Edge grain maple countertop sanding

[RonMiller]

Does anyone have experience making and sanding/finishing large edge-grain wood countertops? I'll probably be doing one shortly, 8' by 4' in maple, 1 1/2" squares perhaps. I'm a cabinetmaker by trade and do lots of kitchens, etc. but haven't ever made a top this large and of this type.  I've read the FWW article on wood ctops, seen E. Fullers work on here, and studied others.

In thinking about this I expect to cut the blanks on my Sawstop and joint/plane them on my Grizzly 12". Then maybe glue 4 sets of these 12" wide and joint/plane some more for flatness. Then connect with dominoes for flat top orientation and sand. I've got the RS2E, ETS 150/3, and DTS400 sanders and presume I'll use the first two to get things smoothed out.

Any thoughts/advice/etc... on this approach or a better one?

 

[Wonderwino]

A scary sharp hand plane will leave the best finish on the end grain.  A 4 or 4-1/2 smoother would be about right.  That would also work very well on the top and sides, especially to remove any small variations left after the glue-up. 

There is just something about a hand planed surface that can't be had with a sander.  [cool]

 

[Guy Ashley]

This will give you the best ever on end grain, especially the very hard stuff like maple.

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=62

A thinner or less than razor sharp blade will result in chatter marks along the edge.

 

[RonMiller]

Good thoughts, guys. I own that LN plane and hadn't thought it to use it for this. Excellent advice. Thanks.

Other ideas?

 

[ScotF]

This will give you the best ever on end grain, especially the very hard stuff like maple.

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=62

A thinner or less than razor sharp blade will result in chatter marks along the edge.

+1 on what Guy suggested...you can create a very steep angle to minimize/reduce tear-out.  LN also supplies 2 different Frogs that are higher pitch (50 degree and 55 degree) for its bench planes that you could use, but if you have a block plane or low angle jack plane you can sharpen for a steeper angle.  

Another option that has yielded good results for me is a router -- once you cut to length you can use a router to finish cut/smooth the end grain (with the router sled and MFS profiles) and then light sanding might be all you need to complete the wood prep.

Scot

 

[grobin]

I would use the 4½ with a 55º frog, but that's what I have.  As mentioned you can sharpen the low angle at that slope.  A friend of mine keeps 2  blades one sharpened for low angle and the other for high.

 

[mouppe]

A couple of the earlier replies refer to end grain when the OP is asking about edge grain. If hand planing, I would use a regular 4 1/2 smoothing plane for edge grain as mentioned by somebody else. On a large surface area, the blade should be cambered to avoid leaving ridges.

I have to be honest though, on a project of this size i.e. 8' by 4' I would reach for the rotex sander. How would you even be able to reach the centre of the top with a hand plane and use it correctly?

Richard.

 

[RonMiller]

I just bought the Rotex for another project so that's something I could consider. Thanks again for the continued advice.

 

[tbellemare]

Ron:

I have installed Boos hard maple countertops in a couple of kitchens. I used a Rotex 150 and Deltex to finish them. It goes pretty fast and easy.

You can buy them already oiled. I just wanted a slicker feeling surface so I sanded them to 180 and sealed. They turned out real nice.

Tom

 

[JSlovic]

Craftart in Atlanta makes them commercially.
As I recall they rip and joint strips of stock, rotate everyother one 90' and glue up into panels.
They crosscut the panels to a gross thickness stand on end and glue up offsetting every other row by 1/2 a block.
Then they run the whole thing thru a timesaver to flatten
Hope this helps

 

[RonMiller]

A clarification - this is an edge grain top, not end-grain (like a typical cutting board).

 

[tbellemare]

The top selection on this page is what I referred to above. You may have the same product, or are you making it?

Tom

 

[tDot]

If you choose to use the Rotex 150, then I'd recommend that you also get the hard pad.  I find switching the pad between, hard, medium and soft, significantly changes how the Rotex handles its' different tasks.

 

[RonMiller]

Thanks, Tom for the site (although the link didn't work for me). I found the equivalent of what I had planned to make. However, at those prices, I'll probably buy instead. I'm 3 hours from Effingham (and grew up a few miles from there a half-century ago!!!) and could easily pick it up.

I have the various pads for the Rotex, thanks again for all the helpful info from folks.

 

[tbellemare]

I fixed the link...

I bought it at a place called Brazos Forest Products and it seems to me that they were less than the Boos website.

The sink cutouts and cut offs make pretty nice cutting boards too. I've found, though, that the ones I made are too heavy so they are all going back through the planer to lose weight. I even gave some to friends and have retrieved them, the cutting boards, to go to fat camp...

Tom

 

[dwillis]

I just installed a laminated maple countertop from IKEA in my basement.  After cutting it to length with my TS55 I finished the surface with successively finer grits using a Rotex 150 (down to 440 grit).  It turned out glassy smooth without any planing involved, as much as I like making crisp cuts with a hand plane.  Same sanding was done on the top surface of the counter with three coats of tung oil (steel wool between coats), followed by a light coat on Minwax.