New work surfaces

Over the weekend we had gone to IKEA to buy the worksurfaces and I took a day off for another master class with Andrew. The depth we needed was greater than the wood from IKEA so we used two pieces and routed a groove and then used 'biscuits' and glue to fix together. To make sure it's really solid I then routed out for metal joining pieces to hold together.

We'd decided on a round stainless steel sink undermounted to show off the wooden work surface. We'd then have a 'plug' which would cover the sink and become the chopping board on the work surface so we didn't damage it. Andrew suggested we start with the plug. Drew the circle and then rough cut with a jig saw.

We then mounted the router on a piece of wood and screwed it to the centre of the plug and slowly routed it down evenly. The router only went to half depth so we then turned it over and used a different sort of bit that followed the already routed part. This meant we didn't have a screw hole in the top!

Then we went back to the main worksurface, drilled the router/wood in place and routed a circle, sized up so the plug should fit. We only routed down about 12mm and then used the jigsaw again to rough cut. Finally used the bit that followed the routed circle to make it perfect.

We wanted a draining board and a little design so we changed to a rounded channel router bit and routed out a 220 degree circle. But... of course you want the water to drain into the sink. So, we made a slope with some offcuts, mounted the router so it would follow the edge and routed the channel down to the sink! Brilliant... a real master class from Andrew.