LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

Many months ago I stumbled upon a picture on the internet of a board like this but could never find it again. I've made enough cutting boards that I could figure out the basic construction but I couldn't come up with a satisfactory solution for the walnut diamonds. I had a number of ideas and I think they all would have worked more-or-less but when I landed on the right solution I knew it would turn out great, which, I think it did.

The solution I landed with was to chamfer the edges of the maple columns and then glue them side by side being careful not to get glue in the chamfered 'V'. Once the glue had set, I cut triangular columns and glued them into the 'V' chamfers, first the top and then the bottom. I was careful to spread a few clamps across the width of the board to ensure that my downward (or inward) pressure securing the triangles didn't split the side-by-side lamination. Once all was set I planed until smooth, cross cut like a Whisperer board and did the final glue-up revealing the end grain. The crude illustration above may help to explain this process. In all, this process worked very well and I'm pleased with the result.

When I started milling the maple I didn't notice how pronounced the heartwood would be in the finished product. In hindsight I should have either picked clearer wood or better managed the heartwood pattern. Even with the heartwood not being to my preference, I'm really pleased with this board and solving the construction challenge was very satisfying.

Gallery

Comments

· Premium Member
Joined
·
20,131 Posts
That is an interesting out of the box board! Nice job.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,074 Posts
Very interesting inlaying process. Nice and accurately glued.

I made one complicated joints like this but not inlayed. The good thing on this process-when you clamped them, the square rods adjust the allignment of every pieces. I did not post mine as project because I am still making a box out of it. Here is the final … picture called HOUR GLASS



You can hardly see the diamonds in red narra in the center portion.

Thanks for positing. I can use your method of inlaying in some of my future projects.
 

Attachments

· Registered
Joined
·
1,833 Posts
Well done, Looks great. Its always noce to see a different style of board. Great job!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,185 Posts
Sweet. A very handsome board. Good solution to the build.

Hearafter referred to as an Arudson.

I know what you mean about grain and heartwood. It is sometimes more pronounced than others.

Steve
 

· Registered
Joined
·
7,027 Posts
after all those different cutting boards I didn´t thought
it was possiple to come up with a new one but you did
congrats with the build it looks good :)

take care
Dennis
 

· Registered
Joined
·
810 Posts
Very nice looking board.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
55 Posts
Very nice… I am in the middle of a similar project that I will post asap. Sort of in the same vein of a board I recently did… uses the same technique with one difference.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/43082

My cuts were the same, but I glued each 'channel' all in one shot (two adjacent pieces of wood with 45 degree chamfer, and the diamond strips… see third pic on project).

Anyways, there is an elegance to what you've got here with the minimalist contrast in color. I like it.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
7 Posts
My new favorite board :) Very elegant. Thanks for sharing!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
55 Posts
I do notice that to do this board you would need the chamfers on both the top and the bottom. If it were just on one side, you would only get half the number of diamonds.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
55 Posts
Why are there no half diamonds on the edges? Did you trim those off?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
5 Posts
bvdon, when I milled my stock I did not chamfer the outside edges of the outter most boards. Yes, there were at Walnut filled V's at the bottom and top (as pictured) and yes, I did trim them off making the bottom and top row a bit narrower than the rest.
 
Top