Cutting board question

[JWD]

Disclaimer, I don't make cutting boards!  I think I have made about 4 (now 6) in 30 years!

 

Using up some scrap maple, doing one with strips of 4/4 laminated, easy.  The 8/4 scraps I couldn't bear to rip into strips, so I glued 3 plain sawn pieces together.  The middle one is pretty, but has a void/bark inclusion on one side and a shrinkage crack on the other where the wood shrunk around the oddly shaped inclusion.  Normally I just fill those with epoxy, a habit I picked up at a shop where we fill lots of flaws in mesquite in the 1990's (and maybe not such a good habit).

 

Then it occurred to me that the end users might not like the look - I find the crack a bit ugly to be honest - and might be put off by the epoxy.  I find a lot of people (including one of these friends) to be very flighty about "chemicals".  So instead, I'm thinking about letting in a couple blocks of wood.

 

Here are the two sides of the filled flaw:

 

 

Quick idea for filling the crack, use a skinny diamond (because I like checkered gunstocks!):

 

Was thinking of using ironwood, a scrap left over from another project.  Walnut would be more sensible though, or maybe mahogany.  Something that planes down flush a little more tamely.

 

The second side is the one I'm not so sure of, shape doesn't lend itself to my diamond.  Any ideas as to what to do there?  Maybe something free form that follows the grain around it?  Free form isn't really intuitive to me, I'm more tuned for symmetry, but I'm not sure it works in this case, maybe not on the other side either.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Is there enough wood to just rip that 1" section out and re glue?

[JWD]

I would consider that if I had another scrap to put in it's place, but I used up all the 4/4 on the other one.

 

It did occur to me as I was writing that post this morning that I should maybe let in another scrap of maple instead of something contrasting - more in line with the free form idea.  Maybe sacrifice a bit of birdseye?  I think I have some scraps around 1/4" thick somewhere.

[smitty10101]

Agree with Fred

but

what is the overall dimensions of the cutting board?

IF the defect is nearer the end then is it feasible to just shorten the overall length of the board and call it a day? 

[HandyDan]

Or cut it out leaving a fancy handle design.

 

[Gerald]

Those are some great answers but I would definitely not leave a defect in finished product. Don't believe epoxy is a good idea unless on a handle like Dan showed. Personally I like contrasting wood.

[JimM]

7 hours ago, JWD said:

I would consider that if I had another scrap to put in it's place, but I used up all the 4/4 on the other one.

The piece looks large enough where you could follow @Fred W. Hargis Jr's advice, without replacing the piece.  Unless the width is critical for some reason.

[JWD]

I want to keep both boards 12"x16" so I only need to make one jig for the juice groove on one side.

 

Thinking about this one still and working on the other today.  I did find some more maple, I might just get away with cutting it out instead of covering it up.  Probably the same amount of time for each, I'm pretty fast with inlays, especially if the lines are straight.

 

Here's the other one, almost done:

 

Got to scrape and buff off the excess wax still.

[smitty10101]

12 hours ago, JWD said:

Got to scrape and buff off the excess wax still.

interesting!!!

are you "hot" waxing the board?

Homemade brew?

 

MOST boards are prepped with mineral oil/wax solution.

 

what drove you to just wax?

[JWD]

Just now, smitty10101 said:

interesting!!!

are you "hot" waxing the board?

Homemade brew?

 

MOST boards are prepped with mineral oil/wax solution.

 

what drove you to just wax?

 

One of the friends getting a board dislikes "chemical odors" and requested a straight wax finish.  I gave her some cherry salad utensils once and she didn't like the odor of linseed oil, even though I explained what it was and that it's not hazardous.

 

Since I had a couple pounds of beeswax in a bread pan from some leather work experiments (unsuccessful ones ) I figured hot wax application was the best way to do a straight wax without a chemical odor from the solvent in a typical paste wax.  It has the added advantage of better penetration into the wood I hope, but on a board to be used, there's only so much we can do for that.  Even with some penetration it's going to wear off with use and washing.

 

The basic method I used is to heat the wax and brush it on heavily (it cools quickly and hardens on the surface when doing this).  Then using a heat gun and the same brush, it is remelted and spread out for better coverage, and eventually the board is tipped so much of the excess can run off as some soaks in.  I was a bit worried that heat from the gun could compromise the glue joints, but so far no trouble.

 

It will be an interesting experiment, since I will be able to track how the finish performs - one friend at least is going to use the board heavily and likely not maintain it any better than any board that sees heavy use.  I like experiments  

[Headhunter]

Try a 50/50 mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. It has the benefits of the oil soaking into the wood and the wax staying on the surface.

 

I heat the mineral oil in a small metal cup and gently stir in an equal amount of beeswax. The hot oil melts the wax and as it cools it goes to the consistency of Vaseline. Just rub this onto the board and give it a light buffing. Can be easily renewed as needed after washing the board following use.

 

On my cutting boards, I give them two good coats of straight mineral oil and then a good coat of the beeswax mixture. Seem to hold up fine.