first completed project


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well I finished something. finally.  it's an end grain cutting board made with hard maple and walnut, very simple design/construction, and the purpose was entirely "practice" although it's sitting on my countertop as I type this (it works by the way, I can put food on it and cut it). despite all the mistakes I'm pretty proud of my first piece.

 

there are, of course, lots of mistakes, one of the glue-bonds failed at one end probably because I did not use enough at that end so I had to trim the board down (hence the edges look a bit funny), it would have been a little bit bigger.  fortunately it was only about an inch or so that split apart, the rest of the glue held.  you can also see that there are spaces where the pieces are not aligned perfectly.  Also a bit of blotching here and there, and the wood has moved a little so it does not sit dead flat anymore (it did at one time, I swear!).  any comments/suggestions are welcome of course!  I might have to sand down and refinish, both to flatten it and sort out the blotching.

 

I essentially used Marc's video as tutorial though you can see that I cut each piece the same size to make an even checkerboard pattern, that was more due to dimensional limitations in the piece of maple I had than anything else.   Finished with thinned salad bowl finish per Marc's vid.

 

 

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i have no planer, no drum sander, and no random orbit sander, I used my old 1/4 sheet sander on it. for a long long time lol.  if I had a decent block plane that would have helped though.  as it is, I have a smooth plane which was fine to use after the first glue up but not on the end grain.  so sand I did.  a lot.

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Hell, I would come make tartare on that. Looks great. I need 15 more for chefs on my Christmas list. I used butcher block butter on all my wood pieces in my kitchen or that I give away. How I finish kitchen item, first a overnight bath in mineral oil. Then I let them dry a day. Then I rub them down with freshly melted bees wax. Waterproofs them and bees wax kills bacteria. And remember to drink a beer while the wax warms up in the crockpot...

 

Chef 

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Hell, I would come make tartare on that. Looks great. I need 15 more for chefs on my Christmas list. I used butcher block butter on all my wood pieces in my kitchen or that I give away. How I finish kitchen item, first a overnight bath in mineral oil. Then I let them dry a day. Then I rub them down with freshly melted bees wax. Waterproofs them and bees wax kills bacteria. And remember to drink a beer while the wax warms up in the crockpot...

 

Chef 

My wife is a vegetarian so the Tartare might be a bad idea lol.  but you're welcome to come chop some greens on it :D

how often do you need to re-season your boards with the mineral oil/wax finish?  that was the only reason I chose the salad bowl finish

also, would parrafin wax work instead of beeswax?  Never used wax so...

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well I finished something. finally.  it's an end grain cutting board made with hard maple and walnut, very simple design/construction, and the purpose was entirely "practice" although it's sitting on my countertop as I type this (it works by the way, I can put food on it and cut it). despite all the mistakes I'm pretty proud of my first piece.

 

there are, of course, lots of mistakes, one of the glue-bonds failed at one end probably because I did not use enough at that end so I had to trim the board down (hence the edges look a bit funny), it would have been a little bit bigger.  fortunately it was only about an inch or so that split apart, the rest of the glue held.  you can also see that there are spaces where the pieces are not aligned perfectly.  Also a bit of blotching here and there, and the wood has moved a little so it does not sit dead flat anymore (it did at one time, I swear!).  any comments/suggestions are welcome of course!  I might have to sand down and refinish, both to flatten it and sort out the blotching.

 

I essentially used Marc's video as tutorial though you can see that I cut each piece the same size to make an even checkerboard pattern, that was more due to dimensional limitations in the piece of maple I had than anything else.   Finished with thinned salad bowl finish per Marc's vid.

   Typical woodworker, touting all the errors and imperfections.... Shhsss about them....has anyone other than you seen that failure you made?  No?  When they do, will they see the mistakes you claim to have made?   No!    Nice job!

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thanks :) it did take awhile, that's for sure lol.

 

i went from 80-100-220, I am guessing that possibly contributed to the blotchiness because I jumped passed 150 or 180 (which I don't have but probably should get), though the maple pieces seem to be just fine, the blotches are just in the walnut (with much thanks to K Cooper, there are blotches! I see em!)

 

I really want to tighten this project up though because I am making another one for my wife's parents for Christmas, and well I can live with a few mistakes on my own stuff especially since It was meant as practice (it's nice to be able to "practice" on something that I can use anyway!), but I really want to make this nice for the folks.  I am pretty sure I can tighten up the edges and alignment to my liking with better glue-ups, but as for eliminating the blotches, is there anything I should be doing different as far as wood prep?  would the mineral oil eliminate that? 

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Brendon_t let me know if that works on the wife. I have been wanting a drum sander.

Chef

chef, sad to say that I wouldn't call it exactly working. .. she looked over her ipad at me and murmured something. .. it sounded to long to be "ok"

On the real note though, my wife is very good about not giving me crap for gettingnew tools. I usually buy from Craig's list and I never wait more than 15 minutes to fix anything she asks. . Unless football is on.

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My Girls know not to talk to me from 11 am to 11 pm on Sunday and any other day that the Broncos play unless something is leaking, on fire, or died. They can join me in worship of the ellipsoid or go away. We got a new car that way once. Wife got talked into big money from the G-O-V during cash for clunkers. I have three tvs and seven monitors so I have all the good games on. Until the daughter over rode my programing to record her My Little Pony movie. There was much burning of the ears in our house that Sunday. I now know how my dad felt when they put on Heidi instead of finishing a game.

 

I tried it on my wife. Her answer was well if it is that dangerous they should take your tools back. They have recalled them. You will get your money back so we can go get some nice furniture from IKEA. At which point I walked away and she was laughing behind me...

 

Chef 

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ridnharley I noticed that in the maple 2nd row from the bottom in the third from the right a black spot. Is this a defect in the wood or a particle caught in the finish. Also occurs three other places on the board but don't want to overly point out your errors. 

 

Just kidding dude awesome board. Is all the darker wood walnut? Or is it walnut and something else.

 

My wife walked by on the way to bed and ask if I had woods to make one like this for our kitchen since I would have the stuff out to make the 18 or so boards she has promised already to friends and family. I have some of paddle type boards done as well as 6 of the end grain boards.

 

Chef

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