end grain cutting board design question

[Kent Follmer]

Hello, I just registered yesterday and I only wish I found this forum a long time ago! I about to start making my first cutting board and it appears that end grain is the way to go. I currently have in my shop the following stock:

2 1/2" walnut
1" walnut
1" cherry
1" padauk

My plan was to make the board:

2 1/2 " thick
use the 2 1/2 " walnut for the board
with the 1" cherry around it for the boarder; (it would end up 3/4")
and possibly using the 1" padauk in a criss cross pattern down the middle.

Do any of you have any thoughts or comments on this design? I assume there are no problems relating to using different thicknesses.

Is the Paudauk too oily perhaps?

One more question: I don't have a good sled or jig for my table saw to make good cross cuts. I read that this is critical for this job. Could anyone direct me to a pattern for such a table saw jig?

Any other pointers for this novice would be much appreciated!

Kent Follmer
Champaign IL

[John Schreiber]

Kent,

I've never made a cutting board, but as a fellow resident of Champaign - welcome to the Creek. The waters are wide and deep, but friendly.

The best cutting boards are made with actual end grain, meaning the grain is pointing up like it originally was when the tree was standing, that generally requires cutting the wood into fairly small squares and re-attaching each piece to make the cutting board. Then, since wood shrinks and expands in different ways depending on the direction of the grain, it makes it challenging to put a border on it. But not impossible.

Often people build them with the quartersawn side up which is still quite durable, but much easier and which can be very artistic.

I'm sure you've seen some of those in your searches.

[Kent Follmer]

Thank you John for your reply. I realize that end grain boards can be difficult, so I am proceeding cautiously. I hope to start on it this weekend.

[Mack Cameron]

Hi Kent; end grain cutting boards aren't as difficult to make as you may think. These were my first.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...+cutting+board

If you can get a hold of "WOOD" Oct. '06. They have some great patterns. That's where these came from. Look for the "Wood Whisperer" video as well. He'll show you how easy they really are. Good Luck and have fun.

If you can't locate the WOOD mag., pm me with your addy, I may be able to help you out.

[Kent Follmer]

Hi Mack, thanks for your post. What are your thoughts on putting a cherry boarder around the walnut board. Many of the patterns I have seen do not have any boarders. Earlier in this tread, John made a comment that: " since wood shrinks and expands in different ways depending on the direction of the grain, it makes it challenging to put a border on it. But not impossible". I did see a few patterns with very thin borders, like 1/4" or 3/8".

I also need to make the final decision soon whether to use my thick 2 1/2 walnut or the 1" walnut. Obviously the thicker the board, the larger each square will be, but other than that, I don't see any problem with using a mixture of thickness, perhaps, thick walnut, and the 1" cherry.

Thanks again.

Kent

[Mack Cameron]

[quote=Kent Follmer;705410]

Hi Mack, thanks for your post.

Hi Kent; more fun for me than you could possibly imagine!

What are your thoughts on putting a cherry boarder around the walnut board. Many of the patterns I have seen do not have any boarders.

I'm sorry, I have no thoughts in this regard and no intention at the present time to put a border on any of mine.

I also need to make the final decision soon whether to use my thick 2 1/2 walnut or the 1" walnut. Obviously the thicker the board, the larger each square will be, but other than that, I don't see any problem with using a mixture of thickness, perhaps, thick walnut, and the 1" cherry.

Kent; I have to give this idea some thought. The problem that developes considering that you are intending to make an end grain cutting board is the flattening of the board after cutting all the pieces. Think a little more about it.

I am in no regard putting myself up as an expert of end grain cutting boards. I have made 6 to be exact and require more time to consider some ideas put forth. My mind is very young, I wish I could say the same about my brain!

[Kent Follmer]

Thanks Mack and everyone for the feed back. Well, my glue is drying on my first cutting board. I used the 2 1/2" walnut and 1" cherry; it came out pretty nice; not bad for my first one I guess. I still need to finish it. If I can figure out how to post the pictures on here I will do so when I am done. In the meantime, here is another design issue that hit me on the way home from Menards:

I have two pretty nice 7 foot boards that are 1 x 12; one is walnut and one is cherry. What do you think about THIS idea: GLUE THEM TOGETHER so I have a 2 x 12. My squares will be bigger and each square will be one-half walnut and one-half cherry. I can imagine some very interesting designs. Do any of you see any problems with this idea? I have not seen any on line designed this way. One issue I am thinking about is the additional glue joints where possible water can penetrate, but if that were an issue, I should not be making end grain boards in the first place.

Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

By the way, the Woodwhisperer wrote a nice post regarding the differences between using salad bowl / varnish vs. mineral oil / wax on cutting boards. He opts for the varnish as it last longer but others said that it tends to leave more knife marks. He said to make sure the varnish is thinned out sufficiently with 50% mineral spirits.

Kent

[Carl Eyman]

Kent, I'd be worried about getting the boards flat enough so you get a good glue line when you join them. If you don't you are going to have voids when you cut them into small pieces. Voids are bad for sanitary as well as structural reasons. What do others think?

And welcome to the Creek.

Another post scrip sort of thought: Is anybody concerned about the alleged toxicity of walnut? I made a board with a walnut border and maple center about thirty years ago, My grandchildren are 21, 19, and 14. All are very healthy; so it can't be too toxic.

[Kent Follmer]

Hi Carl -
I hear what you are saying about the possible voids.

Do you think I could elminate or at least reduce that risk by ripping first to manageable sized boards, like say 4 or 6 inch widths then glue up with all the clamps in my shop?

It will take some nerve to rip up a beautiful piece of walnut on this experiment.

As far as the toxicity of walnut, I have read many articles over the last couple weeks, and the experts are in agreement that there is nothing wrong with walnut cutting boards, in fact, it has been said that it is one of the best species to use for cutting boards, including cherry, hard maple, and others. The level of toxity is so low on humans that it is not worth discussing, so long as you don't grind up a bucket full of the saw dust and put it in your meatloaf.

Your plants however, don't like walnut shavings, as it can be a herbacide to certain plants. If anyone wants some recources on the walnut toxicity issue, I could find some websites for you. I have also read up a lot on the plastic vs wood argument, as far as which cutting board is more sanitary. WOOD WINS.

Kent

[Kevin Godshall]

Thanks Mack and everyone for the feed back. Well, my glue is drying on my first cutting board. I used the 2 1/2" walnut and 1" cherry; it came out pretty nice; not bad for my first one I guess. I still need to finish it. If I can figure out how to post the pictures on here I will do so when I am done. In the meantime, here is another design issue that hit me on the way home from Menards:

I have two pretty nice 7 foot boards that are 1 x 12; one is walnut and one is cherry. What do you think about THIS idea: GLUE THEM TOGETHER so I have a 2 x 12. My squares will be bigger and each square will be one-half walnut and one-half cherry. I can imagine some very interesting designs. Do any of you see any problems with this idea? I have not seen any on line designed this way. One issue I am thinking about is the additional glue joints where possible water can penetrate, but if that were an issue, I should not be making end grain boards in the first place.

Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

By the way, the Woodwhisperer wrote a nice post regarding the differences between using salad bowl / varnish vs. mineral oil / wax on cutting boards. He opts for the varnish as it last longer but others said that it tends to leave more knife marks. He said to make sure the varnish is thinned out sufficiently with 50% mineral spirits.

Kent

I stick to "scrap" material when making cutting boards for one good reason. $$$ If you have good 1x12 material, good enough to glue up and rip and cross cut for cutting boards.....you have good enough (read $$$) material to make something more valuable then a cutting board.

The more I build, the more scrap material I have to make cutting boards with. Just coming off of the Christmas season, I have enough stock to make prolly 15 boards. This stock has very little use, other than short moldings, and lends itself well to cutting boards, clipboards, etc.

My biggest issue was sanding the end grains. The orbital was not the tool. Luckily I fell into an oscillating belt sander (6x89 belt) and it eats up material.