Butcher Block Fail

Not so smooth anymore. 

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me present my latest dose of humble pie. 



The butcher block countertop that looked so good a few days ago (and took so much time and effort), has decided to come unglued.

This project was an experiment.  I thought that I could try using the same end-grain flooring that we installed upstairs to make a butcherblock.  Still possibly a decent idea, but my execution was lacking.

I chose a non-toxic flooring adhesive to glue the blocks to a plywood substrate, as well as a blind edge nail in each block.  Seemed like this would hold everything down sufficiently.  Unfortunately, the glue has decided not to cooperate.

Some of the blocks came up almost right away.  This glue is apparently not worthy of the name.
After adding a few coats of food safe finish to the blocks causing them to swell a bit, almost half of them popped loose.

The nails and the edging make it hard to remove without destroying the wood.  Even if successful, the wood has lots of glue residue on the backside, so probably wouldn't be able to be reused.

For now, I will be face nailing down the blocks to make a usable counter surface for the short term.  We won't be using it as a cutting surface, because of the resulting holes and loose joints leaving room for food bits to collect.

Before too long (hopefully), I'll go about making a replacement in the shop in the traditional, more labor-intensive, and very very glue-intensive method.

Phhbbt!