Kitchen Counters, for Free!

A while back I found a very cool maple butcher block counter top in the trash. It had some paint splattered on it and needed a good sanding, but I couldn't imagine why someone would throw out such a beautiful piece of wood. So I grabbed it and started thinking of a project!
After much deliberation, I decided to build a new counter for my kitchen. But just sanding the piece wouldn't do. Because the board was a rectangle, it would have stuck out into the room. To make it fit the kitchen I decided to round off the corner with my router and a swing jig, a jig I built for another project where I needed a precise round cut. The swing jig is a piece of thin plywood which attaches to the router and rotates on a nail, like a compass. But because I was making a quarter round circle, the center of my circle needed to be on the edge of the board. If I put the nail in the board (even the bottom so you wouldn't see the nail hole) then it would not be the direct center of the circle and my circle would be more than 90 degrees, 25% of a circle.

To make sure my cut was exactly 25% of the circle, I pinned a nail between the butcher block and another piece of wood with a clamp to hold it in place. Done this way, the center of my quarter round circle would be at the edge of the piece of wood and I would be ensured a perfect quarter round circle.
Because the block was super-hard maple, and 1.5 inches thick, it would have been very hard to make the cut in one pass. Here is a pic of the board after one of two passes.
With the board cut, I took the belt sander to the top and sides to remove the paint and grime. Then I took a quarter round bit and ran it along the top of the board to round over the edge. Then I took a palm sander to the block to give it a fine sand.

The block will sit on a 2x3 support studs screwed to the studs behind the drywall. The other side will sit on another support against the stove and brick wall. Notice I'm checking for level!
The final result!
Such a beautiful and all natural counter top! And for free! Can you imagine if this beautiful counter top was rotting in a landfill somewhere? What a shame that would be! Just like the custom cabinetry (for free) I wrote about a few weeks ago, we need to think about reusing building materials. Just because something isn't going to be used again for it's original purpose doesn't mean you should throw it away. Be creative, save money and reuse it for something!