# Wood for Countertop / Bar



## Qscout (16 Jan 2020)

Hi Everyone, 

I have been reading through the forums trying to find an answer to my question but as a real amateur when it comes to woodworking, I am getting rather confused.

I am building a bar in our summerhouse and am looking for the best wood to make the bar top and counter surfaces. The bar top will be L shaped and I was hoping for a single piece so that I don't need to deal with joins. Dimensions are 1.7m x 0.7m at widest point. 

I have some hardwood plywood (B&Q) don't laugh, in my garage that would keep costs down, but I don't know if this would be able to be stained and varnished to look good. 

What would you all recommend that I use? Local Timber merchant said they can glue planks together to get the size, would this be a better option than the ply?

I don't really know what to ask for when going to timber yard, so simple terms if possible.


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## Woody2Shoes (16 Jan 2020)

Qscout":34a34xxm said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I have been reading through the forums trying to find an answer to my question but as a real amateur when it comes to woodworking, I am getting rather confused.
> 
> ...




Hi - I think you could do very well with ply. I would put a hardwood edge strip along all visible edges - here's an example of the kind of idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7R6x67CyS0. You could perhaps use oak or a tropical hardwood like sapele for the edge trim strips. Anothor option instead of ply might be kitchen worktop - you can buy oak/beech/etc pieces online https://www.diy.com/ranges/kitchen-rang ... d-worktops

For either option you can easily stain and seal the results - I'd use polyeurethane to seal but others are bound to prefer different!

Cheers, W2S


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## Phil Pascoe (16 Jan 2020)

In a summer house? I'd tile it.


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## thetyreman (17 Jan 2020)

have you checked that B&Q ply for flatness??? not trying to offend but it's not the best quality so I'd be concerned about long term stability.


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## PeteBowen (18 Jan 2020)

I recently did something similar by cannibalising £40 dining table from a charity shop. There is a warehouse size charity shop near me filled with furniture just waiting to be turned back into planks. The dining table had a 40mm thick top made from glued together strips of beech (i think).

Cut to size, some sanding a bit of Osmo countertop oil and Robert's your male relative.


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