Counter,
Bar & Table Tops
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- While
small areas are easy to cover with copper or brass sheet using
adhesives; making counter, bar and table tops with sheet metal
is a bit more complicated. All metals expand and contract with
changes in temperature. A 10 foot length of copper sheet may
shrink in length as much as 3/8 inch when a room's air conditioner
is turned on. Because of this and in our experience, large sheets
of copper or brass cannot simply be glued or laminated to a plywood
or particle board substrate. Successful countertops that we have
seen rest on top of and float freely on their substrate with
a minimum of attachment to allow the sheet metal to expand and
contract, even with the heavy 23 gauge roofing weight copper.
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- The lighter 30 gauge for light wear areas
may conform better to shapes and adhere better with less expansion
and contraction. These also work with a spray adhesive, such
as the ones 3M company makes that are available at hardware and
auto parts stores. For example premium auto trim adhesive which
is sprayed on both surfaces and allowed to semi dry before attaching.
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- We
attempted to circumvent the expansion problem by using a flexible
contact adhesive on a long bar project. We were very careful
to seal the plywood with sanding sealer and rough up the underside
of the copper so the glue would 'grab'. Unfortunately, the repeated
shrinking and elongating of the copper caused by changes in temperature
eventually caused the copper to release it from the glue. We
ended up having to nail the copper to the plywood base using
bronze boat nails. The nails gave our bar top a rustic maritime
look which was OK but not what we initially intended.
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- On
a beautiful 12' by 24' bar that we subsequently studied, we noted
that the craftsman used a large bending and forming machine that
would normally be used for making copper roof gutters. From the
outside in, the bar had a raised lip that abutted the mahogany
elbow rest. Contiguous with the lip was 20 inches of flat space
and then 4 inches of sunken 'mix rail' that also had a raised
lip. The entire bar appeared to have been formed off site in
10 foot sections. The individual lengths were then brought to
the site, set on top of the bar base and then trimmed to length
and soldered to each other. The entire surface simply rested
on top of its base and was free to expand and contract. However,
it needed daily polishing and even the best professionally installed
tops are subject to denting, dimpling, and scratching because
of the softness of copper.
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- Copper
is very reactive to anything that is spilled on it. It will also
continuously oxidize or tarnish when exposed to the air. Keeping
a copper or brass surface shiny and bright is ongoing and intensive.
(see our article on finishing). If a low maintenance, polished
copper surface is required, there are new copper Formica-type
laminates available by special order in the kitchen cabinet departments
of home building supply stores. These laminates appear to have
an actual layer of metal foil sandwiched in the material and
are engineered to have the same expansion properties as the plywood
or particle board that they are intended to be laminated to.
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 If you have a large area that you would
like to cover with copper or brass, consider attaching it by
other means than adhesives. We have heard that flexible epoxy
adhesives 'could' be successful, but we have not had any experience
with them. A table top could have a metal or wood trim that holds
the sheet metal in place. Bronze boat nails, brass nails or tacks
could be used along the edges for that wonderful 'rustic' look.
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- NOTES:
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- Most large professionally made
tops are made as a floating surface. Hidden Tabs that are soldered
underneath every 9 inches are attached over the top/behind and
underneath to the sub material. Then the whole counter top is
placed and attached to cabinets. See our soldering article.
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- Counter top contractors and ever
Copper roofing contractors quite often do countertops and can
advise as well.
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- We have heard some success mounting
on a semi smooth plastic laminate with a flexible adhesive -the
adhesive holds better.
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- In the 70's copper was often embedded
in epoxy on tables and the thick top layer kept the copper fresh-
though the epoxy itself yellows.
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