Cherry Cutting Board With Inlay

So recently in woodshop in school, our first project was to make a cutting board with inlay. For the inlay I wanted a simple design that still looked good. I got the design off of one of our barns with the famous white X on the red siding. So for the woods I went with cherry for the cutting board and rock maple for the inlay to match the coloring on the barn. Once you have glued the inlay in the board, you must sand it down. I never should have gone with rock maple!!! It took me about 5 class periods just to sand that maple down flush with the board. (I left it about a 16th above the board) After that I went over to the router table to route the profile on the edges. I did the end grain first, and then the long grain. On my last long grain past I was about 3 inches away from finishing routing it, when the router took a bite out of my cutting board. It was about 3/4” long by 1/2” deep chunk out of my board. After the “explosion” I had to make the board quite a bit smaller. The finish size was supposed to be 16” x 14”, but it ended up being 16” x 13”. At least I was able to cover up my mistake!!!! I have a salad bowl finish on it, and it gives the cutting board a nice shine.

-- Most people say "Measure Twice, Cut Once." I say, "Cut Twice, Measure Once".