[Stallonepanerai]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and could use some advice on building my home bar. I decided to use cherry. I purchased a Chicago Bar rail in solid cherry. The Chicago rail is routed 2 times. One for a 3/4" bottom plywood, the other for a 3/4" top. My question: is it ok to use 3/4" laminated cherry plywood for the bar top or should it be solid cherry? I can't find solid cherry, but I can have it glued up by a cabinet shop. Someone from a lumber yard said for a bar top the 3/4" laminated plywood is more stable than the solid glued up cherry. Does this make sense? It is certainly cheaper to use the laminated ply but I just want to do the right thing. Either way I would put several coats of poly or epoxy on the surface to protect the top. Can someone please chime in with their expertise?
Thank you in advance!
Corey

 

[NoNails]

You were given good advice, changes in humidity affect wood movement; laminations minimize that result.

 

[John Smith_inFL]

the last time (one and only time) I laminated dimensional lumber to plywood was a disaster.
you could have made barrel staves from it if you cut it into strips.
from that, I always say - - - - ummmmmm I wouldn't do it (again).
but - a person is gonna do what they wanna do, regardless of advice: this is called "experience".

 

[Tool Agnostic]

the last time (one and only time) I laminated dimensional lumber to plywood was a disaster.
you could have made barrel staves from it if you cut it into strips.
from that, I always say - - - - ummmmmm I wouldn't do it (again).
but - a person is gonna do what they wanna do, regardless of advice: this is called "experience".

Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.

 

[Stallonepanerai]

the last time (one and only time) I laminated dimensional lumber to plywood was a disaster.
you could have made barrel staves from it if you cut it into strips.
from that, I always say - - - - ummmmmm I wouldn't do it (again).
but - a person is gonna do what they wanna do, regardless of advice: this is called "experience".

Sorry but I'm confused. Are you saying it's better to use the laminated plywood or the glued up solid pieces? Thank you for your time!

 

[Jar944_2]

the last time (one and only time) I laminated dimensional lumber to plywood was a disaster.
you could have made barrel staves from it if you cut it into strips.
from that, I always say - - - - ummmmmm I wouldn't do it (again).
but - a person is gonna do what they wanna do, regardless of advice: this is called "experience".

Unless I'm misreading the op wasn't going to laminate solid to plywood, it was a question of which would be a better bar top (solid or plywood.)

I'd do a solid top, for a high use surface like a bar I don't like veneer.

That said, if you have to have someone build the top out of cherry, plywood will be a lot easier for you.

 

[Rebelwork]

You bought this kind of bar rail?

 

[Stallonepanerai]

I bought this rail in solid cherry

 

[Rebelwork]

Is it a straight bar top or angled.

 

[John Smith_inFL]

Corey - I was referring to "don't" glue lumber to plywood. but, to use "either-or" for stability. (sorry for any confusion).
how long will this bar top be ?

 

[Stallonepanerai]

By bar is a "L" shape. About 4' on the short leg and 8' on the long. I really wanted to use the solid cherry on top of the sub 3/4" ply. But I have 3/4" cherry plywood that I can use. I was just worried about how it would hold up and stay stable. If I use the sub 3/4" ply and put the cherry plywood on top of that should I glue or screw it from underneath or both?

 

[Rebelwork]

The plywood would be stable. Solid lumber will have to move. You going in one direction on the L shape with wood or 45 degree
i debated on mine by eventually went with tile

 

[Stallonepanerai]

I'm going to do 45 degree the cuts. I can't get it all out of 1 sheet. My leg is longer than 4'. So I'm understand this correctly:

-Plywood sub bottom with solid edge glued and biscuit cherry boards on top (2 pc 5/4x10 edge glued and biscuit jointed. Don't glue the solid wood to the ply just screw it from underneath?

- Plywood sub bottom with cherry plywood on top. Glue them to each other and screw from the bottom?

sorry for the learning curve on my part. I just want to make sure I do it correctly

 

[firehawkmph]

Built a bar at my son's house a year ago. We used 3/4" BC plywood with 3/4" thick cutoffs from my shop as the top. Used epoxy for the finish. All the cutoffs were dry, they've been in my shop for years, mostly domestic figured wood. Came out nice, no problems.
Mike Hawkins

 

[Jay_L]

My “first-ever” woodworking project was designing & fabricating a cherry bar, having never utilized a planer, jointer, shaper, and table saw, or even doing a glue-up prior to undertaking the project. It was a steep learning curve for a newbie!

I fabricated the bar-top out of solid cherry and purchased a moulder and custom knives to fabricate the bar-rails. I made certain to seal up all sides of the tops to minimize movement, allowing the bar-top to float which was adjustable from beneath.

I was very pleased with the results and haven’t had any issues with it going on 16 years now. I was certain the miters on the bar-top would open up, which they didn’t.

 

[Rebelwork]

You should always field joint a 45. Takes the "if" lot of the picture..

Turned out nice Jay. Too bad were always making nice things for everyone else.

 

[GCTony]

Corey - I was referring to "don't" glue lumber to plywood. but, to use "either-or" for stability. (sorry for any confusion).
how long will this bar top be ?

John, In my line of work (Commercial Interiors) we try to make fake stuff look real quite often (Goofy Architects with champagne tastes and beer budgets) You can successfully laminate solid to engineered but it has to move. No "glue" but elastomeric adhesives.