Bar Top Question

Building a bar around a keezer (will post pictures later); wanted input on the bar top...

A friend donated a nice piece of granite that I could use (the bartop/counter will be adequately supported) but I am thinking of going the customized bottle caps and epoxy route... My questions are: What kind of epoxy can I use? Would polyurethane work? What about the whole propane torch to the epoxy/polyurethane to get the bubbles out? Is that safe for poly as well as epoxy? How to I keep the epoxy/poly from spilling over the sides (I get that I am suppose to frame it out like when pouring concrete so that it doesn't spill over, but then wont the epoxy stick to the wooden frame??)...

As you may be able to tell, I'm a little lost on the issue, so any help is greatly appreciated!!

Generally the wood frame stays, so make it look good!

Here is a thread to get you some ideas. Around post 34-35 you'll see a pour and finished pics.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/bottle-caps-bartop-91540/

Why waste the granite?

Totally. Bottle caps are cool, but they will never beat granite. And especially not FREE granite. Plus it's a PITA to mess with epoxy and airbubbles.

one of the reasons that i wanted to get away from the granite is that i wanted the bartop to be on hinges and be able to prop it up so i wouldnt have to move it or the keezer to refill... the granite would be much heavier (i believe??) than a 1/2" or so of polyurithane or epoxy... Maybe i'm wrong here?? also, the epoxy would enable a "custom" look since i could place old photos of baseball parks, fishing lures, etc...

http://www.uscomposites.com/kk121.html

this stuff is great - it doesn't yellow with age like traditional epoxy, and you can order a 1 quart "sample" (1 qt A and 1 qt B = 1/2 gal finished). Mix as little or as much as needed...

a good hair dryer or heat gun (low setting) will help get rid of bubbles.

yobata said:

one of the reasons that i wanted to get away from the granite is that i wanted the bartop to be on hinges and be able to prop it up so i wouldnt have to move it or the keezer to refill... the granite would be much heavier (i believe??) than a 1/2" or so of polyurithane or epoxy... Maybe i'm wrong here?? also, the epoxy would enable a "custom" look since i could place old photos of baseball parks, fishing lures, etc...

Click to expand...

Either way you are going to have to prop it up. Those hinges aren't made to support ANY weight whatsoever. I made a keezer in college that had a formica top. I didn't even use the mdf base. I bought a sheet of formica veener and epoxy-ed it on. Just the weight of the epoxy adhesive and formica veneer was too much for those flimsy hinges.

If you are worried about weight, maybe look into adding some of those dampers that go on the top edge of a screen door. Truck camper shell doors use them too... I don't know what the offical name is, but I bet you can find a couple of heavy duty ones that would help support the weight of the top. Just an idea.

Man, Passing up the beauty of a free granite slab for the look of a college frat house!?? Sorry man but !! It's not something you lift daily. I would not worry about the weight. What size freezer are we talking? Now it is some behemoth holding 15-20 kegs, ok, but the standard 7-9cuft, no biggie.

Don't know what went wrong with guy above me's hinges, but mine hold up fine to quite a large build on them, and look at Jester's Keezer, that build also is using stock hinges with no issues.

the freezer is around 14-15cubes (haven't measures it yet, but it holds a regular keg [1/2bbl] with enough room for 4-5 cornies and a gas tank)... I actually built up the bar frame with 2x4s around the keezer and will place beefy door hinges on that frame so i wont be relying on the stock freezer hinges anyway (the freezer was probably from the 90s or even 80s -got it from craigslist for $40!!)

The granite would be 21" x 70" total if i went with that... The bar frame is not connected to freezer in any way and i could just slide the whole freezer out (purposely left room to do so) to refill, but thought it would be easier to place it all on hinges...

btw, thanks for all the links to epoxies and great brainstorming...

I did my whole bar top with epoxy from US Composite. Made out of an old door from our family farmhouse. It was really easy and I think it looks great. Very classy look when done right. I just used a hair dryer to get rid of the bubbles. To avoid the spilling over the edge I used a piece of cardboard sercured to the edge with thumbtacks and tape so it wouldn't spill. Worked just fine. I used the leftover epoxy to finish off my barback that I built. It's all self leveling which makes it pretty easy to use.

ddknight - thats looks really awesome man!! What did you use for that trim? Was it precut or did you route that yourself?

Also, I have been reading about self-leveling epoxies... Wouldn't all epoxy essentially self-level if poured on a level surface all at once?

Thanks man! I think all the epoxys to use for this type of project are self leveling. It helps when there are uneven surfaces like the face of that old door I did. I got enough of the epoxy to just go above all the fixtures and stuff and it leveled out nicely.

The trim was bought at Home Depot and I cut it to length and attached around the edge of the bar. It was a pain in the ass initially but got easier as I moved along with the project. Gave it that final professional look and feel I think.