Jonathan McCully Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 Alright, so I’m new to the whole project journal thing but thought I’d try my hand at it with a fairly simple project. I’m making 4 end grain cutting boards, 3 to give away for Christmas (my wife, my mom, and my mother-in-law) and another to either give away at an upcoming family reunion auction in the spring or to sell if I can find someone willing to pay a reasonable price for it. I’m following Marc’s video for my step by step but am designing it more based on one done by the guy on WWMM. Using 3 woods, walnut, hard maple, and cherry and this is actually my first foray into building with hardwoods. I just recently purchased a jointer and felt like hardwood was too cost prohibitive to use prior to being able to mill my own lumber. So far, I’ve done a rough mill of the wood and cut to rough dimensions, stickered it for a couple of weeks while I was on vacation, and now I’ve done final milling on 3 sides. Just need to rip the 4th edge on the table saw and I’ll be ready for glue-up. I was planning to glue my strips for each board in two parts initially so that I could run them through my planer one last time (it’s a 12in) in order to get them all to the same thickness and then glue the two halves together. Then eventually I’ll cut them into 1.5” strips, flip to end grain, and reglue. Have had a good time with this so far and learned a lot about milling (my primary goal for this project). Pictures are of my stickered wood after rough dimensioning and then after 3-side surfacing today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 Looks good so far ! It's worth the time to attempt sorting the pieces into the order they were cut from the boards when you glue up . That progressive grain match is a sign of true craftsmanship. No factory made stuff has that appearance. Even with an alternating pattern the progression of the grain shows attention to detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 I use titebond III or similar for cutting boards. Not sure if it's necessary but they see water for cleaning so i figured why not. It gives a little bit extra time as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 56 minutes ago, Chestnut said: I use titebond III or similar for cutting boards. Not sure if it's necessary but they see water for cleaning so i figured why not. It gives a little bit extra time as well. I do the same. Another pro tip since I'll assume you don't have a drum sander, Be Very Careful to keep the glue ups flat. Especially after you flip to end grain. A meticulous glue up paying attention to lining up and flat can and will save Hours of flattening with a sander. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 3 hours ago, Chestnut said: I use titebond III or similar for cutting boards. Not sure if it's necessary but they see water for cleaning so i figured why not. It gives a little bit extra time as well. I pretty much use titebond III for everything. Need to get a bigger bottle of it for this project though. Thanks for the tip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 2 hours ago, Brendon_t said: I do the same. Another pro tip since I'll assume you don't have a drum sander, Be Very Careful to keep the glue ups flat. Especially after you flip to end grain. A meticulous glue up paying attention to lining up and flat can and will save Hours of flattening with a sander. Thanks for the heads up. I'll take as much time as I need as sanding is one of my least favorite parts of woodworking. I'm also realizing that I have very few "flat" surfaces in my shop. I think an upgrade from my first project, a garage shop workbench (complete with pegboard backing) is in order so that I have a truly flat surface in my shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 If you have a lot of them to do, you might get a local cabinet shop to run run them through their drum sander for you. A router sled could also save you some time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 Not sure where your located with local shops. One of the last places i bought lumber from would basically rent out time on their wide belt sander. So it might be worth some time to look into that locally to save you from having to flatten them yourself without a drum sander. I don't think they charged a ton but make sure the glue is cleaned off. 8 minutes ago, Jonathan McCully said: I pretty much use titebond III for everything. Need to get a bigger bottle of it for this project though. Thanks for the tip I use TB II for most everything beings that i don't like the opaque color of TB III when it dries. It's also a hair bit runny for my liking. To each their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbutcher Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 10 minutes ago, ..Kev said: If you have a lot of them to do, you might get a local cabinet shop to run run them through their drum sander for you. A router sled could also save you some time. I use a router sled for flattening my cutting boards. It works well enough. After that, I scrape the heck out of them with a card scraper. Still takes a good bit of sanding with 80 grit, but definitely not hours worth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 23 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Not sure where your located with local shops. One of the last places i bought lumber from would basically rent out time on their wide belt sander. So it might be worth some time to look into that locally to save you from having to flatten them yourself without a drum sander. I don't think they charged a ton but make sure the glue is cleaned off. That gave me a great idea. Have a woodworker friend from church with a drum sander. I'll ask him if he would allow me to run them through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 Find out what abrasive he uses and buy him a roll ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 5, 2018 Report Share Posted November 5, 2018 15 minutes ago, wdwerker said: Find out what abrasive he uses and buy him a roll ! Absolutely! Cheap at that price too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 6, 2018 Report Share Posted November 6, 2018 11 hours ago, ..Kev said: . A router sled could also save you some time. Although I agree having a cabinet shop connection is great, of the two Kev said, if you don't have a router sled, the time you would take calling around, you could spend in the shop making an appliance that will be used for plenty of things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 6, 2018 Report Share Posted November 6, 2018 My drum sander was purchased as a luxury item and soon became a go to tool, just like my band saw. May want to consider one in the future if the budget allows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2018 16 minutes ago, K Cooper said: My drum sander was purchased as a luxury item and soon became a go to tool, just like my band saw. May want to consider one in the future if the budget allows. Would love to have both a drum sander and a band saw. Space is the biggest issue precluding both of those purchases currently. Just not enough room in my garage shop. That, and the fact that I’m frequently getting moved with the military and have a weight allotment... 5 hours ago, wdwerker said: Find out what abrasive he uses and buy him a roll ! Great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted November 6, 2018 Report Share Posted November 6, 2018 IMHO, if your situation presents challenges for one type of cutting board, you could do another. These are edge grain. Not as desirable as end grain boards for those cooks who love their knives but, people seem to like them aesthetically enough to get past that. Here's a couple in maple. I do versions of some pieces that are done other ways. I don't run a CNC so I find myself with a lot of hand work. the point being you get to do generally what you want if not specifically what you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 On 11/5/2018 at 4:33 PM, wdwerker said: Find out what abrasive he uses and buy him a roll ! Better yet, the same friend from church just gave me his old Delta 18-36 drum sander. Just needs a new conveyor belt and should work out really nicely for me. In the meantime, I finished milling the wood for the cutting boards at the table saw and got my first board glued up. Hoping I didn’t leave too much squeeze out but as I’ll be cross-Cutting and gluing up again to show end grain, I’m not sure it matters too much either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 Looks like the entire conveyor is missing. Plan on spending some time and have plenty of patience when adjusting the conveyor belt. Once you get it adjusted it behaves pretty good but bring plenty of patience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 4 minutes ago, wdwerker said: Looks like the entire conveyor is missing. Plan on spending some time and have plenty of patience when adjusting the conveyor belt. Once you get it adjusted it behaves pretty good but bring plenty of patience. I’ve got the cast iron conveyor, had just taken it off to move the machine out of my truck. How challenging is getting a new belt set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 I imagine aftermarket conveyor abrasive belts are available for that machine. If there is a strip of abrasive wrapped on the drum you should make a template of it. I used 1/4" plywood scraps to make mine. Make sure to label your template well. I have cut strips backwards ( abrasive facing the wrong way) and there is no way to fix a mistake like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 Steve, you talking the conveyor belt or the sanding belt? I just bought a new conveyor belt for my Jet and it was like $100 or so. Good on ya Jonathan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 Here's your belt I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 Sorry Coop but you paid full retail price for that. $20-30 maybe $40 for an abrasive conveyor belt that size. The rubbery ones do cost that much and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McCully Posted November 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 14 hours ago, gee-dub said: Here's your belt I believe. Is there a difference between a drive belt and conveyor belt, or are they the same thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 I recently replaced the conveyor belt on our SuperMax 19-38 and it was about $40. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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