bar - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

**framerman** · 09-16-2009, 07:51 PM

I will have some progress pics for a few days, not quite finished. This is a pretty big bar top they have commissioned me to do. I wish it was going to be mahogany, but it is not this time. Maybe next one.

It will have a faux finish with 2 part bar top. The painter guy (artist really) is going to come in and use bondo to fill the cracks and make it nice, but I do not like someone having to come in behind me and fix things, so I am trying to make it as nice as I can. Some things are out of my control.

I have been given 3/4" MDO to use as the base. The front edge of the bar, instead of the regular bar edge, all they want is a big half round (sigh) so we are using closet rod ripped in half. What can I do, they tell me what to make.

So last Saturday, I made most of the top, then the architect walked in Monday and did not like the outside corner pointing way out into the room. I guess it is supposed to be some rave dance area or something. He wants a big curve.

Broke a few trying.....cut thin slices....nope. I decided to take a simple 2x8 home and band saw out the curve. Real simple piece of wood cutout about 13/16" thick, 1-1/2" tall, 8" - 8-3/4" radius.

Next was getting the bullnose. I made a jig for a fence and ran it through the router, just enough to get a rough shape. Glue it to the bar edge with PL.....screw it...belt sand it to almost there and then finish it off with the palm sander.

Paint guy loves it. He says he will make it look like a million bucks. I had 3 of these to do.

Commercial bars are cool to make. I'd love to do them all the time. Very rewarding.

.

SC sawdaddy · 09-16-2009, 08:04 PM

Damn nice work framerman.

I'd love to see the finished product.

willworkforbeer · 09-16-2009, 08:10 PM

This is what its all about. Good job.

WNYcarpenter · 09-16-2009, 08:21 PM

Good stuff Framerman!

did you have to use a curved jig? I thought you could just freely run your piece without a fence. I'd like to add that to my bag of tricks!

**framerman** · 09-17-2009, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WNYcarpenter

Good stuff Framerman!

did you have to use a curved jig? I thought you could just freely run your piece without a fence. I'd like to add that to my bag of tricks!

I tried for about a 1/4 of a second to do that and zing! past my head went the 2x

I'm only a major dumbass once. The bit is a 3/4" roundover and is a decent size. I was using a tank of a 3 hp router that my friend had. The bit was way too big for the little 1-1/2 hp router I had at the time, not to mention no speed control.

I put it down to 11K rpm I think it was.

At first I tried it without the fence on a scrap piece and when I flipped it over, the bearing buried too far. So I kept raising it until I was comfortable. It's when you are trying to get close to the front edge of the board it catches on the bit and sends it flying. Even with the fence, it was a bit hairy.

The interior designer, architect, artist, and clients are meeting Friday about colors. At first I heard they gave him free reign on what to do, then of course the interior designer had a hissy fit.

I'll post more tonight hopefully.

J F · 09-17-2009, 07:20 AM

Nice job

**framerman** · 09-30-2009, 08:58 PM

OK, finally some updated shots. It's almost done right now. The guy who is finishing the top was putting 2nd coat on tonight and has one more to do on Friday night I think he says.

So yes, the top is wavy a little. It's going to be glass smooth.

This is the day after I made the top. No respect. Crap everywhere.

This is the drink tray. A simple detail on the end, nuthin' fancy. Maple stays natural color with some varnish. The edges are purposely rounded. I don't like the look, but the bartenders don't want to hurt themselves on sharp edges. Poor babies. If you look real close you can see my screw up on the right side of the mitre. I ran out of maple and they weren't going to go get me any more, so I had to live with a stupid little wedge piece. So ashamed. I made it look the absolute best I could.

A shot to how big this bar is

The last unseen part. The front radius is where I took the previous shots.

Ta daa!

The finishing guy has some mad skilz.

This is a close up of the look. The painters will probably come in here and say "no big deal" It looks cool to me.

There's my corner. The guy used bondo to fill in all the cracks. From there, I can't tell you what he did because I'm not sure.

Last shot.

dkillianjr · 09-30-2009, 10:01 PM

Very nice as usual framerman

Is that a straight head screw in the second pic? If it is, I havent seen one of those in ages

Dave

**framerman** · 10-01-2009, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkillianjr

Very nice as usual framerman

Is that a straight head screw in the second pic? If it is, I havent seen one of those in ages

Dave

No, but it sure looks it though. That is odd.

That is a Spax screw with the torx head. I cannot remember when I bought my 12 volt DeWalt, but it has been at least 10 years. This job I finally broke down and bought the Makita drill/driver combo and put the Phillips away forever. What an unbelievable difference.

J F · 10-01-2009, 05:53 AM

Very cool, nice work all the way around.

SLSTech · 10-01-2009, 07:20 AM

Very nice work

**joasis** · 10-01-2009, 07:24 AM

As usual, nice work!

**genecarp** · 10-01-2009, 07:31 AM

Nice job, good finish as well. G

**ChrWright** · 10-01-2009, 08:29 AM

Sweetness. Very nice.

**Gus Dering** · 10-02-2009, 02:34 PM

That is sweet Framerman

nEighter · 10-02-2009, 03:07 PM

so is that some type of epoxy coating? I like that metallic swirl in it

Nice bar man

neolitic · 10-02-2009, 04:33 PM

Looking good Framer.
What is the coating?
Reminds me of a bowling ball!

dkillianjr · 10-02-2009, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by framerman

No, but it sure looks it though. That is odd.

That is a Spax screw with the torx head. I cannot remember when I bought my 12 volt DeWalt, but it has been at least 10 years. This job I finally broke down and bought the Makita drill/driver combo and put the Phillips away forever. What an unbelievable difference.

Torx is the best thing to happen to screws since switching from straight to phillips! I used some square drive deck screws the other day, even they suck now compared to the torx. I made the switch from dewalt to the new makitas too, the makitas are very nice

Dave

**framerman** · 10-16-2009, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nEighter

so is that some type of epoxy coating? I like that metallic swirl in it

Nice bar man

Quote:

Originally Posted by neolitic

Looking good Framer.
What is the coating?
Reminds me of a bowling ball!

The guy who did this came in at night most times. He did the tables like this also. He preps it with bondo first, then I believe he said it was an epoxy coating for the paint. He uses a couple of colors obviously, but I'm not sure how he gets the effect. After that is done, he pours on the 2 part bar top epoxy for the glossy look. Same thing that 6 string does with his counter in the video he posted awhile back.

deckman22 · 10-23-2009, 09:16 AM

Hey, I thought you were a framer, that ain't framing.

Nice work Framerman. You're right about that finishing guy, mad skilz.