flattening a cutting board

[howard s hanger]

The gap is about 1/8" of an inch. My local woodcraft has a Performax 18-36 I'm sure tbey would let me use. If not, then Woodworld has a wide belt sander too. I normally make the boards less than 12" wide so I can make sure it will fit through the planer but I deliberately made it wider and longer this time. I did it in two glue ups and then flattened. The problem occurred when I glued the two halves together. Next time, I'll dowel the two halves together to guarantee it remains flat.

[Steven Hsieh]

There is no need to use dowels. You need to make sure there is no gap during glue glue up.

I like to do a practice clamping, without using glue.

what clamps are you using?

1/8 is not bad

All cutting board will warp over time.

Is it warp in the middle?

[howard s hanger]

It's more like a little twist. opposite corners are slightly high so that's where the rocking is. Driving me crazy! Using Jet Parallel clamps.

[Steven Hsieh]

You have two options

Hand plane it flat
or use the jointer

[Jim Neeley]

You'll have a tough time flattening a twist on a belt sander, unless you build a jig to hold it from rocking as it goes through. My recommendation would be to start with a sharp hand plane and plane diagonally, from high corner to high corner, until it will set "flat', if slightly concave. Then either:

Flip it, plane flat (using a jack or fore plane and winding sticks) or..

run it through the sander on the other side, finally flipping it back to sand the planed side.

I'm of the "use no grit on a cutting board" school, although either will work. I think using a sharp plane will be faster than building a jig for the initial work.

Just my $0.02.. YMMV..

Jim

[Bill Huber]

I make a lot of end grain boards and now and then I get one that will not set just flat like I like.

I put plastic feet on all my boards, when I have one that will not set flat like I like, I just sand a little off the feet until it sets flat.

Some people do not put feet on their boards, the reason I do is so air can get under them and dry any moisture that may be left after cleaning

[Brian Brightwell]

I make a lot of end grain boards and now and then I get one that will not set just flat like I like.

I put plastic feet on all my boards, when I have one that will not set flat like I like, I just sand a little off the feet until it sets flat.

Some people do not put feet on their boards, the reason I do is so air can get under them and dry any moisture that may be left after cleaning

Sounds like a good simple fix. And I wanted to see if I have my location listed. And I do.

[howard s hanger]

I make a lot of end grain boards and now and then I get one that will not set just flat like I like.

I put plastic feet on all my boards, when I have one that will not set flat like I like, I just sand a little off the feet until it sets flat.

Some people do not put feet on their boards, the reason I do is so air can get under them and dry any moisture that may be left after cleaning

That is what I ended up doing. Screwed four feet onto the bottom and placed some spacers under the opposite front and back corners and now it's solid. It didn't take much but I'm much happier with the outcome.

[Clay Fails]

I agree with the idea of winding sticks and hand plane. You should have a flat board in no time with this method. Do be aware of tear out with end grain. A scraper might be useful.