This end grain board is a custom order through my web site. It is 25”x32”x1.5” and solid cherry. It weighs 28 pounds and was a handful to wrestle while finishing. I have a Jet 16/32 drum sander, and even with the open end feature, feeding something of this size and weight through it takes a lot of patience and many light passes to make sure one side doesn’t get too far ahead of the other side. My digital caliper shows 1.50167 on one end and 1.4998 on the other end. I usually don’t subscribe to the “close enough” theory, but I felt this was close enough. Any more sanding could have taken it in the wrong direction.

I only have to figure out how to package and ship it to California tomorrow.

Even though I am pleased with the number of cutting boards I sold in a short amount of time last year, I am expanding my product line this year to include some non-cutting board items. I feel it is necessary to have a wider variety of choices that would appeal to a larger percentage of customers, both online and at crafts shows. In keeping with my interest in functional items for the home, the first new items are a soup and mug tray, along with a wine glass and snack tray. Both trays are 8 ½” x 11 ¼”.

I designed the jig so I could make both styles of trays using one jig. It just depends on whether I cut a circular well for the mug, or a through hole and slot for the wine glass. The jig is made exactly like my dipping board jig using MDF and toggle clamps on both ends to secure the blank in the jig. The facing end in the picture has a removable block that is held in place with two screw knobs. You can see the two screws in the slots that the knobs are screwed onto. I just loosen the knobs underneath (not shown in picture) and slide the end block out, slide the board blank into the jig until it stops, clamp the front down, slide the block back in place, screw the knobs down to hold the block in place, and close the clamp on that end. Now the blank is ready to cut. I use a Freud bowl bit and a ½” straight bit with a brass PC template to follow the circle for the mug well. I use a 1 ¼” forstner bit to cut the wine glass hole and cut the ½” wide slot on the table saw.

The third picture is a revised tray based on TedM’s suggestion. Good call!

I had an 8’ piece of 6/4 walnut in the shop with the intention of using it to make a few more cutting boards, but it had a parallel strip of creamy sap wood running the length. I was getting ready to cut the sap wood out of it, but fortunately took a coffee break. While I was sitting there, I kept staring at the end of the board and noticed the sap wood was running at an angle through the board. The light bulb came on and I grabbed my graph paper and started drawing. The next thing I knew, the board was cut leaving the sap wood as part of two strips. Of course, far be it me to make a board with one species of of wood so I ripped a 1” strip of cherry to add to the end of the first glue up. I must say that my anticipation was growing when I finally cross cut the first glue up, wondering if I had wasted my time. I was pleased with the outcome.

Update

12/16/08. Well it took about a month, but this one finally sold on Etsy last night!!

I had made a few candle holders last christmas as gifts and even though they turned out nice, I felt that I could do better. So after the first of the year, I worked on a new design with a little more character. It was also an opportunity to try out my new band saw.

The first picture is maple and jatoba and the second is maple and padauk. I also use walnut and purpleheart on the same design. They are finished with General Finishes Arm R Seal. I buy the glass votive holders at Michael’s. I have searched all around the Internet and have not found these for anywhere near the 99 cents they sell them for. A few months ago, they had a buy one, get one free and I bought all they had (over 60).

I got lucky with the figured maple. When I walk into my lumber supplier, I tell them what I need and they forklift a pallet out to the floor and I pick through the boards until I find what I want. I was looking through the boards one day and spotted heavy figure on the bottom of the stack boards. After a lot of unstacking and restacking, I walked out with 70 board feet of tiger stripe soft maple for the price of standard maple. Some of this went into these candle holders.

Even though I am a very dedicated red meat and whiskey kind of guy, I love fresh raw veggies. These dipping boards are great for serving up everything together and looks much better than those cheap plastic trays everyone seems to have in their kitchen. The size is 7×20 x 7/8.

I sized the dip well to accommodate the standard store-bought veggie dip container. However, I also wanted to use the board for bread dipping oil. I searched for a month for a nice ceramic bowl to fit it, but the only one I found with the right dimension had “Made in China” stamped on it. This just didn’t seemed right, so I contracted with a pottery lady on Etsy to make up a bunch of bowls to fit the well. I sell these so she makes 20 at a time for me.

The first picture is figured maple and jatoba with walnut accents. The second is maple, cherry, and walnut with the dipping bowl. The third shows a store-bought dip container. I finish them with three coats of General Finishes salad bowl finish. They also have 1/2” rubber feet from Lee Valley to keep them from sliding around.

I had to break this project post into two parts because I had more pictures. One of the things I found is that people love these boards, but to accommodate multiple price points (ranges of affordability), I make smaller ones also. These sizes are very popular.

The first one is maple, walnut, and padauk. I use padauk instead of bloodwood because the padauk is less per board foot at my lumber supplier. This is 7×9 x 1 3/8 and is sold as a bar board for cutting lemons and limes. I use one in my kitchen for the quick tomato or onion slice. The second one is maple, walnut, and cherry. The third is my medium board out of maple, walnut, and padauk and is roughly 12×10. All have rubber feet to keep them in place during use.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year, quite by accident. This little venture took on a life of it’s own and next thing I knew, I was selling quite a few of them. These are my most popular ones and are roughly 12×16 x 1 1/2”.

The first one is your garden variety Wood Whisperer of maple and walnut with a little cherry thrown in to make it interesting (actually this is my most popular design). The second is a more simpler box-joint style with maple and walnut. The third is the design from Wood Magazine using maple, cherry, and jatoba. Each one has 3/4” rubber feet that I get from Lee Valley.

I finish my boards with a mixture of warm mineral oil and melted bees wax.

My wife loves candles and has all kind of metal holders through out the house. I decided it was time to add some holders with character. I ended up making quite a few of them once family and friends saw them. I used figured maple, walnut and bloodwood. The finish is BLO and Arm-R-Seal.

My daughter was begging for a nice feeder for her cat. I had some bloodwood and walnut left over from another project along with some scrap red oak from a kitchen build, so I threw this together a couple days before Christmas. My daughter loved it, but I think the cat was indifferent…..