Project Information
I had made two other of these cutting boards, but wanted to knock out a bunch more as family members wanted to get their own as Christmas gifts.
a) The large ones on the left were the last set I made as I finally figured out that thicker looked better and didn't require that much more wood
b) All of the white squares are made from hard maple. The dark ones vary by cutting board. Mahogany, Walnut, and a South American species whose name is escaping me now. I found the Walnut to be the most difficult to work with as it required a lot of epoxy to fill the small cracks. It does look amazing.
c) Obviously, all of the boards were originally 8/4 and around 6.5-7" in width.
My design is obviously based on the Wood Whisper's design. One change that I made was to start w/ a 1/4" strip and then work up by .5" increments. That thin strip makes the strips up the side. I think Mark starts with a 1/2".
My process was to cut the strips such that the total width when glued together was slightly less than 12.5". This is the width of my thickness planer. The thinner finished boards were made w/ strips that were 20" long. (Thus, the picture of the CB in the clamps is 20" x 12.5) . I found that if I increased the starting width to 25", I could finish with cutting boards that were over 2" thick. I will tell you that the thicker the finished cutting board the more expensive it looks.
After I glued up the boards and then did my cross-cuts to expose the end grain, I could still run them through my planar with out end tear out.
1) After drying, I used a chisel to remove as much glue as possible on one side to make the board as flat as I could. I didn't find the need to remove glue from the final glue up while it was drying because it comes off of the exposed end grain very easily. I did remove it from the first glue up after 30 min w/ a chisel.
2) I took the CB to the router table and put a 1/4" round-over on all sides. I knew this wasn't my finished routing edge, but it 100% prevented any planer tearout. The planer makes glue removal and
3) I then ran both sides through the planer to remove glue and get flat. I know it was 100% flat but it was really close. I handled any slight unevenness with my sander.
The two small boards came from one of the 25" blocks that I cut in half before cross cutting and gluing up. I am going to give these as psuedo cheese boards.
Sanding:
I used a Makita half sheet sander and VSM Vitex sandpaper. This stuff is amazing. Very thick. You can order it from VSCTools.com. I used 80,100,120,150,180, then 220 grits. You really can't sand at 80 grit too much. Just make sure you are evenly distributing sanding.
Finishing:
On all of the boards save one I used Watco Butcher Block finish (Highland Hardware)
On the small board that is a bit yellow, I used Waterlox Sealer. I wanted to try the Waterlox. I found it a bit too runny (I had to check the underside for drips) and it made the hard maple more yellow than I liked.
If anyone is starting one of these projects and wants to chat through things, please feel free to reach out to me. I learned a great deal about how to best cut these things (cross cut sled, backwards mitre gauge, etc..) that I am happy to share.
also..if you like the design of the worktable, it is from Askwoodman.com. A very useful multi-function table top that is way way cheaper to build than a Ruobo and seems to be able to do a lot more. But..more on that project later.
a) The large ones on the left were the last set I made as I finally figured out that thicker looked better and didn't require that much more wood
b) All of the white squares are made from hard maple. The dark ones vary by cutting board. Mahogany, Walnut, and a South American species whose name is escaping me now. I found the Walnut to be the most difficult to work with as it required a lot of epoxy to fill the small cracks. It does look amazing.
c) Obviously, all of the boards were originally 8/4 and around 6.5-7" in width.
My design is obviously based on the Wood Whisper's design. One change that I made was to start w/ a 1/4" strip and then work up by .5" increments. That thin strip makes the strips up the side. I think Mark starts with a 1/2".
My process was to cut the strips such that the total width when glued together was slightly less than 12.5". This is the width of my thickness planer. The thinner finished boards were made w/ strips that were 20" long. (Thus, the picture of the CB in the clamps is 20" x 12.5) . I found that if I increased the starting width to 25", I could finish with cutting boards that were over 2" thick. I will tell you that the thicker the finished cutting board the more expensive it looks.
After I glued up the boards and then did my cross-cuts to expose the end grain, I could still run them through my planar with out end tear out.
1) After drying, I used a chisel to remove as much glue as possible on one side to make the board as flat as I could. I didn't find the need to remove glue from the final glue up while it was drying because it comes off of the exposed end grain very easily. I did remove it from the first glue up after 30 min w/ a chisel.
2) I took the CB to the router table and put a 1/4" round-over on all sides. I knew this wasn't my finished routing edge, but it 100% prevented any planer tearout. The planer makes glue removal and
3) I then ran both sides through the planer to remove glue and get flat. I know it was 100% flat but it was really close. I handled any slight unevenness with my sander.
The two small boards came from one of the 25" blocks that I cut in half before cross cutting and gluing up. I am going to give these as psuedo cheese boards.
Sanding:
I used a Makita half sheet sander and VSM Vitex sandpaper. This stuff is amazing. Very thick. You can order it from VSCTools.com. I used 80,100,120,150,180, then 220 grits. You really can't sand at 80 grit too much. Just make sure you are evenly distributing sanding.
Finishing:
On all of the boards save one I used Watco Butcher Block finish (Highland Hardware)
On the small board that is a bit yellow, I used Waterlox Sealer. I wanted to try the Waterlox. I found it a bit too runny (I had to check the underside for drips) and it made the hard maple more yellow than I liked.
If anyone is starting one of these projects and wants to chat through things, please feel free to reach out to me. I learned a great deal about how to best cut these things (cross cut sled, backwards mitre gauge, etc..) that I am happy to share.
also..if you like the design of the worktable, it is from Askwoodman.com. A very useful multi-function table top that is way way cheaper to build than a Ruobo and seems to be able to do a lot more. But..more on that project later.