How Do They Do This

[Mike Conley]

Take a look at this cutting board.

Any ideas how they do this?

[Mike Conley]

Here are some more.

[John Keeton]

Mike, I have seen these and wondered the same thing. What about using a stack of various species of uniform width, thickness, length - and running them through the bandsaw cutting through several at a time with a random serpentine cut? You would then have a mating piece out of another species down in the stack, and I guess you could turn them or flip them end to end to get some variance. Also, could do a couple of different stacks and intersperse them.

[Matt Ocel]

I saw this done a long time ago on TV.
If I remember correctly the guy was making a holding case for a tape measure, but you could use the same method for a cutting board.

Lets say your cutting board is going to be 12" x 16" and
your going to use 4 different species.

Cut each species to 12 x 16.
2 face tape them on top of each other.
Run them thru your band saw any way you want. (keeping track of your puzzle pieces)
When finished you can arrange the different layers to make your cutting board(S) as you will end up with 4 cutting boards.

Good Luck!

[Joe Chritz]

It would generate more waste but it shouldn't be a hard CNC project.

I be the glue up would still be a treat.

Joe

[Chris Padilla]

A BS pancake stack-up might be it at Matt describes but I wonder how you clean up the cuts to make clean, gap free glue-ups?

I suspect a template was made and a router used to flush trim. The template could be made very clean and perfect complements if the bit cuts both sides of the template at the same time. It would take careful setup but it's easily done.

GREAT idea!!

[Karl Brogger]

My vote is for CNC

[Dewey Torres]

Not knocking CNC router Karl, but some folks still enjoy doing this by hand to impress the family once per year which isn't a "business" and doesn't warrant an expensive CNC. Hmmm did I say that just because I can't afford one myself? Seriously though!
Dewey

[Bob Feeser]

Using wood pieces stacked with a band saw, or possibly a scroll saw. Then take the mating pieces and glue them together. Then cut strips and glue them together.

[John Karas]

Hi Mike

This is a very easy & fast thing to do do you ever heard of a frontline bandsaw jig? I do have a Frontline bandsaw jig is ideal for cutting complex shapes such as this & i can do this with easy without any problems or marking the pieces by using a simple wooden jig & cutting each piece separate and all pieces fit to each other very accurate so you not wasting any wood & all the pieces are exactly the same without any deep blade marks as you get when cutting free hand.

Check it out for your self www.frontlineengineering.com.au

Regards
John

[Greg Cuetara]

I have seen this done with pen blanks. There is a tutorial on the IAP website. Basically you make two or more boards then cut them in random patterns and switch the pieces and reglue up. After the glueup you can do this again and again until you get the desired effect. The best way is to use a scroll saw with a fine blade as it will provide the cleanest cut but can be done on a band saw and then clean up the blade marks. I would think a cutting board would have to be done on a scroll saw with a very thin blade which provides a clean cut.

Greg

[Dave MacArthur]

I think John Keeton has it--stacking up species, making serpentine cuts, then using the mating pieces. This is how marquetry is done, it's ALWAYs easier to make "X" number of pieces where "X" is the number of woods in the design.. stack cherry, walnut, maple, cut two wavy curves, you can make 3 perfectly fitting boards with 3 pieces each (1 of each wood).

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
My vote would be they use the same technique the Chinese do to laminate plywood.

[Lee DeRaud]

A BS pancake stack-up might be it at Matt describes but I wonder how you clean up the cuts to make clean, gap free glue-ups?

I suspect a template was made and a router used to flush trim.

Second that. I've done the bandsaw-stack thing and the joints just aren't good enough for a cutting-board or bowl-blank glue-up: you end up needing some kind of gap-filling epoxy.

Making a perfect set of templates is the hard part...probably CNC or laser comes into play for that step. (Or at least that's how I'd do it.)

[Jack Camillo]

who cares, it's crap if you ask me. good question for curiosity, though.