walnut and hard maple cutting board, 1000 +1, debriefing

[Christoph]

cutting board 1000 +1   , debriefing

 

Hello all,

 

I hope you folks are not getting bored or annoyed with another cutting board thread.

 

It is my first time cutting board and my first time using raw sawn hardwood, so for me it was a kind of excitement if everything turns out well.

When I picked the wood from the local lumberyard I wasn't convinced anymore if this is really a good idea. However, I ordered the cutting board package from Bell Forest too late to arrive prior to the long weekend. So if I wanted something to do during the weekend I had to go the "raw sawn wood" route.

Finally I went home from the lumberyard with two pieces of raw-sawn hard maple and walnut, each approx. 2x9x 34". While the piece of maple was only a little bowed the walnut was also twisted, which I didn't realize when I chose it.

 

 

In lack of a jointer I had to plane one face with my #5 hand plane, before I could send it through my planer. The first really serious mission for my hand plane.

I planed one side of each board as good as possible, then send it carefully through my DeWalt planer until both pieces were nicely flat. The result was not  hundred percent perfect, most likely due to my inability to make a good plane surface with my hand plane, however it seemed good enough for a cutting board, so I continued.

 

 

 

I used Marks plan for the design. I then cut the pieces on the table saw and send them pairwise through the planer again to make sure they have equal thickness.

 

 

So far so good. The first round of gluing was easy, everything had the same thickness and came nicely together.  Plenty of glue was dripping on the uncovered table and clamps   .... so no glue starving joints to expect  .

 

 

 

After the appropriate drying time and removing the excessive glue the whole piece went through the planer to get a nice and even surface.

 

 

When that was done, I though about how to cut the pieces. Strictly speaking, cutting the pieces is actually cross cutting (perpendicular to the grain), but mostly people seem to use their table-saw fence (rip cutting) ?

So I did the first cut with my sled to get perfect 90 degree. The surface of this cut was pretty smooth and without burn marks. However it was clear that I couldn't do all the cuts on the sled because at some point the piece will be to small to keep it in appropriate position during the cut. So I cut the pieces along my table-saw fence with a pretty horrible result, deep cut- and burn marks. I am not sure what finally went wrong, maybe I pushed the wood to hard and not straight, maybe my saw blade is not parallel to the fence respectively miter slots.

Anyhow, I prepared everything for the second glue up, this time with my table and clamps covered. Because the board was absolutely flat, everything came nicely together, only the "new surfaces" were like a crater landscapes, full of cut- and burn marks. 

 

 

During glue up I used four straight pieces of red oak to keep the board flat until the glue dried. After 24 hours I removed the clamps and the board seemed to be straight and all the pieces seemed to be in the right place and properly lined up, only the surfaces were absolutely not nice. I grabbed my disc sander and started sanding with a new 80 grit paper but realized pretty fast that it will need forever to get the board flat. I then sharpened my hand plane and carefully removed the biggest humps on one side so the board could lay flat and stable on this surface. Luckily I had glued some pieces of scrap wood on either end of the board. Most of you now already know what I had in mind. And you are right, with the two scrap wood pieces glued to either end, I send the board through my planer. Very very very carefully, with the smallest bite possible which barely removed some wood. It felt like a million times that the board went through the planer until the surfaces were finally free from burn marks and smooth.

 

 

Then I prepped my router with a 1/2" round nose router bit and cut the handle on either side of the board, with the scrap wood pieces still attached to the board. This way I avoided tear-out of the edges.

 

Will continue with some more pictures later...

[DaveT]

 

cutting board 1000 +1   , debriefing

 

Hello all,

 

I hope you folks are not getting bored or annoyed with another cutting board thread.

 

Bored? With talk and pictures of woodworking? I don't think so.

 

It's looking nice and I like the way you don't try to hide problems you had. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

[..Kev]

Looking awesome!

[Christoph]

 Hello all,

 

thanks for your comments!

 

........ I like the way you don't try to hide problems you had. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished........

 

thanks,  I think hiding  problems while discussing your work with others is not the best way to improve your own skills....

 

OK ...again...

 

Then I prepped my router with a 1/2" round nose router bit and cut the handle on either side of the board, with the scrap wood pieces still attached to the board. This way I avoided tear-out of the edges.

 

 

 

Then I cut of the scrap wood pieces using my table saw and the sled, as you can see, the cutting edge is almost perfect, no burn marks at all.

 

 

 

Then I cut of the scrap wood pieces using my table saw and the sled, as you can see, the cutting edge is almost perfect, no burn marks at all.

 

I rounded all the edges on my router table and where it wasn't possible to use the router I used some sandpaper, than I also used my router with a straight bit, to trim the front and the rear edge of the board straight.

Finally I sanded the surface with my orbit sander and some 220 grit paper.

 

 

For the finish I used mineral oil, three times and now the board is not soaking in any more oil..

 

 

I am not happy with the finish yet. A day after the last oil treatment I dropped some water on the board to see what happen and the water got soaked in pretty fast.    I thought the oil would work a little bit like a repellent? The surface in these areas gets dull and didn't change with some polishing. 

Honestly I am a little hesitant to use the board because I am concerned that fluid will be soaked into it, as if it had not been treated at all. Tonight I will do some additional treatment with a mix from paraffin wax and mineral oil.

 

any thoughts?

 

 

[Tpt life]

If it will take water, it will take more oil. I'd let the water dry and then reflood with oil until it stops drinking it in readily.

[..Kev]

If it wil take water, it will take more oil. I'd let the water dry and then reflood with oil until it stops drinking it in readily.

 

+1

[Christoph]

thanks for the advice folks.

I did three rounds with mineral oil and I was quite liberal.. finally the oil builded little puddles on the surface and wasn't completely soaked into the wood anymore. When I touched the surface with my finger I could literally press out some of the oil. That's why I thought that there is enough oil. Anyhow, I got FDA approved, which probably means nothing else than very clean ..., paraffin wax today. I did the wax and oil mix... unfortunately I used to much wax which makes a mess on the board and needs some time and effort to be cleaned, but the board has a nice waxy surface now, and water peels off nicely.

The next board will get the salad bowl finish....