How to safely square little wooden blocks??

[Randall J Cox]

I bought a bunch of these at the local Habitat for Humanity store the other day. Thought I would make a butcher block with them. I have no idea what they are or what they were for, but they are all hardwood. The issue is, as you can see, each one has the corners chamfered. I will need to mill these away to glue together with no gaps. They are too small to do anything safely with them on the jointer or table saw. Only thing left is band saw or hand plane and I'm not that proficient with hand planes to really get them square. Whats the best way towood blocks 2.jpg square them?? Randy

[Prashun Patel]

Glue them up into rows and then rip the bevels off all at once. Then joint. Even if you were able to successfully and painfully remove all the bevels before hand, you'll need to re-joint the edges before gluing the rows into a solid plane.

Take care to orient the grain properly so things are shrinking and expanding in the same direction or you will certainly pay later.

[Randall J Cox]

That's a good idea!! By the way, butcher block, grain up and down. After the above post, it just dawned on me they might not be glued up with waterproof glue. I just put one into a pan of water to find out - time will tell I guess. If not, what else can I do with them? On second thought, a 4" think butcher block won't get under the water very much and only to quickly wash off food. Maybe if kept oiled, it still may work. What do you think? Randy

[John K Jordan]

...If not, what else can I do with them?

Could make some great mallets. Could be turned on the lathe to make a variety of things.

JKJ

[Randall J Cox]

Ok, just had one fully in water for many hours, no delamination or any adverse affects that I can tell. Letting it dry to see how it looks. Mallets, good idea. could glue a couple together to turn on the lathe also.... Randy