more bar progress...

It's getting there. I made some progress on my bar by gluing the oak veneer to the plywood. I used contact cement to do the job. I did the top on Wednesday and learned that the solvents used in the contact cement can become quite annoying after a while. On Wednesday it was too freakin' cold to open any windows for ventilation. But, yesterday, when I did the rest of the veneer, it was way up to 8° F. That was plenty warm to open the windows and air out my work space.

By use of my organically trained nose, it was obvious that toluene is the main solvent in the contact cement (think airplane glue). The label also indicated there was naptha and 2-butanone present as well. Naptha is a general term for a mixture of hydrocarbons.

When using contact cement, the cement is added to both surfaces. The glue is allowed to dry (i.e. the solvents evaporate) and then the surfaces are stuck together. Since I had about 80 square feet of surface area to cover with contact cement, I decided to open the windows and vent out the evaporating solvents. By the time I was done, I could see my breath in my basement. It was cold, but on the other hand, the vapors vented out quite nicely.

Here are a few pictures.

The front of the bar.
Look at that tight corner

The end of the bar.A close up.

Now, all I have left is to add trim, stain, gloss up the surface, and add the beer delivery system.

The only drawback to the progress I am making on my bar is that I have not had time to brew. That will need to be remedied.