| Project by Brad_Nailor | posted 192 days ago | 773 views | 5 times favorited | 17 comments |  |
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I have been wanting to make a bunch of cutting boards for some friends and family, and I also wanted to experiment with a few techniques I hadn’t tried out yet, like the zig zag pattern and an end grain board! So I went down to my local hardwood dealer and bought some 8/4 maple, 8/4 walnut, 8/4 cherry and 4/4 purple heart. Total was about $120 worth of materials.
This first board was going to be a wedding present for some friends. I wanted to try out the zig zag technique and I like how it turned out.
This board is pretty big 17×23 1 1/2” thick, glued up with Titebond 3 finished with mineral oil. I learned allot trying this technique and I will do a few things differant next time I make one of these
The next couple boards were basic side grain boards with different combinations of maple, walnut, cherry, and purpleheart stripes.
Also finished with mineral oil and on these I started doing something a little differant..I used some screw on rubber bumpers for feet and it works really well to keep the boards in place when using them and it gives them a real finished feel. The top one was 1 1/2” thick the bottom with the purpleheart is 1 1/4”.
And here is my end grain try. I wamted to try and do a chess board pattern and I really like the way these came out. I originally was going to glue it up as one board but changed my mind and went with 2- 9×9 square smaller, cheese board style..1 1/2” thick end grain..
I cut the outside layer in half on purpose to try and frame the board. Again these are finished in mineral oil and have rubber feet. So far everyone that has seen these wants one. I am keeping one for my kitchen…the other one I’m not keeping was sold before it was out of the clamps, and I have two orders for full size 12×16” versions.
So, not too bad..one giant, and four normal size cutting boards from 120 bucks worth of lumber.
-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"
17 comments so far
GaryK
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9521 posts in 881 days
posted 192 days ago
Nice looking bunch of boards. I especially like the checkerboards ones also.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Woodhacker
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1145 posts in 616 days
posted 192 days ago
David, they look great…it looks like you’ve been having a lot of fun here.
Thanks for posting them.
-- Martin, Kansas
DAN
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6438 posts in 875 days
posted 192 days ago
wow , nice work
I like checker one allot … especially the border of half-tiles.
-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever
BlankMan
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429 posts in 246 days
posted 192 days ago
Nice! I like that zig-zag one! I’ve been meaning to make some end grain ones too, bought the wood already, haven’t bought the time yet. But I’m glad I saw the zig-zag one before I started…
-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI
savannah505
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978 posts in 479 days
posted 192 days ago
Really great looking boards, and the feet will help in keeping moisture off the bottom and bacteria forming.
-- Dan Wiggins
a1Jim
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16598 posts in 470 days
posted 192 days ago
great group of wonderful boards
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
scrappy
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1580 posts in 323 days
posted 192 days ago
Lots of beautifull boards!
Realy like the way the half squares outline the checkerboard ones.
Great job!
Keep it up.
Scrappy
-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!
ellen35
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531 posts in 325 days
posted 192 days ago
Beautiful boards. They make such nice gifts and everyone feels like they got something personal from you.
I LOVE the purpleheart stripe!
Ellen
-- Ellen on Cape Cod
CanadianWoodChuck
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159 posts in 806 days
posted 192 days ago
Great looking cutting boards, I must give that a try
-- Canadian Wood Chuck (Bruce)
NorthGaMan
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47 posts in 255 days
posted 192 days ago
Nice cutting boards. Would you share your process for the clamp up on the zig zag pattern board?
croquetman
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82 posts in 214 days
posted 192 days ago
But you can’t play chess on the cheese board. Nice work, though. I like the zig zag design on the first.
-- Whatever
Joe Weaver
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107 posts in 579 days
posted 192 days ago
the boards look real good
-- Joe, Ga
lew
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4480 posts in 648 days
posted 192 days ago
Great Looking Boards!!!
LocalMac
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249 posts in 298 days
posted 192 days ago
Boy that Pruple Heart really pops out. Nice job they look great.
-- Don't tell her I'm in the shop!
BoardSMITH
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8 posts in 269 days
posted 192 days ago
Be careful of the exotic woods. The oils they contain can be toxic. The general rule of thumb for chosing woods for cutting boards is any wood with a running sap, like maple where we get maple syrup, or any tree with an edible nut or fruit. Also, is the intended recipient has a nut allergy, walnut isn’t a good wood to use.
Brad_Nailor
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1214 posts in 850 days
posted 192 days ago
Thanks for all the nice comments everyone..
@ boardsmith..Yes you are correct.. some of the exotics can be toxic, but you have to eat probably half the cutting board for it to have an effect on you.
@NorthGaMan..actually another lumberjock posted a blog on how to do it thats were I got the idea..you can find it here
I mentioned I learned a few things making that board..one is make sure you get clamps as close to the outside edges as you can..I had to cut mine back farther than I wanted too due to gaps in the glue up. Also you have to make sure your table saw is set up perfectly when you start to cut the strips, because your flipping every other one over and if your off..even by a tiny bit you are going to have gaps. I ended up closing up any minor gaps with clamping pressure, but I think the next time I do one of these i will rip the pieces oversize on the first go round and then make small cleanup cuts on the edges, keeping the front face up and turning it end to end to maintain the same blade orientation.
-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"
DAN
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6438 posts in 875 days
posted 180 days ago
you are invited to the dog blog >grinz< http://lumberjocks.com/topics/7310
-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever