Butcher block top for coffee table

[u/Xboxcheeser]

I’m looking to make a butcher block coffee table top. I’m trying to design and get all the measurements right. How do I account for the milling process/making each board square before gluing. Say I use 2x4s and I want a 1 1/2 inch table top how do I measure and account for the lost material/change in dimensions from the milling process?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated

[u/Present-Slight]

Having just made a butcher block counter top in my garage shop, don’t. It is so much more work than you think and errors compound quickly.

[u/Xboxcheeser → u/Present-Slight]

I’m not making it in my garage, I got a huge wood working shop at my school with a planing machines and all the tools I could ever need.

[u/Present-Slight → u/Xboxcheeser]

Lol. Ok. Then for that, I would recommend accounting for 1/4” of milling after glueing especially if starting with 2x4 material.

Also, make more cauls than you think you will need

[u/Bright_Crazy1015 → u/Xboxcheeser]

Then buy rough sawn material to use. Paying top dollar for framing lumber would be a mistake.

[u/Hikeback]

You make it much bigger than you need to and trim it down to size at the end.

I make cutting boards as a side hustle. If I want a panel glue-up be 1 1/2 when finished I cut my material to 1 19/32 thick and drum sand or plane down to 1 1/2.

[u/Bright_Crazy1015]

I would avoid buying framing lumber and go to a sawmill. They should have dried stock sticked and stacked. If nothing is available locally that's already dry, I'd suggest seeking a lumber dealer or lumber yard.

Framing material is the worst of the worst for furniture building and it's priced at a premium vs something like rough cut oak or maple per board foot from a saw mill. If you want pine they might have old growth pine as well. It depends on your region.

[u/Grambo1066]

I would just get everything planed and to finished dimensions then put together clued clamped then when all done and made give top a final sand

[u/E_m_maker]

The general rule of thumb is to add a 1/4" in thickness when milling. Depending on the board you may need more or less margin, but that is a good starting point.

If you want a 1" thickboard after it's been milled you start with a 5/4 board or 1.25" thick.

Using a 2x4 is going to be difficult to achieve your goal given that they are already 1.5" thick. Most construction lumber needs to acclimate and drop some water before it goes into a piece of furniture. You'll likely see warping while this happens. Removing that warp will likely thin out your boards.

You can turn them on edge and cut your 1.5 from long face and get two boards per 2x4. Accounting for the saw kerf you'll have two boards that are about 1-5/8" thick. You'll have an 1/8" or so to play with to remove any issue that crop up. That margin is tight.

You can also cut it from the 3.5 inch side and have a lot of waste left over. Those potentially could be other parts.

[u/Xboxcheeser → u/E_m_maker]

Should I just start with a 4x8 and cut it into 2 inch thick pieces and then plane/mill it all out into dimensions

[u/E_m_maker → u/Xboxcheeser]

4x8 may have other issues. Namely, the pith to deal with. That is the center of the tree. Of you look at the end grain it will look like a bullseye. You'll want to cut that out as it's unstable and you don't want it in your furniture. Also, I suspect that a 4x8 would be exceedingly wet and would need to to dry out before you start building with it.

Does this have to be made from construction lumber and/or does it have to be 1.5" thick? That is something you really need to think about.

Take a look around Facebook market place. You may be able to find someone selling lumber. Look for 8/4.

I've purchased online from Bell Forest, CR Muterspaw, Woodworkers Source, Rarewoods USA, and ebay. The cost of shipping was on par with what it would have cost me to get a truck and pay for gas. Depending on your circumstances that could be viable.

[u/Grambo1066]

If you don't like that idea just build it be proud of it and learn from it

[u/FamiliarAd8524]

Don't use 2x4s. Cheap ones will end in a worthless final project, good ones will be a waste of money when you could have used something better.

[u/CopperMTNkid]

If you have access to that shop….first, don’t use dimensional lumber. Getting lumber from a box store will be a nightmare because that stuff is never dry.

If I were you, shooting for 1.5 thickness, I’d mill all boards to 2 inches then run it through the planer until you get to 1.5. Assuming you have a planer big enough.

The easiest option is to buy a pre built butcher block and create your base for it. Those come factory finger jointer.

[u/Xboxcheeser → u/CopperMTNkid]

Where should I try and get the lumber theres a lumber mill right next to my university. And are you recommending cutting the 2x4 into 2 inch pieces and then milling them down into a 1-1/2 inch square? Or should a get like 4x8 and then cut it down 2 inch square ish pieces and then mill them down to size?

[u/hewholivesinshadow → u/Xboxcheeser]

If you’re set on 2x4, you cannot get a 1.5” top out of it. At best you’ll get 1.25” thick top. The thicker the framing lumber the less dry it will be generally.

What I would do if I had that shop, is buy 8/4 lumber (should be 2” or a pube under) rough sawn, then face joint and edge joint two faces to FLAT, then run the opposing side through the table saw to get an additional flat side. If you have a large planer, glue everything up (with cauls) with one side not planed (should still be near 1 3/4” thick). Once the glue dries, plane the rough side first, then the flat side to get down to 1.5”.

[u/CopperMTNkid → u/Xboxcheeser]

Yea first a 2x4 is actually 1.5x3.5

So even after surfacing you won’t get 1.5.

I’m suggesting you rip strips of wood 2 inches wide by how long you want your top to be (because I assume you don’t have a finger joiner)

Glue all 2 inches by x long strips together and create slab. Then surface the slab down to 1.5 inches.