Home bar build

[BritHarrier]

Very nice! Did you remove the hinges from the freezer and just bolt the lid to the plywood top? What type of hinges did then use to open and close it? Really nice design!

Yes, the original hinges were removed from the freezer. The freezer lid is bolted to the subtop plywood. I installed T-nuts in the plywood and then bolted from inside the freezer. Take a look at the earlier photos and you will see the bolts in the underside corners of the lid.

The bar top is hinged using a four foot long piano hinge. I'll see if I can take a photo that clearly shows the piano hinge placement.

 

[castermmt]

Just giving this a bump to see how it's going. Any updates?

 

[rockinmarty]

yes lets bump this:rockin:

 

[BritHarrier]

Ok, fellas, once again I apologise for the delayed update. Things took a bit longer than planned mainly due to the fact that once the beer was flowing, it became a bit dangerous to mix power tools with strong beer. But...the bar is now all but finished. In the next few posts I'm going to post a bunch of pics that show how things progressed with the top surface and the final finishing. I'll throw in some commentary in places when I think it might be helpful but please don't hesitate to ask for clarification.

 

[BritHarrier]

Photos show that I had installed the finishing trim oak to cover all of the plywood surfaces. I purchased solid red oak bar edge from Hardwoods Incorporated. Their site has a great information that shows the dimensions and required arrangements of the top and sub-top wood. There is also an awesome video showing how to properly install the bar edge.

The last picture shows me applying stain to the skirt panels. It also shows some elements of what I was originally going to use to "fill" the top surface of the bar. You will see later that I ended up using tongue-and-groove solid oak wood flooring.

 

[hungry4hops]

looks great!! cant wait to see it all finished!

 

[BritHarrier]

The first picture shows how I used the tongue-and-groove boards to diagonally fill the area bordered by the oak trim. Some construction details:

• No glue is used; I want the fill to move a little if it needs to.
• The boards are laid in with the tongue facing towards me. That allows me to use my nail gun to shoot a nail down at an angle down and through the tongue into the sub-surface plywood. If you get the angle right, the nail should not interfere with the mating groove of the next piece.
• The joinery gets a bit tricky at the corners. Patience is a must but the reward is big.

The final pic shows progress of the staining. You can see the removable inside skirt leaning against the wall on the left.

Dave

 

[BritHarrier]

In these two photos I have finished the oak fill for the fixed top. I had to do some hand planing to even up thickness differences between the tongue-and-groove fill and the outside trim. I sanded with progressively finer sand paper starting with 60 grit and progressing through 80, 100, 120, 150, 180 and 220. Yes, this is a lot of sanding but, believe me, the effort is worth the final result.

Next step was to apply stain. You might notice that there are some visible nail holes on the external trim work (bottom left of first pic). This is a trick I learned a long time ago: don't fill nail holes until after the first coat of varnish/urethane/whatever; this prevent oils from the nail hole filler from leaching into the surrounding wood and messing up the look of the stain.

 

[hungry4hops]

any updates!?!?

 

[EZCyclone]

Subbed! Looks Awesome! Can't Wait to start mine!!!

 

[BritHarrier]

Below are some photographs of the last part of the bar top. I was saving this until last because I knew it was going to be tricky getting all the joinery accurate around the coffin corners. But...as you can see, I managed to get it done.

The last photo shows the sanded surface just prior to staining.

Almost there...

 

[BritHarrier]

So...all stain applied and first coat of polyurethane applied. The second pic had my wife freaking out because it looked quite shiny enough before scuffing the surface ready for another coat. I used 400 grit sandpaper to scuff the surface so that I wouldn't accidentally go too deep and remove stain also. The removable panels on the front and back side of the keezer were take off to make it easier to varnish them.

The third pic is 4 coats later. The standard black Perlick handles have been replaced with some nice pub style pulls (Note: I have 575 taps installed. They have the creamer function where you push the handle away from you. I found out the hard way that the big pub-style handles are just heavy enough with the top hinged open to overcome the tap spring tension and drizzle creamy beer all over the place. Glad I installed that drip tray!)

The last pic shows that I have some shelving to finish and install some wine glass hangers.

Dave

 

[BritHarrier]

Here it is: a before and after look

Let me know if anyone has questions. I also welcome ideas for accessorizing.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[ChefRex]

Sweet! You do nice work.

 

[punkrockdave]

Some really nice work. I would love to do that but SWMBO informed me we are buying a home before that happens.

 

[davsow]

Super jealous...enjoy that thing for all of us!

 

[BrewingChemist]

looks awesome! how much overhang do you have for the bar? also, would you mind sending me the google sketchup files? Thanks!

 

[pfgonzo]

A+ work! What a great looking project!

 

[BritHarrier]

Some really nice work. I would love to do that but SWMBO informed me we are buying a home before that happens.

Yes, that would have been the case with me too. I was lucky enough to have just bought a new home. Strike while the iron is hot!

 

[BritHarrier]

looks awesome! how much overhang do you have for the bar? also, would you mind sending me the google sketchup files? Thanks!

First, the overhang prior to installing the bar rail is 8 inches. With the bar rail mounted you end up with a little over 9 inches overhang.

Second, send me a PM with your email address and I'll be happy to send you the SketchUp file which looks like what you see below.

 

[daveooph131]

I think I'm going to copy a lot of this great build!

What is the dimensions of your coffin and how spaced out are your taps?

 

[BritHarrier]

I think I'm going to copy a lot of this great build!

What is the dimensions of your coffin and how spaced out are your taps?

Thanks for the praise, it was a lot of fun to build and I am really happy with the results.

The taps are on 4 inch centres.

Do you have Google SketchUp? I'd be happy to send you the file. If not, give me a few days and I can upload a hand sketch for you to look at.

Best,

Dave

 

[daveooph131]

Yes I did download this that would be great. Just PM'd my email

 

[condor232]

Just came across this, and looking to do something extremely similar for my home bar build this winter. Sent you a PM, and also noticed you were in Chicago, as I am myself!

 

[muddywatters]

Inspirational. Awesome work!

 

[BritHarrier]

Inspirational. Awesome work!

Thanks man.

 

[Dirty_Dog_Brewing]

very nice build.

 

[Fordzilla]

Awesome build! Everything is so well planned and well crafted. I am very much looking forward to buying a house in the next year, then I will do a build of my own.

 

[Robar]

Super Nice Build! I was just given a bunch of smaller pieces of tongue and grove Maple flooring that I've earmarked for a bar as well. I may be borrowing some of your ideas. Thanks for sharing.

 

[feelfox]

Awesome build!