I worked some more on the galley this morning. I cut out six wood panels for around, and inside, the galley fabrication out of Baltic Birch plywood. I used 3/4″ for the two panels that were around the sliding door and 1/2″ for the rest of the panels. Here is what the panels looked like close to their future location when I will install them.
I still have to apply Minwax paste to them to finish them, which I’ll do in the next couple of days.
Then I unwrapped the butcher block countertop that I had purchased and cut that to size. Luckily, the length of the butcher block that I purchased and the length of my galley matched at 48″. So, I just needed to make one cut to reduce the width of the butcher block from 25″ to the 22″ of my galley. I will use this 3″ strip of extra butcher block as my backsplash for my counter. Here is what it looked like when I test fit it ontop of the galley frame.
Now that I have opened up the butcher block from it’s packaging, I need to treat the butcher block with a food grade finishing oil so it won’t absorb any moisture and warp. I applied the first coat before going to lunch and here is what it looked like on the counter. The back splash pieces in the foreground are not treated, so you can see the difference the finishing oil makes. I think it will lighten up a little once it dries.
This first coat needs to dry for six hours before I can apply a second (and last) coat. I’ll do that tonight. Then tomorrow I’ll apply two coats to the bottom side of all three pieces. I’ll probably also do the Minwax paste on the other wood panels I cut today at the same time.
So, it was a short day today. Only about three hours. But I continue to make progress. Tomorrow will be a short work day as I will just be staining and then waiting for that to dry. I’ll fill my time with research into future areas of the van build.