X-mas gift cutting boards

these are great… the corner pieces in the second one—wow the lines!! gorgeous

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Hey Ben, nice boards. I’m not sure if we’re seeing the contrast from the cherry in the photos. How did you flatten the boards?

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Tom—the contrast is a bit better than what shows in the pics, but it’s less pronounced than I expected. I used soft maple instead of hard—perhaps that means darker maple and less contrast?

To flatten, I ran through the planer with very small increments, and then finished with a card scraper (because my planer blades leave some lines which I assume are due to nicks) and a very light final sanding. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the card scraper does a nice job on the end grain.

-b

Very nice looking cutting board. Should find tons of use. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

great cutting boards ben . nice touch on the grain patern on the walnut and cherry also . exellent job !

I should have mentioned this first, but I forgot. To give credit where it’s due, my wife spotted all the nice grain patterns and did the final arrangements, so all the lovely walnut and cherry patterns are due to her good eye. I would have never thought of it, so she really made them look nice.

-b

These are really cool, ben. Hats off to your wife too on the grain arrangement. I agree that gives the boards that ‘extra touch’.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Wow, I really like the book matching that is cool. Your wife obviously has a good eye for details.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

Hi Ben,

I am glad that these came up on my list. I have been meaning to do something like this to use of my cutoffs and these give me some nice ideas. You have some nice patterns on these. i will have to go back and review Marc’s method. It has been a while since i looked at it.

Thanks for the inspiration

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Curse that Soft Maple !! I’ve been experiencing dark finish issues with some of my Maple projects as well , and sure enough , it’s Soft , not Hard Maple : ( ..........Who’d a thunk it ?

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .