Project Information
We had a nice warm spell 2 weekends ago, and I had the cutting board itch. This is the result. Maple, Cherry, and a bit of walnut I had left over from the last batch. I was a bit annoyed when I got home and first discovered the sap wood in the cherry I'd bought, but it actually made for a very nice pattern in the middle (as much as I'd like to claim that was done intentionally, I'm not that good yet… )
This was also my first chance to put my new (to me) jointer and planer to use. The planer (an old Delta 22-540)has a hard time with the maple (even with very light passes I was getting some tear-out where the gain changed direction) but otherwise I'm quite pleased with how they performed.
Now that I have a jointier to properly square and flatten a set of rails, I put together a router sled to flatten the sides on this board. I found I only needed to use it on the top side where glue had pooled and the strips weren't perfectly even. It wasn't necessary on the bottom, as the glue scrapes off cleaner, and the strips were kept perfectly aligned on the bar clamps.
It seemed like a lot of work, but most of that was probably constructing the parts for the sled. I also found that the router bit left tiny lines from each pass that were almost as hard to remove by sanding as the glue and un-even strips would have been. So the jury's still out on the router sled. Could be I just need a larger bit and to tweak my setup (it could use a second stiffening rail on the piece that the router slides back and forth on - I only used one out of laziness, and I suspect the front of the sled was deflecting more than the rear, resulting in my passes being not-quite-parallel to the surface).
It was also my first opportunity to stamp my name on something with the Rockler branding iron my lovely wife got me for christmas. As you can see I need some more practice with it, but I'm quite happy with it.
Now if only that warm weather would come back again… Thanks for looking!
This was also my first chance to put my new (to me) jointer and planer to use. The planer (an old Delta 22-540)has a hard time with the maple (even with very light passes I was getting some tear-out where the gain changed direction) but otherwise I'm quite pleased with how they performed.
Now that I have a jointier to properly square and flatten a set of rails, I put together a router sled to flatten the sides on this board. I found I only needed to use it on the top side where glue had pooled and the strips weren't perfectly even. It wasn't necessary on the bottom, as the glue scrapes off cleaner, and the strips were kept perfectly aligned on the bar clamps.
It seemed like a lot of work, but most of that was probably constructing the parts for the sled. I also found that the router bit left tiny lines from each pass that were almost as hard to remove by sanding as the glue and un-even strips would have been. So the jury's still out on the router sled. Could be I just need a larger bit and to tweak my setup (it could use a second stiffening rail on the piece that the router slides back and forth on - I only used one out of laziness, and I suspect the front of the sled was deflecting more than the rear, resulting in my passes being not-quite-parallel to the surface).
It was also my first opportunity to stamp my name on something with the Rockler branding iron my lovely wife got me for christmas. As you can see I need some more practice with it, but I'm quite happy with it.
Now if only that warm weather would come back again… Thanks for looking!