Cutting Butcher Block

[John Morris]

Coming down the home stretch of my cabinet build, quite a simple build but family and life and day job seem to have different plans then I do so my shop time has been limited.

Today I painted the doors for the cabinets, and did some minor touch ups, and I also cut our 10' long butcher block top down to fit over the lower base cabinet for our customer.

I used my Dewalt worm drive and a custom made straight edge. I have been using these straight edges to cut, and rout dadoes for about 20 years now. I have many that are made specifically for one router and various dado bits, and I have one made for my wormdrive.

The beauty of these are you don't have to measure back from the blade, you just snap your line or place your crows foot pencil marks where you need them, line up the edge to the marks, and set your saw depth and away you go, oh and don't forget to clamp it down! I use spring clamps, they provide plenty of pressure to keep the straight edge in place.

First photo is our butcher block we purchased from Grizzly. I tried to do it through Woodcraft but they just did not have the size we needed, but Woodcraft has plenty of great sizes to choose from. I purchased the workbench grade top, it is every bit as clean and smooth as a cabinet grade butcher block.

Photo below is 10' of butcher block counter top.

Next photo is our setup with the straight edge, like I said I have used these for years, mainly when I had my door installation business I was using this form for cutting the bottoms off of doors. It also acts as a natural chip breaker, you get clean cuts with no tear out.

Make sure you support large work on both sides of the cut so you don't bind your blade.

Set your blade depth and off you go! When cutting large items or thick panels, a very thin kerf blade for your cabinet or worm drive saw is the way to go.

In photo above I made the full cut, then backed the saw up so you could see how it sits on the guide.

I'll explain how to make these guides in another post. And later tomorrow, I'll get some pics up of our cabinets, they turned out really nice, I love the antique white paint exterior and the amber shellac'd interior pine we did.

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

[lew]

Great idea, John. Nice to not have to do a lot of "offset" measuring when placing the straight edge.

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

[John Morris]

I used to do the offset measuring before I stumbled on this one Lew, I don't even remember where I saw the idea, it certainly was not mine. I started using them when I was installing doors part time. When you are doing a house full of interior doors in half a day, all the little speed tricks add up to make a quick install and on to the next job. This was one of those jig I used all the time to cut the bottom of my doors off, and the less I had to think the better!

Lewis Kauffman said:

Great idea, John. Nice to not have to do a lot of "offset" measuring when placing the straight edge.

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

[Harry Brink]

My Dad used one also when he was hanging doors. He had all sorts of tricks to make the job faster and easier.

---

Harry Brink
Bulldog Woodworking
Montana

[John Moody]

But it does matter which side you set it up on right John? If you set it on the line and cut you would be off the width of the blade unless the waste side is the side the jig is not sitting on.

Maybe I am wrong. I have a couple of them myself, but it has been a while since I had to use them.

John Morris said:

I used to do the offset measuring before I stumbled on this one Lew, I don't even remember where I saw the idea, it certainly was not mine. I started using them when I was installing doors part time. When you are doing a house full of interior doors in half a day, all the little speed tricks add up to make a quick install and on to the next job. This was one of those jig I used all the time to cut the bottom of my doors off, and the less I had to think the better!

Lewis Kauffman said:

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

[John Morris]

YES!!!! Thanks for adding that John, set the jig up to the line on the side you want to keep! Thanks for adding that in John.

John Moody said:

But it does matter which side you set it up on right John? If you set it on the line and cut you would be off the width of the blade unless the waste side is the side the jig is not sitting on.

Maybe I am wrong. I have a couple of them myself, but it has been a while since I had to use them.

John Morris said:

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

---

John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

[Gene Howe]

Just remember to set and clamp the guide to the workpiece. I use a Skil Worm drive, so I'm always cutting right to left with the workpiece on the right of the blade. 

---

Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

[Cliff]

lovely maple block.

[John Morris]

It was a cool slab Cliff, I am getting to like the idea of butcher block counter tops in our own home after working on this gentlemens home. I am getting tired of granite in every home I see or visit. It's almost passe in my humble opinion, we have it in our kitchen too. Hmmmm, maybe a honey do is coming up in the Morris home!

Cliff said:

lovely maple block.

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

[John Hechel]

I first saw this jig backbin high school. My shop teacher was a Carpenter in a previous life and had used one gor years. I made mine double sided so I can use my router and saw with tge same jig.

---

Round Barn WoodCrafts, Plymouth WI
roundbarnwoodcrafts@hotmail.com

[Cliff]

I did butcher block in a home I owned in Amesbury MA a gozillion years ago.  A big ten by three foot teardrop shaped butcher block counter with matching stools.  I put in a huge window (4 feet across)  quarry tiles on the floor and  on one counter and back splash by the sink and stove and did  cabinets with no handles: touch latches instead.  I was modern before modern was cool.

To this day, I can not remember doing a single thing in that kitchen after I put all that work in it.

[John Morris]

They are cool Cliff, I love the 3" thick block, end grain and dark woods, that would bake a really cool counter top.

Cliff said:

I did butcher block in a home I owned in Amesbury MA a gozillion years ago.  A big ten by three foot teardrop shaped butcher block counter with matching stools.  I put in a huge window (4 feet across)  quarry tiles on the floor and  on one counter and back splash by the sink and stove and did  cabinets with no handles: touch latches instead.  I was modern before modern was cool.

To this day, I can not remember doing a single thing in that kitchen after I put all that work in it.

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker