www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi all,
My daughter is in the process of buying her first house, and one of the many little items that I was asked if I could sort out ( if/when the sale is all sorted) is the kitchen worktop.
The worktop is solid oak and runs both sides of the kitchen in straight lengths, the problem is the area around the Belfast sink and drainer is black and spongy to touch, and unless someone tells me different, needs to be replaced,
after looking online at what I thought shouldn’t be too difficult to do, it appears that I would need a jig to router out the sink and another one to router out the drainer, the cheapest I have seen them works out to £85 for the pair, I am happy to pay this as I think it will be a lot cheaper than calling in a pro, but is there another way of doing this without buying the jigs as they will only be used once?

Many thanks as always for all/any advice given, and sorry for long post.
Blakey

Do you already have a decent 1/2” router and some 2” straight bits?

You’ll also need the bush to follow the template

Hi Razor,
Thanks for reply I do have a decent 1/2 router and happy to buy 2inch straight bits.

It is not a job to take on lightly, I subbed out on my own worktops and I am glad I did. It is not just cutting the masons mitres it is scribing to the wall to get the angles right. I knew the guy who I used and he did a very good job, it was money well spent.

DWD

From what I understand you just have to make new cut outs for the sink and drainer, no other joints in the worktop if so you could just lay the old worktop over the new and mark the new one, then you can cut either with a circular saw or a jigsaw, drill four holes inside the corners to allow the blade to go through, then tidy up the corners.

I have reread the original post in view of Nos's post, I was too busy preempting the issue to read it properly Jigsaws are shite for cutting straight as the blade bends easily and you get a wonky line, however, you can rough cut the hole and leave a half-inch gap around the opening to clean up with a router. Buy some bearing guided kitchen fitters cutters, they will last one job so do not pay fortunes. Calculate the blade to bearing edge measurement and clamp a guide in from the edge of your desired opening. The bearing will follow the guide and rout the edge perfect. Leave the corners and start in and pull out avoiding them so you can finish with a jigsaw or panel saw.

DWD

FYI
Just be aware when you do remove the worktop
you may also need to repair/replace some of the under cabinets, depending on if the water damage also got under the worktop.
hopefully its just poor maintenance and water damage to the worktop , but the cabinets / end panels maybe chipboard / fibre board and also impacted by any water damage , that got under the worktop. Shame the wood has rotted and not just black from water damage, which may be repairable.
So the job maybe a lot more involved.
I had end panels that had to all be replaced on a kitchen due to water damage - i was able to match the colour using the B&Q mixing service, by taking a door in , really surprised how well it matched.
Then i used BIN to seal the panels before I re painted.

ive done a few timber worktops before. ive got the sink jig and drainer groove jig.

you also need a drip groove routered in underneath. you need a specific bit and guide bush for that im sure..... its been a while...

last one i did i didnt bother oiling it myself i had a decorator mate come and oil the underside and back first 3 or 4 coats then once installed i had him do the top and front edge again 3 or 4 coats. dont forget about heat shields for things like dishwashers or washing machine if theyre gonna be there.,

you can not beat a decent sander on these worktops so you need to consider that also. ive got the festool rotex 150, festool rotex ro90 and another festool that i cant remember the code for now. all have their uses on these worktops.

ohh the decorator used danish oil for the job. he reccomended it over the actual specific worktop oils available to buy.

few pics here

Thanks all for the advice, much appreciated as always, and great job/pics Fin, do you have to clamp supports to the back of the sink once you’ve cut the sink out to stop it breaking when moving it around?

That's some great work Fin

I bet it killed the router bits though!

anybody else has a kettle a microwave in there workshop but fin has a oak stave top and a butler sink










of course excellent job as always

the worktop was still plenty strong enough to move it.

that worktop was iroko btw not oak but same sorta craic.

aye its tough on the router bits like. not as tough as the solid surface stuff like minerva and the like. flipin heck that stuff is tough.

that was a kitchen for a friend of mine. ive actually still got a little to do on it..... but me and my mate have both been that busy lately its been well put on the back burner.

as for actually doing this sorta thing. its easy enough... just take ya time. the actual finishing of the worktops is probably the most important thing

i love iroko often cleaner more character than oak at a bit off saving over oak ??