How to build an end grain cutting board

[DAB]

this was originally posted by me on the Wood Mag forum, had over 74,000 views in 6 years, so i'd say it was well received.  with some minor edits:

 

How to make a cutting board.  Finished size will be 13"x15"x1-15/16".

 

1. Start with rough lumber, 1”x8”x6 foot walnut, 1”x4”x6 foot maple

 

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2. Cut to 24” long pieces

 

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3. Plane to consistent thickness, about 7/8” in this case

 

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4. Rip to desired widths, 1-1/2” for walnut, 3/4" for maple, plus two walnut pieces at 3/8”

 

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5. Arrange pieces in desired pattern

 

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6. Glue up and wait a day

 

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7. Plane flat, to about 3/4” thick

 

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8. Cross cut to desired board thickness, in this case 1-15/16” (to minimize waste)

 

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9. Arrange in pleasing pattern

 

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10. Glue up and wait a day

 

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11. Wipe excess glue off with warm water and sponge

 

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12. Sand, sand, sand, from 50 grit up to 120 grit

 

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13. Rout out side grooves for picking and holding

 

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14. Sand off corners

 

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15. Rout drainage groove on one side

 

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16. More sanding

 

17. Rout edges with roundover bit

 

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18. Apply brand

 

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19. More sanding up to 220 grit

 

20. Apply finish, 2 coats of Butcher Block oil, let each coat dry for a day, sand 220 grit before applying next coat.

 

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21. Sand 220 grit one more time, apply beeswax/mineral oil finish

 

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22. Done, ready to use after curing for 3 days

 

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Use and enjoy, reapply mineral oil or beeswax/mineral oil finish as needed (when water does not bead, time to reapply finish).

 

[DAB]

looks like i have some formatting issues to figure out, but it's a start.

[DAB]

the only change i'd make to that is that i skip the Butcher Block step.  i just apply 3 coats of a beeswax/mineral oil mix and it's good to go.  I use Howards Butcher Block Conditioner, available at Lowes and Home Depot in the stain area.

[Chips N Dust]

2 minutes ago, DAB said:

looks like i have some formatting issues to figure out, but it's a start.

 

If you go to the home page and scroll down, there is a topic in the scrap bin called Network Tutorials and in there, there is a post about posting pictures and editing them and the text around them.

 

Much, Much easier than WOOD's site for posting pics and inserting text

[DAB]

i'll chase editing it down later.  wanted to migrate the content before it went "poof" and i'd have to re-invent the post from scratch.  yeah, i'm lazy like that.

[Chips N Dust]

Don't blame you - why re-invent the wheel?

[Stick486]

7 minutes ago, DAB said:

this was originally posted by me on the Wood Mag forum, had over 74,000 views in 6 years, so i'd say it was well received.  with some minor edits:

 

 

[lew]

Thank you for posting this. Excellent set of visual instructions.

[John Moody]

very nice. I think I had a blog on here at one time on building end grain cutting boards. It may have gone away with one of the upgrades.

 

Here are some Breadboards and Cheese boards I make.

 

And a few of the cutting boards.

 

This is our display at First Friday we do here in Florence, Al. I will have one to do this coming Friday.

 

I make them in several sizes.

 

[DAB]

i've made many over time.  never the same one twice.  here's a fancy one that took some time to make.  ten different woods, all book matched.  pretty big, 21x12 if i recall.

[John Morris]

4 hours ago, John Moody said:

It may have gone away with one of the upgrades

It did not John, it was on a different website portal, it was never installed here on this software platform. We have never lost any blogs or content with software upgrades using this platform. But, when we made the big move from our old platform to this one, we did have to archive much of the content, of which we still have.

Every one should feel confident that they can blog away, and enter content, without fear of losing it during an upgrade. It just will not happen. Just wanted to clarify that, thanks John!

[Nickp]

Thank you for the tutorial...well written and photo-documented...

 

Which glue did you use...?  (or did I miss it)

[DAB]

4 minutes ago, Nickp said:

Thank you for the tutorial...well written and photo-documented...

 

Which glue did you use...?  (or did I miss it)

Titebond 3. It's waterproof and food safe. 

[Stick486]

On 8/26/2016 at 1:22 PM, DAB said:

looks like i have some formatting issues to figure out, but it's a start.

maybe so but you have the WW down to science...

[John Morris]

Shared on our Facebook, and Twitter. Saving images to our Pinterest too, great job DAB!

[Stick486]

4 hours ago, John Moody said:

very nice. I think I had a blog on here at one time on building end grain cutting boards. It may have gone away with one of the upgrades.

Here are some Breadboards and Cheese boards I make.

And a few of the cutting boards.

This is our display at First Friday we do here in Florence, Al. I will have one to do this coming Friday.

I make them in several sizes.

 

Jimeny Cricket, you are good...

[Cliff]

nice board.   Nice thickness.  I keep considering and rejecting the idea because my wife is short and it'd add 2" to her need to reach with a knife.

[DAB]

1 hour ago, Cliff said:

nice board.   Nice thickness.  I keep considering and rejecting the idea because my wife is short and it'd add 2" to her need to reach with a knife.

 

no sweat.  make 2.  one to cut on, one to stand on.

[Stick486]

6 hours ago, DAB said:

 

no sweat.  make 2.  one to cut on, one to stand on.

BRILLIANT!!!

[Cliff]

7 hours ago, DAB said:

 

no sweat.  make 2.  one to cut on, one to stand on.

 That's funny.