Popular Post Chestnut Posted October 9, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 So I'm going to do this at a request of those in the Hijack Thread or was it the What I did Today Thread? I digress topic is inlay cutting board. I previously glued up 3 cutting boards from scraps and decided to make one of the 3 an inlay board because Ken mentioned he had some gaps and was not quite understanding something. I should say thanks for the pressure to make one of these because it was a lot of fun. Glue Boards together. Make flat. Yes to boards are different just look past that. We're not here to be nit picky. Well actually we might be... Next is to make your curve template. I used 1/2" BB a lee valley drawing bow for symmetrical curves and a pencil. In my personal opinion drawing curves are limitless with the 1 exception. All of the curves need to be tangential. If you take nothing from this journal take that away. To have tangential back to back curves you need the point where the curves change directions to have a tangent that are parallel. This is somewhat complected so i understand if you like "Psh math you suck" but this is geometry and doesn't have numbers so stick with me. A tangent is a line that will only intersect a circle at 1 point. If it helps to visualize if you have a ball on a string and the string breaks the ball will leave the circle at a tangent. Final example when you go around a curve on a road and the road goes strait again. The strait part is 99.999% of the time tangent to the curve in the road. The reason behind this is curves that intersect not along tangents tend to look jarring and will also make the clamping procedure difficult possibly causing gaps. Take your drawing bow or other curve instrument and get some curves down. After that take it to your curve cutting device, mine is a band saw. Make sure to cut close to the line but never cross it. I left the line so i had something to sand back to. Now make sure to ignore your fancy boutique tools and grab your rustic live edge cherry gripped flexible standing strip and take that template back to the line. It is important to make the curve dang smooth as any roughness could vary well create a variable thickness grove later on. After you get your template smoothed out toss it down on your board and draw a line and see how it works. Yeah i like that... .... to be continued. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 No! Don’t Stop now! A quote from another member of my household! All bs aside, waiting on your next move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan G Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 Tangential. Love that. Stuff just got real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 7 hours ago, K Cooper said: No! Don’t Stop now! You were using the vacuum cleaner at the time right Coop after this build i may have an understanding of the process it takes to build one of these thanks to @Chestnut 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chestnut Posted October 9, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 Next big step is to figure out what router bit your goign to use. This could be a HUGE problem if your router bit storage looks like this. I swear i had a 1/2" router bit in here. Comes back 5 min later, Where in the eff is my template bit. 10 min later Ok pattern bit has to be in this drawer, who is in charge of this organization structure they should be fired. Ok got the router bit in the collet and tightened down. Make sure to tighten it down. I can't count how many times I've skipped that step and i never ends in any time saved. Make sure that your template is clamped down grab your hearing protection and get ready to go to town. One import thing to note is the direction your route the grove. When doing template work it's always best to have the router bit puch the rouer into the template. When routing with the handheld router the bit turns clockwise. With this make sure the template is on the left side if forward is your feed direction. With the groove cut take the board to your curve cutting device and seperate the sides. Next is cleaning up the excess with your template and pattern bits. I don't know the difference between them other than one is top bearing and the other is bottom bearing. Either that or they are the same thing with 2 different names and bearings on either side. The next step is to make strips to fill in the void. I took some offcuts from my Morris chair build that were 1/4" thick and resawed them down. Then i cleaned them up on the drum sander with some other maple offcuts i had laying around. The goal here is to make the wood your adding back in the same thickness as the wood the router bit removed. if you used a 3/4" bit have enough strips for 3/4", ect. Make sure that the strips are sufficiently thin to bend around the curves that you put in the board. I was going to have a strip of walnut but i did a test run and the strip snapped before it got all the way clamped together. Then it's glue and clamps. The clamp that is running vertical in the picture above is critical. It's also important to consider this clamp when you lay out the curve in the cutting board to allow a clamp to be placed like this. With out this clamp things get dicey FAST. More steps later... so keep your fitbit on. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 Drew, did you use a guide bushing in the router base? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 hour ago, K Cooper said: Drew, did you use a guide bushing in the router base? Yes. I was also going to say in my post above that us can use the router base with the same template to get slightly different curves. So each template can do 2 slightly different squiggles per side with 2 sides that's 4 different squiggles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 10, 2018 Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 My problem with the guide was that the collet bottomed our against the base/guide before the 1” long (cutting part) of the bit ever reached past the 3/4” template to the board. I guess I could extend the bit out of the collet some but don’t know how far to safely. I may resign to making paint stir sticks as Christmas gifts for those special someone’s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 32 minutes ago, K Cooper said: My problem with the guide was that the collet bottomed our against the base/guide before the 1” long (cutting part) of the bit ever reached past the 3/4” template to the board. I guess I could extend the bit out of the collet some but don’t know how far to safely. I may resign to making paint stir sticks as Christmas gifts for those special someone’s WHat router bit do you have? You probably safe dropping it down a bit. The frued bits i have have a line and you'd probably be safe even pushing those a tiny bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 10, 2018 Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks bud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Drew, did you make your deadline? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 On 10/9/2018 at 8:38 PM, Chestnut said: WHat router bit do you have? You probably safe dropping it down a bit. The frued bits i have have a line and you'd probably be safe even pushing those a tiny bit. What line do you speak of? The one just barely below the red paint? This one of mine is not a Freud but a Rockler brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 The rule of thumb I was taught for router bit extension is minimum double the diameter of the shank. I feel 1 1/4" chucked is ok on 1/2" shanked bits but careful tightening & constant checking is smart. Having a bit slip and slide out is terrifying. I never push an extended bit hard. Clean bit, clean shank and clean collett, nut and threads too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 9 hours ago, K Cooper said: What line do you speak of? The one just barely below the red paint? This one of mine is not a Freud but a Rockler brand. It says min insertions and has an arrow... kind of hard to see i guess. Why don't you run to the nearest box store and buy a longer bit? I have good luck with the cheap ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Mine is 1" and the longest I see are 1 1/4" at Rockler for 3/8" dia.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 If you have 1" cutting length you should be able to pull that out of the collet enough to cut 1/4" if your using a 3/4" piece of wood. I'd measure that 1-1/4" like Steve mentioned and see where that gets you. You are right the rockler bits don't have a line for insertion depth. If you remind me when i get home i can measure my freud bits and see what they suggest on my 3/8" bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 I've got a 3" cutting edge on 1/2" dia straight bit. Got to use a big router and take very small cuts with that bit. 3/8 bits probably top out at a 1 1/2" cutting edge. Some size bits are available but not usually stocked everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 I went to Rockler today and bought the Freud 1/2” shank, 3/8” x 1 1/4” cutting edge. Yeah, it seems the wider the bit, the longer the options and that stands to reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chestnut Posted October 12, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 I forgot that i didn't post the finished pictures. The one with the walnut in the 2nd pictures is our cutting board it was just there so i included it. The inlay one turned out nice. When i glued the strips in the middle i wasn't paying attention and one didn't get centered. I had to plane away a lot of material to flush it up so the board is on the thinner side. Megan prefers that, is there any reason why the boards need to be so thick like some that i see? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 Great job Drew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 2 hours ago, Chestnut said: I forgot that i didn't post the finished pictures. Yeah man . . . that's some nice looking boards. People love these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 Thinner boards a bit more likely to warp. Thicker gives mass if you are chopping. Lay a cutting board on a towel to keep it from sliding around and the towel catches any juice run off too. Thicker leaves room to resurface the board multiple times. Thicker boards stand on edge to dry after rinsing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2018 Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 @Chestnut, the Freud bit was the answer. 1/2” shank being longer than my 1/4” and the insert to line gives me plenty of depth. When is/was the silent auction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 1 minute ago, K Cooper said: @Chestnut, the Freud bit was the answer. 1/2” shank being longer than my 1/4” and the insert to line gives me plenty of depth. When is/was the silent auction? November 19th? It's a ways yet I'll post back how much it goes for. That is if Megan didn't give it to her friend as a gift... I made 1 extra board and it found a home as soon as it made it out of the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2018 Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 Ok. You had mentioned a deadline and thought maybe it was for this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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