Well I finally decided to join the cutting board club and this project completes my membership requirements. Now I am waiting for one of you charter members to send me the secret handshake. :)
I needed to come up with something for my wife since her birthday is coming up this weekend. It basically boiled down to building her something or taking her shopping for clothes. To tell the honest truth I would much rather be spending time in the shop rather than sitting in a chair while she spends hours browsing the racks at her favorite store.
The board measures 13” by 17” and is built from walnut, cherry, maple and purple heart strips. The board is finished with mineral oil and ended up being a shade over 1 1/4” thick once it was final.
In building the board I first glued up indivdual panels of walnut, cherry, maple and purple heart that were 18” in width since I wanted the board’s final length to be in the neighborhood of 18”. After the glue dried the panels were cut into 1 1/2” strips which were arranged in the pattern that was chosen.
I did have concerns about the strips shifting when placed under clamping pressures so I decided to use a glue board for aligning and supporting the strips:
Once the glue dried the sanding process began. After scraping the dried glue I spent 3 hours initially with a belt sander equipped with 50 grit belts removing the dried glue and flattening the board. Once flattened I used my 13” planer to finish the board. The planer did a good job of handling the end grain but the board lost about 1/4” due to chip out which I removed with the table saw. The board was finished sanded to 220 grit and mineral oil added several times over a two day period.
Overall this was a fun project that took me about 4 days to complete. Would I do it again? Without a doubt but the next one will probably have to wait until I add a drum sander to my shop. Using a belt sander for hours on end really is not my idea of a fun time. :)
-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine
14 comments so far
patron
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12051 posts in 1509 days
#1 posted 964 days ago
beautiful board scott
nice grain
an good choice with the wood colors
a ‘user’ for sure
happy birthday to her
now you can sit back
in your avatar chair again lol
-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle
rowdy
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370 posts in 1610 days
#2 posted 964 days ago
Nice looking board. Good job! I agree with your sentiment about sanding one of these suckers. I have not built one in a while just for that reason. And, btw, welcome to the club.
-- Rowdy in Kechi, Kansas
CanadianWoodChuck
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360 posts in 2081 days
#3 posted 964 days ago
Great job on the board Scott, I’m sure the BH will be thrilled and I bet you’ll still have to go shopping :) I’ll have to get around to joining that club one of these days.
-- Canadian Wood Chuck (Bruce)
GMman
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3884 posts in 1865 days
#4 posted 964 days ago
Great job on your cutting board.
Question what kind of glue used.
Scott Bryan
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27262 posts in 1990 days
#5 posted 964 days ago
GMman, I used Titebond III since it is waterproof and designed for outdoor usage.
-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine
GMman
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3884 posts in 1865 days
#6 posted 964 days ago
Thanks Scott
Beginningwoodworker
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13225 posts in 1841 days
#7 posted 964 days ago
Nice board, Scott.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
lew
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8979 posts in 1923 days
#8 posted 964 days ago
Gorgeous Board, Scott!!
I’ve thought about using the planer for flattening/finishing but was too afraid of tear out.
Good luck in the contest!
-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!
degoose
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6590 posts in 1523 days
#9 posted 964 days ago
Looks good enough to cut on… lol
-- Drink twice... and don't bother to cut... @ larrysworkshop.wordpress.com For lovers of all things timber...
robert triplett
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1304 posts in 1273 days
#10 posted 964 days ago
very nice board and just in time to head off questions about your new “lady” friend viviand??. Welcome to the club. A drum sander is so much easier. I have saved a lot of figured wood from my planer since I got one. I see good deals on craigslist and on this site and woodnet. My wife understood the ‘need’ after I had made a few the slow way. good Luck.
Robert
-- Robert, so much inspiration here, and so little time!
Splinterman
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23060 posts in 1529 days
#11 posted 964 days ago
Hey Scott,
Sweet job…nice design and finish…welll done.
SPalm
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4108 posts in 2050 days
#12 posted 963 days ago
Nice.
I will second Robert. A drum sander would do that in about 5 minutes with nothing for you to do but stand there and feed it. I know you have been tempted before at looking at them. (I have been watching you). So give it a second chance. You deserve it.
Steve
-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon
lumberdustjohn
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1164 posts in 1334 days
#13 posted 963 days ago
Looks good,
Go for the drum sander!
Makes these alot more fun to make.
-- Safety first because someone needs you.
dlcarver
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270 posts in 1898 days
#14 posted 963 days ago
Made a couple smaller ones one time…. same kind of wood. I wipe them with vegitable oil ocassionally. Everything else gets rancid. Love it.
Nice job Scott!
Dave
-- Dave Leitem,Butler,Pa.,http://dlcarver.etsy.com
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