Local tavern owner has asked me to build a new bar rail for his place.

I'm using 60 yr old Douglas Fir (recovered from an old barn tear down my brother and I did about 6 yrs back.

It's got original knots but also a weatherd look (pitina?) with a few splits etc. (Rustic) these I am filling in with 2 parts epoxy and sanding out.

I had done another bar rail before using Oak and pre-made/ordered from a company. this was clear back in 2000 at the time I used a 2 parts polyurethane mix up. and for the life of me cannot recall the name of this mixture. and cannot locate it (without recalling the name) on the internet. I’m thinking/recalling I had purchased this from a Marine/Boats type place?

and actually it floats on and then cures 24 hr minimum cure time.

The rails themselves are going to be 5 sections 2" thick 3 @ 5’7 X 8†wide the corner wrap around 2 @15†X 8†wide (<—this will be one piece) and the short runner is 4’10†X 8â€

I intend on applying this finish to cure by section in the shop and doing the remaining finish up on site at each joint location once installed.

Anyone worked with this two parts type Polyurethane? almost like an Acrylic if memory serves me correct?

Russ, I buy my kite nylon from Challenge Sailcloth and if I remember correctly they have a 2 part spar poly.  You may want to check them out.  There is a self leveling pourable two part acrilic but I don't know if it is brushable.

---

Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

Russ, do you really want to keep going back to two part finishing epoxies? With the advancements in finishes today, the oil and water based varnishes are just as good and easier to to work with less set time allowing less trash to collect in your finish. I find also that the two part epoxies all have that thick plastic look which personally I do not like. The varnishes are a closer to the wood look, and repair much easier then two part epoxies as well. Just my two cents.

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

If you really want to go the two part epoxy route, here is where I find most of my materials.

Jamestown

I agree with John, however. 

---

Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

That area of the bar will take a lot of wear.

I was in a bar in Sharpsburg, Md (Battle of Antietam during the Civil War). The bar rail was very old- but probably not civil war era-, but anyway, it had no finish- just years of hand rubbed beauty. Health codes today may prohibit that natural finish.

Thinking of the wear/moisture would a floor finish be appropriate?

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Thanks everyone for the inputs.. Gene that is what we used years back the resin mix and it put a very nice cover over the bar and bar rail. almost like glass.. I recall we had to work the bar rail quite a bit with 120 grit all the way down to 300 grit sandpaper in area's where our tape boarders didn;t hold so well..

 

Lew,

I think I am going to go with the wood floor finish suggestion.

 

I have about 3 quarters of a gallon of the Satin floor finish All I need to do is order the Hardener for it.. I can then work each peice in the shop just leaving it open at the each seam about an inch or so and once installed add the remaining finish at the bar location keeping bar attendents out of a mess. LOL

I use this type polyurithane all the time on my products. minus adding the hardner.

 
Lewis Kauffman said:

That area of the bar will take a lot of wear.

I was in a bar in Sharpsburg, Md (Battle of Antietam during the Civil War). The bar rail was very old- but probably not civil war era-, but anyway, it had no finish- just years of hand rubbed beauty. Health codes today may prohibit that natural finish.

Thinking of the wear/moisture would a floor finish be appropriate?

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

This is a photo of the actual bar and rail there now.

it's got padded rails and people have torn it up, the owner doesn't want to redo it with pad and cover because it would be torn up again in a short time. the bar top itself is formica (spelling) and I tried to talk him into going with 3/8" hardwood flooring over the entire thing and then the bar rail I'm going to install, no go he's a tight ass! LOL no actually he's more worried about paying out allot of money just to have someone tear it up like they did the  rail shown and chairs and stools...

I cut out an profiled Starting Point (A) I'll finish this in the shop... but tonight was drawing night, Plus the start of round about (pool/darts and shuffleboard... 3 of 3 outa each) we/team took 9 of 9....

Check this corner out... matched up to the old.... Bar Owner wants to keep it light like it is... everone else in the bar accept one person (suggested, I put a burn finish touch to it (Pitina) before I add the cover...

Guess what I'm going with????????????

 

look at how that grain lines up? and that is the Cornerstone!!

.

Nice looking corner! The patrons might be right about the burned patina. But, the customer (owner) is always right. One less step, right?

Was that can cover placed at the CORNER on purpose?

---

Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Well this project took some time... and now it's coming down to the final finish line... (Thank God)

Started out just wanting a bar rail installed and removing the old torn up padded rails. (I knew better)

 

Photo 1: bar rail after initial glaze coating and clean-up

Photo 2: owner decides he wants to do the entire bar top. what kind of wood did I have on hand to cover this and look nice? (umm NONE?) what would look nice? Hickory or Hard Maple was my reply and I went back to the shop and grabbed a couple pieces of each wood to show him. He wanted to go with Hickory, so I called my wood supplier and yep he had allot of it in stock. So when can we get these planks installed? I said well they wont be planks, each board will need planed/milled down to 5/8 or 1/2" then jointed, then grooved on underside to allow for expansion/contraction and then we'll have to take up the formica top. (huh?) take off formica? Yep that crud would collect moisture and the boards will warp and pop loose. forget it I don't want to get into all that... OK, I don't either.

Photo 3&4: Owner decided to go ahead and allow me to do this the proper way (removing the formica) I also had a couple of extra boxes of laminate 3/8" Hard Maple flooring up in my loft he decided to go with. (Cost effective from the Hickory I would have had to purchase/plane/shape and fit) at this first run (far end off the wall) is coolers undernieth the bar and compressor/cooling unit right behind the wall) adding a humidity of 80+% 72 hour glaze coat cure time is out the window at this point! it took just the bar rail alone over a week to attempt to dry down in that area. until preped with a dehumidifier and couple of fans to help it along. SO with this second poor shown across the 8 foot area blocked off. I mixed the glaze coat with a 1/3 rd more hardner and it is coming along on time.

photo 5&6: laying in the remaining bar top. went well. formica came up fairly easy started at 9:30 pm last night and was home in bed by 3:30 am. I'll go down this afternoon and do some finishing preps and sanding to get it ready for the sunday night Glaze coat poor Sunday night after closing. (i'm going to coat the seams with poly finish to seal out any moisture that may be spilled on the bar from Friday/Saturday night crowds...

If anything this has been an Experience!

An experience indeed Russell!!!! It looks great, nice and fresh, and new. So, it seems you had to put in some after bar hours to work on it?

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

Thanks John,

 

Yes after hours on Sunday nights and he's closed on Mondays which gives this glaze coat time to cure out.. my biggest problem here is the high humidity those coolers under the bar are putting off. I wish I had a heat lamp or  something like it to help bake the coating to hardening. it's still tacky down by the wall area and I added a 1/3 rd more hardener to the mix in this poor
 
John Morris said:

An experience indeed Russell!!!! It looks great, nice and fresh, and new. So, it seems you had to put in some after bar hours to work on it?

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project