| Project by daltxguy | posted 1236 days ago | 2087 views | 2 times favorited | 12 comments |  |
 |
This was born out of necessity. Since we have an older house, our sink does not have a built in drainboard. We actually looked and looked for one and none could be found. Apparently everyone either already has one built in or they don’t use one anymore because they have a dishwasher.
We had neither and didn’t want to add a dishwasher. We’ve moved away from using one quite a long time ago as we prepare for the day when we will live ( again by necessity) off-grid on our forest property. Reducing our dependence on convenience appliances is part of our training for the next transition.
Finding designs for these is also difficult.Not many people make them. I did finally find one and this is an adaptation.
The challenges in a drainboard are
1) it will stay wet for extended periods of time and only on one side
2) wood movement and warpage
3) drainage and spillage
4) effective drainage off of the edge and not to the underneath of the board.
To address these design issues, I used edge glued strips of NZ red beech for the main board, which is water resistant. The front of the board has a breadboard end, pegged. Underneath there is a “drip edge”, a shallow groove to channel the dripping water into the sink instead of underneath the board. Around the perimeter there is a NZ Rimu edging to contain the water and keep it from spilling off the edge. Finally down the center there is a series of grooves and the whole thing is tilted at a slight angle.
So far, it seems to holding up though time will tell whether the design works completely.
Finished with multiple applications of linseed oil and the top surface is waxed. As someone noted, this is hardly a finish to last. In that regards, a polyurethane would be better, however red beech is sufficiently weather resistant to survive decades staying completely wet and the finish was more for looks than anything functional.
-- If you can't joint it, bead it!
| Pin It |
12 comments so far
AJJ
home | projects | blog
75 posts in 1346 days
#1 posted 1236 days ago
Looks good, and we all might be off the grid before long.
-- AJJ, Eugene OR
woodworm
home | projects | blog
14105 posts in 1788 days
#2 posted 1236 days ago
Very nice work.
But I’m a bit unsure linseed oil is the answer for protection.
-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.
daltxguy
home | projects | blog
1329 posts in 2112 days
#3 posted 1236 days ago
Agreed woodworm- linseed oil will not make it last. It was more for initial looks. The NZ red beech is weather resistant enough to survive with no finish.
-- If you can't joint it, bead it!
daltxguy
home | projects | blog
1329 posts in 2112 days
#4 posted 1236 days ago
AJJ, you might be right and I hope to ready before then!
-- If you can't joint it, bead it!
a1Jim
home | projects | blog
89156 posts in 1775 days
#5 posted 1236 days ago
Very cool idea well done.
-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/
moshel
home | projects | blog
845 posts in 1881 days
#6 posted 1235 days ago
its very pretty… thats something as well…
Thanks for the blackwood samples that popped up in front of my garage.
out of curiousity to follow your design flow:
1. why did you use breadboard end instead of leaving the ends? this would probably save one place the water can get into
2. how is the board connected to the sides?
3. what kind of glue did you use?
as for finish, i would, as always, use tung oil. I have a chair finished in tung oil that stands in my shower for over 18 months. NOTHING happened to it. there is a layer of poly over the tung, but its only for look as it does not sink deep into the wood so if it dents or chipped its protection is gone.
-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...
daltxguy
home | projects | blog
1329 posts in 2112 days
#7 posted 1235 days ago
Hi moshe – the blackwood is the sample as we discussed. Use whatever you don’t give away.
Breadboard – I used the breadboard end on the drain end to control any cupping. There shouldn’t be too much expansion as it is mostly quarter sawn pieces glued together. However, our cutting board which is made the same way, can curl about 2 cm when it gets wet unevenly.
The boards on the sides are simply glued with Titebond II glue. i considered biscuits or pegs but in the end because the board was tilted, I decided that was too hard to lay out and so I just glued.
As for your shower chair, I totally believe in the power of tung oil, but since you have poly over it, I wonder how much is due to the poly and how much the tung oil? I have some end tables I made 25 years ago to which I applied poly only and they still look like the day I finished them but of course they sit in a dry environment. The poly finish seems impenetrable and reasonably flexible as I have a few dings in the table but it has never flaked off.
-- If you can't joint it, bead it!
Craig Ambrose
home | projects | blog
47 posts in 1770 days
#8 posted 1235 days ago
Nice work Steve, I love it. I’ve only just started playing with nz beech, and I wasn’t aware of the water resistance that you mentioned, so very good to know.
daltxguy
home | projects | blog
1329 posts in 2112 days
#9 posted 1234 days ago
Hi Craig – only the Red Beech, however. Silver beech is excellent for turning, bending and it spalts very nicely and very easily but is not very weather resistant. There are some red beech trees in my forest which have 80 year old trees growing out of them already and the log is still rock hard!
-- If you can't joint it, bead it!
Padre
home | projects | blog
930 posts in 1687 days
#10 posted 1234 days ago
That is soooo cool!!!
-- Chip -----------http://www.penmanchip.com-----------------Micah 6:8
Dennisgrosen
home | projects | blog
10851 posts in 1313 days
#11 posted 1232 days ago
great looking work
have only seen them
in plastic
Dennis
patron
home | projects | blog
12172 posts in 1539 days
#12 posted 1232 days ago
sweet board steve ,
and you covered my worry just fine ,
the under drip .
that sure is some beautiful wood !
great board .
-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle
Have your say...