maple and walnut cutting boards - end grain

So I now an official wood worker! Before joining Lumber Jocks, I was not aware that making at least 1 cutting board is a mandatory requirement to be considered official. I’m glad I now have this requirement past me.

My neighbor asked if I could make him a 16×16” maple cutting board this past winter. I thought this would be a good opportunity to make one for our home, as well. He wanted a board that would be easy for him to pick up (he has arthritis), yet still was “beefy”.

After buying a 8/4 board of maple and ripping it into 1 5/8” square stock, I ran them through the planer to clean up the blade marks and ensure square stock for the initial glue up. My neighbor requested a 16×16” board. I ended up having enough maple to make 2 additional 13×16” boards. After ripping the glueup to 1 3/8” strips (for a final cutting board thickness of 1 1/4”), I decided a little walnut might make some nice accents.

After the second glue up, I went to a fellow wood workers shop and used his drum sander to get everything flat.

I used a ¾” bowl cutting pattern bit to cut the juice grooves and the finger handles. The juice groove was cut using an MDF pattern taped to the cutting board and letting the router bit bearing guide the cut. The finish is 3 coats of General’s Salad Bowl finish steel wool in between coats.

Thanks to the Wood Whisperer for his video which gave me the basics of the glue up process, even though I didn’t use his design.

So, my neighbor is happy. My wife is happy. All is well in my little woodworking world.

-- Jeff, North Carolina