Hard maple boards, destined for glue up, and, eventually, a cutting board and a cheese board.
Here’s the cutting board after glue up # 1, and then slicing into 1-1/2″ strips
Glue-up # 2, where the strips are rotated into an end-grain cutting board.
# 60 Cutting Board, $60. Hard Maple, 12″ diameter.
An end grain cheese board was made from the left over hard maple.
Next cutting board was hard maple, cherry and walnut.
After the first glue up, the board is cut into 1-1/2″ strips.
You have to be very careful to number every piece and mark the orientation, or you’ll end up with a piece glued on the wrong way.
I didn’t like the design as this board was sliced … so I offset every other piece by 3/8″ to make a better pattern.
# 78 Cutting Board, $125. Hard Maple, Cherry and Black Walnut. End grain.
Next cutting board is hard maple, walnut, canarywood and cherry. Notice the asymetrical layout of the wood.
Careful numbering of each strip.
When it was cut into strips to make it an end-grain cutting board, one piece of hard maple was revealed to have spalting in the middle of the board … the little dots in the middle of the board. The grain pattern was no longer symetrical, so I moved 4 strips from one end to the other in order to center the unique grain pattern in the hard maple.
The adjusted pattern with the grain pattern centered on the board.
Glue-up in progress.
The glue needs to have sufficient “open time” so I can apply the glue to all 13 strips, and then still have time to spread the glue before placing the strips into final position.
You can never have too many clamps.
Excess glue is wiped off, and then the wet assembly sits and dries for 24 hours.
Look closely at the end strip closest to you … and you’ll see the number on the end is oriented differently than the other strips. Ooops! This strip, which was oriented the wrong way, got cut off before finishing.
All of these cutting boards are finished with mineral oil and our wood butter topcoat, which is a combination of mineral oil and locally harvested beeswax.
Next board is hard maple, walnut, cherry and canarywood.
This board stayed as a “long grain” cutting board: the grain runs the length of the board. Some prefer the checker board patterns of end grain cutting boards (which many butcher blocks have); others prefer long grain cutting boards.
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