Looking for a Wood bar top

Since I don't have enough room in my basement for a full bar I'm thinking of doing a wet bar against the wall, but I would love to have a real wood bar top just like the one you would belly up against at your favorite pub. Underneath would go the kegerator.

Anyone have any ideas where I could find something like this?

All help appreciated..

I think finding an old ornate hand carved door at a reclamation yard would be awesome.

One option in the absence of a proper (or improper) wood shop would be using nice oak veneered plywood for the top and molding for trim on the edges. With this all put together in the size/shape you want you could then just mix up some 2-part epoxy and squeegie out a nice thick coat over the top and get some on the sides. When the top's done you can flip, chisel/chip off the stalagtites, and put a thin coat on the underside and back edge. Done!

just make sure you protect the floor from drips and have a blow torch handy to get bubbles out.

~M~

This is something you could easily make yourself, even if you don't have woodworking experience. You would need to decide what type of wood to use. Pine would be the cheapest. You would need to glue the edges together. To do that you could rent a biscuit cutter and use wood biscuits to join the edges. You would need some pipe clamps but you could rent those also or just use ratcheting straps ($15 at HD). Then borrow or rent a sander if you don't have one. Sand it and finish with a Urethane.

IKEA has decent wood counters if you don't want to go the full DIY route. I used them before and they are really nice for the price.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10146525

Another option would be to piece together some wood flooring (hardwood or laminate) to make a nice prefinished durable surface. It would be pretty cheap and doesn't require any woodworking skills.

I just slabbed a big red oak I have a few pieces of 2" thick x 22" wide x 10' long that i am looking to sell.

I also have other thicknesses and sizes.

rockler.com sells the molding usually seen on the leading edge of a bar...

Great ideas. Gives me something to think over. Thanks all!

johnnyo1977 said:

I just slabbed a big red oak I have a few pieces of 2" thick x 22" wide x 10' long that i am looking to sell.

I also have other thicknesses and sizes.

Click to expand...

Now that would make a great looking bar. I really like the look of red oak.

mariojr said:

IKEA has decent wood counters if you don't want to go the full DIY route. I used them before and they are really nice for the price.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10146525

Click to expand...

Wow, I kinda like this option, even though I hate Ikea (the kmart of furniture).

I've been perusing craig's list looking for free antique desks to use the top off of. I've got an email out on one but doubt I'll get it since I can't pick-up until Saturday.

I have seen some really awesome projects made from old bowling alley lanes. Maybe you could see if you local lanes have old ones around or a replacing theirs soon.

This will likely be a bit more on the pricey side, and depending on how deep you want the counter to be....

I saw this in an actual bar and it looked amazing, they used a PSL beam, sanded smooth and lacquered. Think it was the 2 11/16"x 18". The PSL not LVL or LSL.

http://www.ilevel.com/literature/TJ-9000.pdf

In my wood shop.
What material ya want?
I am partial to Bolivian rosewood.

google "Butcher Block"
you'll get people like this:
http://www.butcherblock.com/

You can just go to a local cabinet shop and order what you want and they'll make it for ya.

From what I remember the railing itself is called Chicago railing. Here is a link to a company I just found searching for it.

http://www.glumber.com/Products/rail.htm

I never dealt with them, but they seem to have different options and some pics as well.

Cheers.

JP

rbarr110 said:

This will likely be a bit more on the pricey side, and depending on how deep you want the counter to be....

I saw this in an actual bar and it looked amazing, they used a PSL beam, sanded smooth and lacquered. Think it was the 2 11/16"x 18". The PSL not LVL or LSL.

http://www.ilevel.com/literature/TJ-9000.pdf

Click to expand...

After reading your post I remember seeing a counter made from a Gluelam beam. Really nice looking. The Gluelam is made of strips of wood glued together. Link here:

http://usglulam.com/products/glulambeams/

So far, I'm leaning towards the laminate wood plank flooring. Home Depot has it for like $37 per box of 23 sq. ft. Easy to install, water/stain/scratch resistant and it looks really nice. I'm partial to the Brazilian Cherry. Hopefully soon I'll be able to start the project and I will definitely post the pics at the end.

Thanks again for all suggestions...

smayna2 said:

So far, I'm leaning towards the laminate wood plank flooring. Home Depot has it for like $37 per box of 23 sq. ft. Easy to install, water/stain/scratch resistant and it looks really nice. I'm partial to the Brazilian Cherry. Hopefully soon I'll be able to start the project and I will definitely post the pics at the end.

Thanks again for all suggestions...

Click to expand...

I installed laminate "wood" flooring in several rooms in my house. I thought the instructions warned against installing it in wet areas???

Dont use laminate, use a engineered hardwood if thats the route your going. Laminate doesn't like water the engineered stuff has a real wood veneer attached to the plywood backing.

Thanks for the tip. I'll do that. The cost still should not be too bad.