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It's my second woodworking project ever, an end grain cutting board made of maple, walnut, yellowheart, and padauk. (I wouldn't use padauk again for my next one, read why below).

First off, I have to give crazy amounts of credit where it's due. dewoodwork gave a lot of my inspiration for this project, and a pretty awesome step by step process for what he's done.

http://lumberjocks.com/dewoodwork/blog/2597

Next, props to Marc Spagnuolo (thewoodwhisperer.com) for some really helpful tips on making end grain cutting boards and a great discussion on his site about finishes for boards. His recommended method has held up very well under my knife for the last month!

I made a couple changes from De's process. My board was slightly larger than his, which means I couldn't use my planer after the initial planing of the boards. There was LOTS of sanding involved in order to make the layers flat…

If I were doing it again, I would definitely not cut the boards to 10 inches until after I had gotten them to the correct thickness. It felt a bit unsafe putting such short boards through the planer and you end up planing about 6 times as many boards. I also wouldn't use padauk again. It is by far the dustiest of woods I've ever worked with, so you end up with red sawdust on absolutely EVERYTHING. I would probably use something like purpleheart or bloodwood to get the second dark color if i was going to do it again.

Gallery

Comments

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This is a fine cutting board.

I have made several but for you do do this as a first board is simply over the top.
Can you give some feedback ?
Size, how many glue ups, did you use a belt sander, would you ever attemp again.
I agee the Woodwhisperer discussion influenced my finish and I am also very happy.

Great Work
 

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super cool! I am inspired. Thanks for posting
 

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Thats a nice board! I have made quite a few, and am in fact finishing up 4 more now, with 3 more large ones still on order. I may try your design. I like it.
 

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"If I were doing it again, I would definitely not cut the boards to 10 inches until after I had gotten them to the correct thickness."

I learned that too the first time. Looks like you are off to the races now!
 

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@John - I followed the instructions in the blog I linked to pretty closely. I increased my pattern to a 19×19 square, and each square is 3/4"x3/4". The final board is around 15"x15"x1 1/4" thick. The process makes 3 of them, so my mom got one for mother's day, and it weighed 10 pounds when I shipped it.

The other step I changed slightly is that when De cuts his original strips, he cuts them to 7/8", so that after his first glue up of the layers, he can mill that down to 3/4". The only reason to do this is so that during your first glue up when stuff shifts around (and it will) you can use the planer to flatten the layer. If you're going to sand instead of planing those layers flat, I highly recommend cutting the strips closer to 3/4 and then using cauls during the glue up to try to get the layer flatter. One of the pictures show that.

The only sander I own is a random orbital, so yeah, I'm a bit limited in that department… It gets the job done, it just takes forever.

@cannon, daniel, ryan, and kate - thanks for the encouragement! In retrospect it was probably a little insane of me to attempt this as such a beginner, but it was definitely a fun learning experience. But yeah, I should have tried an easier board first, like the ones mark makes on the wood whisperer.
 

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Very very nice. I really like it.
That is an amazing result, first time or not.
I am spoiled, I cannot imagine doing something like this without a drum sander.

I am impressed,
Steve
 

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Great looking box, especially for your first. Good job!
 

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That? Your second project ever? You are insane! (And I mean that in the best way.) Great job!
 

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Very nice board - truely great for your second woodworking project - you learn quickly! I'm with Steve - can't imagine doing these without the drum sander anymore. I did do the first couple without, but no more spending 6 hours sanding one board….....

Looking forward to seeing the third project….

Jeff
 

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This is great, I love the design and that you actually chose to have a design. Nice work!!! Thanks fro posting.
 
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