Popular Post woodbutcher Posted November 7, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 I made a couple end grain cutting boards. They are hard maple, cherry, purpleheart, and walnut. Im keeping one of them, and will be gifting the other one to my Mom and Dad for Christmas. In case youre wondering, yes, the burners are off haha. I used a router and sled set up to flatten the end grain. The method worked really well once I figured out the technique. For whatever reason, the router bit left a much better surface when I made the cut cutting against the grain. At first, I would make a pass, move the sled, and make another pass going the other direction, but wasnt getting a great result. I discovered if i cut against the grain, like youre supposed to with a router, that the surface came out much smoother. And then lots of sanding. Lots of sanding. I did find that using a card scraper on the rough board to help smooth out the bit tracks saves a good amount of time sanding. Finally, I finished the boards with a couple coats on each side with mineral oil, and worked in a couple coats per side of a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. I melted the beeswax into the mineral oil at about a 1:4 ratio. I let each coat sit overnight, then wiped off the excess. Heres a couple photos mid-build. My new Bessey Revo Jr. clamps came in awesome for this project. After using parallel clamps, i dont think ill ever buy pipe clamps again. Damn they are nice. Heres the router flattening jig i made. Just mdf for the base and the bottom of the router sled, and the router guides are baltic birch plywood. The two pieces of wood clamped down on either side of the board was how I held the board in place. Maybe not the best option, but it got the job done. One more of the jig. All in all, wasnt too bad a project. Not the funnest thing in the world to make, I now understand why people say if youre making alot of these, a drum sander is a must. But for just a couple, the router jig is a good option. Makes a hell of a mess though. Thanks for reading. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Nice designs. My parents have one very much like it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Well executed and great outcome. Now, which one does mom & dad get! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisc Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Nice boards! It's always fun to see how the patterns turn out. I screw some rubber feet on the bottom of mine to keep it off the bench. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Those came out really nice. I am sure your folks will be real happy with that as a gift. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Very nice. In my experience people love getting these things as gifts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Nice looking boards ! Good clamps are addictive, welcome down the rabbit hole ! You really get spoiled when you get a drum sander. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Campbell Posted November 19, 2017 Report Share Posted November 19, 2017 Nice router flatening jig. I use something like that to flatten the tops of tree slabs and segments/stumps. Your seems a lot more stable. Still had a big mess even with a vaccum? Since the sides are high some of the dust must get trapped in, maybe a second vaccum attached to the side would create a sort of wind tunnel effect and suck the rest out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted November 21, 2017 Report Share Posted November 21, 2017 Those are great looking! We've made about 40 or so in varying sizes and woods and I have to second the mention of a drum sander - it's an awesome way to level these boards. I know your parents will love their new cutting board. Now the trick will be to get them to actually use it. I don't think any of the ones we've made have been used yet. David 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbutcher Posted November 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 On 11/19/2017 at 12:59 PM, Adam Campbell said: Nice router flatening jig. I use something like that to flatten the tops of tree slabs and segments/stumps. Your seems a lot more stable. Still had a big mess even with a vaccum? Since the sides are high some of the dust must get trapped in, maybe a second vaccum attached to the side would create a sort of wind tunnel effect and suck the rest out. I didnt use dust collection on the router. Should have but find it to almost be more of a PITA than sweeping up afterwards. The flattening jig worked great. Not the ideal method for this but a drum sander is not high on my priority list right now. Many other core tools i have yet to buy, so they are at the front of the line. I was pretty pleased with how well a card scraper worked as a first smoothing step after flattening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbutcher Posted November 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 On 11/20/2017 at 5:53 PM, difalkner said: Those are great looking! We've made about 40 or so in varying sizes and woods and I have to second the mention of a drum sander - it's an awesome way to level these boards. I know your parents will love their new cutting board. Now the trick will be to get them to actually use it. I don't think any of the ones we've made have been used yet. David Thanks! They do make for a cool kitchen decoration! Mines been getting used and i sure enjoy it. Hopefully my parents will use theirs too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Well done. I like it (them)! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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