End grain counter top.

Gorilla glue!!!!!!!!!!!
going to be a hard project but worth it!
I say go for it!!!!

-- dumpster diver delux

Above David says “hard” – this David says “tedious”. More likely both – but I think it could be really beautiful. Back in the mid-1950s I drew the plans for a house my Architect boss designed for himself outside Colorado Springs. His kitchen floor was end-grain pine, laid in a herringbone pattern. I was skeptical, but it turned out to be one of the prettiest floors I’ve ever seen. The blocks will have to be milled almost perfectly to insure tight glue joints, and I’d steer away from Oak or any other open grain hardwood. Good luck!

-- Dave O.

I would suggest Titebond III. I have just finished up a cutting board design that required a lot of surfaces to be glued before applying clamps and, for the first time, I tried Gorilla wood glue. The problem I ran into is the short open time compared to Titebond III. If you use Gorilla wood glue you will be fine if you can apply the glue and get clamps in place before it starts to dry. This can be a challenge depending on your application. I suppose the original Gorilla Glue (moisture activated) would work as well, but it sounds like it could get pretty messy on a project the size of the one you are contemplating.

-- Rowdy in Kechi, Kansas

Have you considered wood movement? It’s going to be moving a lot in every direction. As long as it’s not fenced in, you should be fine. If there are walls around it, this is a big problem.

Eli

Ger21 another talented jock built a bench for his table saw that is a torsion box with a thin veneer of end grain wood pieces. The coolest part is he works with a CNC at work and was able to cut the top perfectly flat. Check it out its really impressive. http://lumberjocks.com/Ger21/blog/15063

-- Aaron - central California "If you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?"