Found this one on YouTube

Oh, yeh, if you like this one, "The Wood Whisperer" has over 175 videos on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/thewoodwhisperer

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Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
Scroll Saw Forum Host

Thanks for the link!!

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Fred this video has launched thousands of people wanting to make end grain cutting boards. This is the video to watch for those wanting to build their own either for gifts or sale. With the basics there is no limit to what you can achieve.  The Wood Wisperer has good tips on construction and finishing. He also has some updated videos on cutting boards as well as a very good blog. Check him out you wont be dissapointed. He covers many different aspects of wood working and in some cases is the Norm Abrams of the web.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Mike - thanks for the tip

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Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
Scroll Saw Forum Host

Not to put too fine an edge on it but - - - -  it is a myth that end grain boards are easier on knife edges.

That myth has evolved from a variety of facts that are not relevant to modern knives, nor the uses to which  knives and cutting boards experience in the home.

End grain is easier on thin bladed chopping cleavers when used in a traditional butcher's shop where they are wailing away with the things.  They are also easier on knives of days gone past where metallurgy and tempering were substantially less refined as compared to today.

In years and centuries past, knife edges tended to chip and shatter for a couple of reasons. In short they were the steel available, the skills available in the smithy, and the desirability of very keen edges by the butcher and chef.  There were a lot of smiths making knives whose skills were not at the top of the state of the trade so they would tend to overcompensate by making things a tad too brittle just to be able to produce an edge that was easy to sharpen and held the keenness.   So poor tempering and metal with overmuch carbon, resulted in edges that shattered easily. 

The more well trained smiths of yore were cognizant of the difference in service between weapons and butcher’s tools and how that would give rise to different kinds of edges.   They too would produce more fragile edges for butchering and kitchen applications and of course they too were limited in the steel they had.  Ancient steels were not alloyed with exotic trace metals to toughen the edges.    It was carbon and forging and the base steel, with what trace elements it came with, as it was mined from the earth that determined the quality of the steel.

So the net result was that knife edges were a lot more likely to chip and shatter than are knives of today.

An end-grain board would cause less chipping because the fibers would part before the blade, not forcing the blade to cut the fibers thus  sparing the edge.

Another fact is the old school use of the cutting edges that would be the norm in a butcher’s shop.  They really worked their tools hard. This meant they were driving them into the boards with force. That too was rough on the edges and the end grain parting before the blades served to spare the edges.   

Advance some several  decades or even centuries to the 20^th  and 21^st  century with new highly alloyed steels and  most of those issues of blade edge friability evanesce almost  completely.

And of course pretty much no one is going to be using a carving or bread slicing or cheese cutting etc., knife in the fashion of an old school cleaver-swinging butcher.

So the notion that end grain is somehow easier on edges is a myth with roots in times gone by with facts and circumstances that no longer exist.

Sorry but I'm not buying it Cliff. I've spoken with a gentleman that makes and sharpens knives and he actually did some research into the subject of the end grain cutting boards and his findings is that they still save the edges of all kinds of differing steel knives. His clients that bring their knives to be sharpened and that use end grain cutting boards have less dulling than those that don't. He recommends end grain cutting boards over long grain boards. By the way he doesn't sell cutting boards or make them.

I have two end grain cutting boards that I've used for a couple of years and in comparison to the long grain boards the end grain boards show much less wear than the long grain version. I've sanded down my long grain board twice in the 2 year period and on the end grain board I've only oiled them and they look as good as the day I made them.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Thank you, gentlemen, for you opinions.  A great thing about woodworking is that individualism works.  What works for one may not work for another - and, then again, - somethings work for all of us.  After all, wood breathes, bends, warps, grows, shrinks, etc.

Viva la sawdust

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Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
Scroll Saw Forum Host

Maybe they save the edges of the knives he makes.  If so I'm betting that he uses only high carbon steel which would produce edges that are easy to sharpen, but are friable. Maybe it's merely his subjective belief too.

I've never been easily swayed by lines of argument  such as: "I've been doing this for [X] years."  After all, unless I  am an expert and can voir dire her on her knowledge and qualifications  and can evaluate her work: how do I know if the  speaker ever did it right in the first place,  or whether she is up on latest and evolving work relevant to her field  - - etc.?   I also can't know what the standards are upon which such assertions  are made.  It's not as if they come  backed  by repeatable research and testable hypotheses.  It's just some person, whom I don't know, making an assertion.

Anyway it's a myth,  that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.