To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Need Ideas For Bar Top...

To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Rag Roc

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
Messages
297
Location
Central Florida
I covered my top with old race ticket stubs, name badges from car events, old business cards, and other auto related stuff too cool to throw away; prior to epoxy. X2 on laminating some items first. The resin soaked into about 25% of the items.
 

rsanter

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,493
Location
visalia ca
my dads bar used old hardwood flooring, looks really nice

if you are into boats or ships I would use a teak wood top

bob
 

MFortie

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
901
Location
San Diego County
i did a black concrete countertop in the new house, its awesome, i'd do it again in a heartbeat!
33ti99z.jpg

I'd really be interested in more detail on your counter tops if you don't mind sharing.... :thumbup:

Nice job, BTW!
 

atotalnincompoop

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
222
Location
thunder bay
I'd really be interested in more detail on your counter tops if you don't mind sharing.... :thumbup:

Nice job, BTW!

sure, what do you want to know, i built the cupboards myself, then i formed the countertops with lumber, the top of each cabinet has a piece of 3/4" plywood screwed and glued on it, the plywood has a 45 degree bevel all the way around, the edges were reinforced with rebar, i also added expanded metal lathe . i bought black countertop concrete from some outfit in california that was not supposed to crack, it was ****, i did everything right and it was lumpy pouring, hard to work and they craked in several places, plus the finish turned out looking like ****, so i coated the entire thing with an industrial epoxy, at first i bought a food safe epoxy and it looked like **** as well and would scratch if you looked at it. so i went back and asked for the most toxic stuff they had, the stuff they sold me rocks, stunk like hell putting it on, once cured you can't beat it, and the sheen is a perfect satin black.
heres a pic of the forming...
xfdjfd.jpg
 

GarageEnvy

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
1,282
Location
Fresno
my dads bar used old hardwood flooring, looks really nice

if you are into boats or ships I would use a teak wood top

bob

This is a resin pour finish on a table I made 15+ years ago. It is usually covered and it is babied. The finish is pretty soft and prone to scratches but it still looks pretty good. Maybe these aren't relevant for your project and material but I did have to do this in a heated shop and it was done in three pours based on manufacturers recommendation. The resin was prone to bubbles and I had to flash the surface with a MAPP gas torch to remove the bubbles. I had the top a little off the work surface and it did have drips underneath that still are a bit lumpy. The sides don't look perfect where it runs over either. It's not actually a planked deck. It's a single sheet of mahogany veneer plywood that was routed with V-grooves, caulked and banded with dimensional mahogany lumber.

DSC08109.jpg


DSC08110.jpg
 

TAftw

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
1,727
Location
MA
Butcher block. You can get them nicked, chipped, scratched, stained, etc. When it starts to look ****** sand it down and restain it.
 

jdub63

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
232
Location
Azle, Texas
We had a pretty neat bar at the Yokota Oclub, basically designed to look like a runway at night. All the lighting was underneath and reflected through white acrylic for the centerline stripes... Would be easy to make it look like a road with divider stripes. Sorry couldn't find a picture...
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

liquidcougar

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2012
Messages
8
Location
Warwick, RI
My best friend and I once made a bar using nothing but the little glass pieces off three or four mirror balls and fragments of mirrors we broke ourselves, leaving no more than roughly 1/4" spacing between any piece. We did a resin pour over it and mounted 3 par 36 spotlights directly over it. Still one of the coolest bars I've ever seen. I wish I could find the pictures...
 

machine_punk

Well-known member
Joined
May 14, 2011
Messages
2,540
Location
Napa Valley, California
At the enlisted clubs of most Air Force bases, the squadrons have their 'own' table in the bar. The maintainers usually have a table with aircraft tools embedded in resin. You might want to do tools on yours. (Although, I'm not sure I'd cover that bowling alley floor with anything! Maybe you could find another use for the bowling alley floor).

Of course, if you want a fishing theme, you could easily embed fishing lures in the resin, along with pics of some of the larger fish you have caught (or photo shop some pictures of you over other people's huge catches...) Or "Rod & Gun Club" Put spent shells of your favorite calibers in the resin, along with the fishing stuff...and pics of you, photo shopped into large game kills.

M_P
 

geologist

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
Messages
5,326
I like the items embedded in resin idea. I have a ton of old bottle caps that I always said I was going to lay out in a design and use for this. Some day...

If you use bottle caps, make sure you fill the back side of your caps first and let it cure. Otherwise, you'll end up having an issue with air bubbles and caps wanting to float.

BottleCapBeerPongTable.jpg
 

Cabby89

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Messages
50
sure, what do you want to know, i built the cupboards myself, then i formed the countertops with lumber, the top of each cabinet has a piece of 3/4" plywood screwed and glued on it, the plywood has a 45 degree bevel all the way around, the edges were reinforced with rebar, i also added expanded metal lathe . i bought black countertop concrete from some outfit in california that was not supposed to crack, it was ****, i did everything right and it was lumpy pouring, hard to work and they craked in several places, plus the finish turned out looking like ****, so i coated the entire thing with an industrial epoxy, at first i bought a food safe epoxy and it looked like **** as well and would scratch if you looked at it. so i went back and asked for the most toxic stuff they had, the stuff they sold me rocks, stunk like hell putting it on, once cured you can't beat it, and the sheen is a perfect satin black.
heres a pic of the forming...
Well for starters I would have used hardiboard or some 1/4 cement board as your base instead of plywood. The plywood will absorb the water from the concrete mix during the cure period which will weaken the crete. You can also warp the wood because of it soaking up the bleed water.

I would be curious as to what brand you picked up. Not all bagged brands are created equally.

As far as the finish, it can take a seasoned veteran to finish a cast in place countertop. I have done a few and am still not great at it. I prefer precasting my pieces.
 

atotalnincompoop

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
222
Location
thunder bay
Well for starters I would have used hardiboard or some 1/4 cement board as your base instead of plywood. The plywood will absorb the water from the concrete mix during the cure period which will weaken the crete. You can also warp the wood because of it soaking up the bleed water.

I would be curious as to what brand you picked up. Not all bagged brands are created equally.

As far as the finish, it can take a seasoned veteran to finish a cast in place countertop. I have done a few and am still not great at it. I prefer precasting my pieces.

i wasn't too concerned about the plywood soaking up all the water as i went with a fairly dry mix and sealed the plywood first. plus i wanted the strength of the plywood especially on the island eating bar.
the concrete counter mix was from cheng, all my research said it was the way to go, they were wrong, IMO:)
this was my first concrete countertop, precasting wasn't an option for me on this build, perhaps when i build again next year i will :beer:
 

Cabby89

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Messages
50
I have never used Chengs products but some are designed for precast and others for a cast in place.

If anyone is going to attempt a cast in place down the road make sure to watch this video.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom