Epoxy and Cutting Boards

[James Jayko]

I just bought a Shaper Origin and engraved a name in an end grain cutting board. Made it out of maple, looks great. But there really isn't any contrast; hopefully there will be when I oil it. I generally hate epoxy, but...two questions.

1. My understanding is that epoxy is just hard plastic; is it enough harder than wood that it would be detrimental to your good knives if you filled the inlay with it on a cutting board?
2. The cutting board is all end grain. Would a black epoxy soak into the end grain so much as to ruin it if you over did it at all, or is it too thick to wick up the grain? Would the wood selection matter in this regard?

[Alex Shanku]

I wouldn't ever put epoxy on a cutting board. Unlike the end grain, the epoxy wouldn't close back up and every knife mark would accumulate. Durability issues aside, I would also be concerned about bacteria collecting under the epoxy. Could you test your engraving in some scrap from the project and see how the oil will make the name look?

[ChrisA Edwards]

I've made a few end grain cutting boards and engraved, and expoy'd them.

Before the engrave, with my Shaper Origin, I put a layer of OraMask on the surface to be carved.

After I cut the pocket for the epoxy, I use No Wax Shellac in the carved out area where the epoxy will be poured. This stops the colored epoxy bleeding into the wood grain.

When you pour the epoxy, make sure you overfill the carved out area, otherwise when it cures, you'll probably find it shrunk or got absorbed a little and will leave an epoxy hollow.

I used plumbers putty as a dam as I poured the various colors.

When the epoxy was cured, I ran it through my drum sander to remove the excess and then finally orbital sanded down to 800 grit.

Expoy is just plastic, cutting on it will cut the epoxy.

Here's a few pictures of a multi colored board I did

https://app.photobucket.com/u/cedwar...029e/slideshow

[Jim Becker]

Cutting boards that are "users" are best left without the resin on the top, other than maybe something cute in a corner where a knife would not likely travel. But for charcuterie boards and decorative cutting boards (or two sides cutting boards with a display side and a work side) it's perfectly fine. I cut a lot of these for a friend who does resin inlay work and doesn't want to have a full shop to do the woodworking pieces including the CNC work.

[Andrew Hughes]

I wouldn’t use my good knives on cutting board with epoxy.
I’m try to cut back on my micro plastic intake .

[Michael Burnside]

I wouldn’t use my good knives on cutting board with epoxy.
I’m try to cut back on my micro plastic intake .

My wife is a chef and she would NEVER cut on anything with plastic, notwithstanding the obvious plastic + food = not great, it dulls the blades of her quality knives. I just periodically make her a thin, light teak board every few years. As Jim pointed out, backside or something that isn't going to see a knife is probably fine.

[Steve Demuth]

I am trying to understand your intent (pictures would help). Is the engraving on the cutting surface of an end-grain board? Did you plan to leave it unfilled, so when in use, you're cutting on the engraving? That seems appropriate only for a board that is really used as a platter, not as a cutting surface.

I would echo what others have said about epoxy: if you care about your knives, and the board is really a cutting board, don't use an epoxy fill.

I would consider two alternative approaches to filling the engraving. First, if contrast on the end-grain is what you want, engrave the board fairly deeply (maybe 1/8" deep if narrow, 1/4" if wider) with a straight sided bit, then fill the grooves with a dark wood, end-grain. If the engraving is narrow (less than 1/8"), you can probably easily do this with just strips of end grain cut to the require width with maybe a 1 or 2 degree draft angle when you cut them to give some ease when knocking them in the groove. If it's wider, then you can make cut to fit pieces with your Shaper by routing negatives of your pattern. Glue them all in using whatever glue you used for the board itself. If you end up with a small gap here and there, fill it with sawdust/glue mixture as you go. You get a completely wood cutting board this way, with really classy engraving.

If you're really comfortable with cutting over the engraving, and you simply want to get some contrast, I would consider mixing some finely ground charcoal in either mineral oil or alcohol (something that penetrates wood well), painting it in the bottoms of the grooves, and then after the carrier has all evaporated, soaking the bottom of the grooves with a fixative finish - something that cures hard and is water resistant - could be anything from walnut or linseed oil, to a hard poly, or even penetrating epoxy, depending on how natural you feel you need it to be. Down in the grooves any of these will survive way longer than the actual cutting surface, even in hard use.

(Obviously, you'd want to do a trial run on either of these techniques on something you can afford to throw away, to convince yourself you've got the technique down).

[James Jayko]

Thanks for all the input. I think the most obvious and best solution (and the one I never would have thought of) was the 'work' side and the 'show' side. I'm not sure how I didn't think of that...

[John TenEyck]

I did one recently. The inlay was supposed to all be wood, but I wasn't successful getting the letters to come out cleanly so I ended up pouring epoxy in it for that.



The Celtic marriage knot, however, is bloodwood or something similar, and came out great. My preference would be to use wood for everything, but sometimes you are forced to do otherwise. I didn't worry about the epoxy dulling knifes, being food safe, etc. These kinds of boards never get used for cutting on. They sit on the counter as a show piece or get shoved into a drawer and only used on special occasions. I suspect every one of them gets chopped up and burned, too, if the couple divorces. If they do get used, it's the other side, and this one is unadorned except for a juice groove.

John

[Michael Burnside]

Succinct and true statements John. I've seen this project before and the marriage knot is just awesome and even better it didn't break into a million pieces during the inlay.

[Holmes Anderson]

I think basically all NSF-approved cutting boards are made of plastic. Not epoxy of course, but HDPE. I don't know that epoxy without an abrasive filler is any more abrasive than wood with a high mineral content. Seems like epoxy inlay on the cutting surface is at least worth an experiment.

Nice boards and shaper origin work in the photos btw. The range of grain and color patterns in small shop cutting boards never ceases to amaze me. Has anyone made the board with the intersecting curved inlays that was featured in a FWW years ago? These were hastily assembled for gifts a few years ago. I think there is an HDPE board in the edge of frame. My wife is in food service and her catering business was run from our kitchen.
cutting boards.jpg

[Mike Cutler]

I just bought a Shaper Origin and engraved a name in an end grain cutting board. Made it out of maple, looks great. But there really isn't any contrast; hopefully there will be when I oil it. I generally hate epoxy, but...two questions.

1. My understanding is that epoxy is just hard plastic; is it enough harder than wood that it would be detrimental to your good knives if you filled the inlay with it on a cutting board?
Epoxy can be hard on sharp edged tools, like knives, chisels and plane blades. It is "harder" than most domestic hardwoods. However, I can't see it being any harder on knives than many of the tropical hardwoods out there with high mineral, silica, content, that are used.
I would not coat a board with epoxy, but not for the reasons of dulling edges. It's difficult to repair when it is finally required, and can be difficult to get a nice clear, bubble free coating on initially.

2. The cutting board is all end grain. Would a black epoxy soak into the end grain so much as to ruin it if you over did it at all, or is it too thick to wick up the grain? Would the wood selection matter in this regard?
Yes, it will. Epoxy is thin enough that it can wick quite easily into end grain. Google "epoxy sizing", and you'll find out that epoxy is very good at wicking into end grain. Woods used in marine applications are often sized with epoxy. Hit the raw edgewith heat gun, paint it with epoxy, and let it cool. Rot Doctor, relies on this principal, and many home decking edge treatment products use epoxies to seal the board edges.

If what you need to fill is small in nature, and doesn't cover what would be the working area of the surface, fill it with some epoxy to add the contrast. You will need a heat source like a heat gun, or a torch, to hit the epoxy fill with, and displace all of the air for a bubble free finish.
Cutting boards are fun projects, but it is the end use that has to be forefront before beginning to make one. Will it really be used for food preparation, or more of a decorative application?
If it is the former, there are some not so obvious considerations. If it is the latter, then a lot of creative fun can be had making it.

[Steve Demuth]

The range of grain and color patterns in small shop cutting boards never ceases to amaze me. Has anyone made the board with the intersecting curved inlays that was featured in a FWW years ago? These were hastily assembled for gifts a few years ago. I think there is an HDPE board in the edge of frame. My wife is in food service and her catering business was run from our kitchen.

I've made quite a few boards with the intersecting curves, but as I don't subscribe to or read FWW, I'm not sure where I got the technique. I make them primarily as serving platters, though, not as cutting boards. As has been observed in this thread by multiple posters, people often don't want to chop on truly attractive or special message boards.

I've also used the same technique as for those boards for making turning blanks. You can get some very interesting results:

[Holmes Anderson]

I like the dark-light-dark lamination in the far curve on that board. The turnings are very nice too. I did some inside-out ornaments last year and sometimes had tear-out at the joints between maple and cherry. Looks like you didn't have any problems with the S&P shakers. I'm not a FWW subscriber anymore but received a subscription as a gift for a few years.