Thread: Picture of the bar i'm thinking of building (advice required)

Just a few comments if I may:

The bar top (upper red section) doesn't seem to have much of an overhang. If your intention is to have somebody behind the bar (lower red section) and people sitting around you will need a greater overhang of the top to allow them to put their legs under.

In relation to materials, how about a pine frame with some mini orb or similar cladding with a nice Jarrah top?

This isn't a bad step by step instruction to get you started: http://www.brandozines.com/bar/

Oh, thanks for pointing that out.. that is a definite, will need to increase the overhang of the bar top.

Thanks for the link, seems like a good place to start. Cheers.

I've made a few(a couple are on this website), a few hints
Dont make the top too wide 450mm is oodles
The tenders deck can be wider 500mm is enough.

I see your going for a two way door, is the other end of the bar against a wall?(allow for skirting boards)

There's a couple ways you can go in relation to the carcass
1. Main frame made from wood then clad in panels of your choice add trimings like corbels and plinths... glass etc etc, this is getting towards furniture quality.
2. Kitchen Carcass(chipboard boxes)can be made with the outer case of laminex/veneered ply/mdf/chip, then add moldings to form panels. This looks good but if not done nicely looks cheap/tatty.

Remember to allow for a foot rail in your design and enough support so the top doesnt move when someone leans heavily on it.

Here's some pics of the last one I made(frame and panel type), its finished and installed now I must go and take some installed pics

Very nice Harry. Thanks for those tips, they have got me thinking!

With the frame and panel approach, are the panels just ply or do you use something else? Also, obviously you must have to fill the screw holes with putty or something similar.. is the putty obvious or is it pretty clean looking once it is stained the same colour?
Sorry if the questions seem very basic, i just want it to turn out as best as i can get it.

Cheers!

Also, what joints did you use for the frame and how did you join it to the base?

The raised panels are made with radiarta pine from a local sawmill.
Screw holes are easily hidden I never putty them over, the screws that hold the panels to the frame are behind the corbels and the foot rail base, there is 1 screw in the middle at the very top.
The frame work(including the frames around the panels) on this one is joined by using a Festool domino, the earlier ones I made are joined using good old fashioned mortice and tenons.

The frame is held down on the plinth by battons which screw down, you can just see them in pic#3. This bar was a real jigsaw puzzle to design and put together, all the pine you can see on it in the pics was stained to match the rest, there is no finish on it either the colour come good in the end I didnt like it at the start.

Thanks a lot for that Harry.

How important are corbels to the strength of the bar top? or are they more a cosmetic feature?

They do help to give a wider support area for the top, but are not really needed in this case as the top is 35mm thick hardwood if it was a pine top it would need it(unless its super thick).

The things you must remember with a bar being a piece of furniture that gets personal human touch(like a chair)is ergonomics and strength, a bar is subjected to large stresses just think of 4 or 5 big burly blokes who are wearing wobbly boots leaning on you or kids using it as a play gym... within minutes of this bar being installed there was a 7yr old jumping up and down on the foot rail while holding the top, thats a massive amount of stress!

Yeah that's so true. I will be using hardwood for my top so I may be able to get away without them. I'm just unsure of the best method to hide the screws, without using corbels.

Thanks for all your help!

The top has battons glued and screwed under it which in turn is screwed into the frame from the back.