# 5 Days of work on my first cutting board, then disaster!



## pastorsteve70x7 (Dec 8, 2013)

*Disaster stuck my shop tonight!* After five days of work on my very first cutting board* it EXPLODED!* Seriously! The darn thing exploded! Have you ever had a cutting board explode?

*Here's what I think happened*. I was down to rough sanding it when I got in a hurry. After all, I've spent a lot of time watch glue dry. So I had this brilliant idea. Why do all this work with the sander when I've got a brand new planer sitting on the bench. I did some practice runs with it so I'm a pro. Right? I had one side fairly even but the other side had high spots, a bunch. But surely my planer would make quick work of that.

First pass I took less than 1/16" cut. It went through smooth as silk. I flipped the board over and started my second pass. *BOOM!* The proverbial pigeon poop hit the fan and chunks of wood *EXPLODED* in every direction.* I had no idea woodworking could be this exciting*. After I showered and changed my underwear, I went back and picked up the pieces.

Here's what it looked like after the first glue up before the second cut to expose the end grain.









*Here's what it looks like now.*









*Maybe I can salvage enough to make an apple slicer board.*

**

 
*
FOLLOW UP REPORT: 1/26/2014*
*
*

*NCIS, I'm a Navy Veteran, completed their forensic exam and came to the following conclusions:*

1. My table saw blade and fence need adjusting
2. This led to uneven and not parallel cuts.
3. The glue was sufficient, but not so much so that compression could make up for the gaps.
4. I could have gotten away with using the planer if both sides were sanded smooth and level, but then I wouldn't have needed the planer.
5. Haste makes waist.
6 *The cancer isn't as likely to kill me as my lack of shop safety.*
7. Changing my underwear was the only thing I did right.*

Conclusion: NCIS recommends that I go back to Vietnam, I'll be safer.

*


----------



## Randy_ATX (Sep 18, 2011)

You need a drum sander to safely do what you attempted with an endgrain cutting board. I'd never attempt putting one in a planer for the reason you discovered. Glad you are okay.


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

God Speed


----------



## pwalter (Apr 29, 2011)

Glad you are alright. You may want to check your planer blades. I have heard of the blades ending up damaged when someone does what you did.


----------



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

I put my end grain boards through the planer all the time. In fact, I planned 10 boards last night with no issues. The trick is to take very tiny bites, have good knives and round over the back edge to prevent tear out. Patience doesn't hurt. I'm not going to say it won't ever happen but I have not had any issues.

Interestingly, the only blow out I have had was a piece of very plain grain maple. I got lucky and was able to get the isdue taken care of.

Long and short, planing my end grain boards saves ne a ton of time sanding.

I'm glad you were not hurt. I would cut you board down and use it as a board to cut limes for a refreshing beer.

By the way, the smallest end grain board i will put through the planer is 10" in length. Anything shorter goes through the drum sander.

Good luck.


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

tip of the day

try a router

and sneak up on it


----------



## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

You have to be careful when using a Planer, you should only take about a 32nd or shallower pass.

I use my planer and take very shallow passes but it really isn't recommended.

I'm guessing you won't be trying it again though.


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

router

doh


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

its like a grenade ?

boom go the lights of the dream of the perfect cutting board ?

thin, very thin end grain

u sneak up on it,

or

BOOM

glue it to substrate of some kind first


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

some things

cannot be put through the planer without thought


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

glue the ******************** down to a substrate, be it another layer of the same pattern repeated ?

as a collective ? if we buy plywood layered in sheets of veneer ?

would we reinvent how to make plywood "

one is is inexpensive,

yours ?

not so much


----------



## Kryptic (Nov 8, 2013)

it would be seldom, when I put plywood, through a planer, if for 1 reason

it lacks common sense


----------



## 111 (Sep 2, 2013)

*Here's what I think happened!*

You have to have better glue joints. 
I don't know what happened, but your joints aren't very tight at all. (Red Circles)

Look at how clean the breaks are (Blue Circles) Not enough glue penetration. Maybe not enough glue?


----------



## alohafromberkeley (Oct 26, 2011)

Steve,sorry about your cutting board but I'm glad you came out unscathed. BTW, I liked the look of the long grain glue-up and probably would've been satisfied with it at that point.


----------



## Radu (Jan 25, 2010)

Sorry your cutting board went kaboom. You might want to check your planer so you don't have any surprises latter. I really enjoyed reading this section "After I showered and changed my underwear, I went back and picked up the pieces." It really scared you, eh?


----------



## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Good catch Kevin, 
Take a pic of the glued surface and see if it looks like there was a insufficient amount of glue.


----------



## Tigarman (Dec 20, 2011)

I would have to agree with KevinJeffery. It does look like there was not enough glue used in the first place. Your original picture before the end grain also looks to have one of the boards that is not lined up correctly. (Or some kind of flaw.) It may have made it if you had only gone about 1/32 per pass though.


----------



## pastorsteve70x7 (Dec 8, 2013)

Thanks for all the feed back!


----------



## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

Wood Whisperer: End-grain Through the Planer? Bad Idea!


----------



## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

You identified your problem #2 & #3.The uneven cuts led to gaps in the glue joints the glue was unable tto adhere properly. You need tight glue joints. Glue itself is not mechanically very strong.


----------



## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

Everyone can make their own safety decisions, but I would advise reading the above piece on the wood whisperer website and then a comment below by Marc that explains why it is dangerous to put endgrain, any endgrain, in a planer even if the glue-up is done correctly.


----------



## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Steve, it's fixable, just may be a bit smaller.

On setting up the saw blade: If it isn't perpendicular to the table you will get an angled cut. This ain't no fun because joints won't be tight *UNLESS*, you alternate direction of the pieces you cut, that way the angle of the next cut fits perfectly into the cut of the previous cut.


----------



## TravisH (Feb 6, 2013)

I just used a belt sander on the first cutting boards I made then took a little more time and the next and cleaned up with a card scraper. But as already alluded to other issues need to be readdressed.

As pointed out you glue up had some issues but I think their are some other visible signs. First (in order of making a cutting board). Not for sure how you ripped these pieces but if on a table saw I would check the blade alignment as some of the strips would indicate issues. It looks like you tried to compensate by clamping these issues away. You can see the ends were torqued down pretty good as the first glue up looks bowed in the center. Use multiple clamps and cauls to distribute the pressure more evenly. Don't overdo it when clamping real easy to do with pipe clamps if not careful.


----------



## wunderaa (May 15, 2012)

Sort of looks like your long grain board had sides that were either not flat or not coplarar. When you did the first glue up of the long strips, did you plane both sides and ensure flatness? When you cut the end grain strips and started the final glue up, did you have gaps that you could not squeeze together when clamping?


----------



## AngieO (Jul 9, 2012)

Hmmm… very interesting. I would have not thought twice about putting an endgrain board through my planer. It seems that I've seen several videos of people doing that. But if I thought really hard about it… maybe they were using a drum sander. Very glad you posted this. I think I will not try it.

And very entertaining. Thank you  Glad the only loss was the board. And yep… it will still make a great apple slicing board.


----------



## tefinn (Sep 23, 2011)

I wish I could find it again, but I read a piece a few years ago by one of the manufacturers (think it might have been Dewalt) that end grain should never be put through the planer and that any damage caused by doing so would not be covered by any existing warranty.


----------



## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Steve, There are several ways to learn woodworking: learn from your mistakes or learn from others mistakes. I've done some of both but now MUCH prefer the latter technique! Glad you weren't hurt! Check your planer for damage, then….........carry on (carefully).


----------

