Post #725238 by muskrat on Tue, Aug 12, 2014 1:44 PM

why thank you Dr..
it was good meetin ya the other day.

now back to the business at hand.

i got the basic structure for the bar built and put some baca mat on it then it was time for the bar top.
we wanted to do concrete but didn't have time as we we're on a deadline to get ready for our daughters graduation party so i made one out of some OSB i had leftover from another project.

after test fitting to make sure it was right i cut and installed some engineered flooring material as a temporary top.
i used paneling adhesive to stick it to the OSB base.

after that was done we tried a couple different ideas for how to finish out the edge.
what i ended up doing was taking 1 1/4" pvc and making faux bamboo.
i cut grooves that didn't cut through, every 12" then heated the pipe with a heat gun at the groove. once it became pliable i pushed from both ends causing the pipe to bulge slightly giving the appearance of nodes.
once that was done i did some decorative burning with a torch then cut a channel the length of the pvc, using a table saw, just wide enough to slip onto the bar top edge.
unfortunately for me i had four 90 deg round corners to deal with. i built a jig in the shape of the corners and went to work with the heat gun, shaping the pipe into the right shape. once that was done i heated and bulged the ends then burned them.
now came the part that i will advise-

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

i had to get a channel cut out of these bent pieces and i couldn't run them through the table saw due to there shape. i tried an angle grinder, a dremmel, a hacksaw blade, drilling multiple holes to perforate the pvc but nothing was working.
i ended up using a sliding compound miter saw. needless to say this was not the safest thing i've done in my life and i'm not gonna tell you how i did it because i don't want anyone else to try it.
if you want to try to replicate this, you're on your own for that step.
once that was done it was test fitted and it came out perfect.

next up was cleaning the pvc and getting rid of all the markings. i was smart enough to cut the channels where the markings we're but got thrown off when using the jig. i kept placing the markings where i couldn't see them, but that's where they show up.
learn from my mistake.

once that was done they were replaced and nailed in place. i nailed my first 2 pieces to close to the edge and cracked them. i was going to replace them but decided to repair them with wood putty as they would give some interesting characteristics like real bamboo.
once that was done we taped of the bar and gave the pvc a coupla coats of amber shellac.

once there were two coats of shellac on there, most people couldn't tell it wasn't bamboo, even after telling them it was pvc.

next up trimming the bar and the bar-back.