Bar LeSieur Zinc Countertop
The Schulson Collective was opening a new french cocktail lounge meant to emulate an older style of bar of the same name. To complete the aesthetic they wanted to do a zinc wrapped countertop, unfortunately no one makes those anymore.
Having worked with North Standard recently they reached out to us asking if we could figure out how to produce the lost art.
Identifying Issues
There were several points brought up during the initial brief that posed potential issues.
The size of the countertop would require it to be broken up into smaller sections for shipping and handling, but the pieces would need to align carefully to give the elegant feel Bar Lesieur was after.
The edge profile they were interested in wasn’t a stock option and would need to be milled from metal, but zinc that thick binds on cutters easily given how soft it is.
The rounded corners would pose an issue for wrapping the zinc cleanly, and for applying the profile.
Undeterred we set straight into planning and production, knowing the production would take it’s own time.
Jumping Right In
The first step of the process was easy. Glue up marine-grade plywood to thickness and roughly prebend the zinc so the back edge wrapped around for the bartenders and press the entire thing in a vacuum bag.
Note the holes for assembly hardware later.
Bending Right In
The second step was significantly harder. Now that our radius for our corners was established we had to match that in our edge profile. We ultimately ended up going with aluminum due to price and it’s ability to be cut with traditional router tools on our shaper.
After using some incongruent spring back calculators we settled on an initial profile and cut a jig from MDF The final profile would all be bent by hand.
It took 6 iterations to finally dial in the bend perfectly.
Patina
Another part that proved surprisingly challenging was getting an even coat of patina on such a large surface. Zinc is a living material and would naturally patina, but we needed an initial coat on to set the tone of the bar.
A gruelingly wet process of sanding, cleaning, applying patina, and buffing was eventually settled on after testing multiple processes and application methods to get a truly even coat.
So close, and then, perfect
One of several side-by-side comparisons testing preparation, cleaning, and application methods which all had to be repeated for the edge profiles too.
Final Assembly
Only a few days before install was scheduled, pieces finished their individual assembly and patinaing. Everything was carefully wrapped to protect the finishes and then taken on site for final piecing together.
Install
Final assembly ended up taking a bit longer than expected due to some strange site conditions, but was completed with plenty of time before the opening. We took plenty of photos before the remainder of the install, but nothing looks better than it there with everything else.
The drinks you get over the bar are pretty good too.
Scratches are to be expected, but the unprotected zinc surface will continue to fill it in and change over time
