In this video I completely cover a cutting table with Olfa Self-Healing Cutting Mats using a three piece Olfa mat and a defective mat cut into strips. For use with rotary cutters and all types of crafting.
Your wife and daughter might want to pool their resources and buy you a pair of high quality, large tin snips. It will be cheaper than the wrist replacement surgery you will need if you do too many of these. With a brand new blade sixteen trips up and down the line barely scored my wife's mat. The tin snips made short work of it and then the knife at an angle to the cut and some rough sand paper dressed up the compression mar on the edge. I also found it helpful to clamp a yardstick along the length of the cut to keep the blade from creeping during the scoring process. Great video, thanks for making it. I would not have had the courage to try without it.
I did something similar but the base of my countertop was a 24” wide garage shelf unit without the upper half of the unit. That provided wonderful sturdy shelving below my countertop high cutting table. I love it and it has been one of the best additions to my sewing room in many years! The hot glue may not be a great long term solution. It is great for the short term and will provide enough stick, for long enough to determine if any changes need to be made, before sticking it down with something more permanent. I’m curious if your daughter is still happy with it after it’s been there a year or two. I’m also surprised you didn’t use a table saw or sander to make the cuts a little smoother. Most likely it was a matter of convenience.
It has held up very well and my daughter does a lot of sewing! Only one of the narrow pieces at the front came loose and needs to be glued back down. I used hot glue on purpose so that the mats could be easily removed and replaced or turned over. I did not have access to a table saw at my daughter's house but I probably would not have used it anyway because tablesaws sometimes make a ragged cut on plastic and the saw kerf is at least 1/8". I would like to see a picture or video of your countertop, Pm it to me.
You might have considered rubber cement... otherwise I think you did a pretty thorough job.... Alot of these first time efforts are punt as you go...thanks for sharing.
The hot glue has not held up on the small pieces around the edges but the big pieces are still stuck down. Better glue and a hotter glue gun might have done better.
