

Thanks, these boards are not tongue and groove, they just butt up against another.

Being offsets they have a lot of knots and shakes. Normally i'd fill them with oak dust & resin but I'm not sure how the oil (danish or tung) will sit on it. It's the lecol clear resin stuff.

I'm going to try putting lots of oil on one side of a board and see how much it tries to cup. I reckon pins and sikaflex will fix these boards down nearly as well as screws. Like the idea of screwing from below but I can't get access to many areas.

 

[gregers]

can you not edge the planks,then biscuit and clamp them together?would that not make them more solid?so less movement.

 

[simonafloat]

can you not edge the planks,then biscuit and clamp them together?would that not make them more solid?so less movement.

I reckon so. That'll hold the planks dead flush as well so i'll have less sanding to do. I'm also planning on routing a drip on the underside of the sink edges, routing drain channels on both sides of the sink, and two cutaways either side of the cooker into which I'm going to glue some old roof slates for hot pans. Because its plank, I can tweak the boards behind the sink so they slope forwards. Hopefully that will stop the water pooling around the taps.

 

[big-all]

i am assuming they are un moulded underneath[no grooves or channels ]
buiscuit the planks side by side
i would edge with a second plank[or half] underneath inverted and mitred at the ends i would also every foot another plank [or half]across the underneath paralel with the ends to help prevent cupping and give thickness

please be aware if you do cross bond as i suggest your timber needs to be kept in the kitchen or house it can be glued and worked outside but needs to be stored or moved inside quickly other wise cracks will appear as it dries out

 

[gregers]

and look down the planks for the growth rings,alternate them or as it drys out it will cup all 1 way.