The 250th Cutting Board

The 250th Cutting Board 7 comments

I’ve been working on this board for 2 years.

In my head, anyway.

As my faithful readers know, I’ve been wrestling with building inventory for a very long time, and I’ve been up & down & up & down from the line in the sawdust that I’ve drawn at the 200th cutting board.

Today, I’ve reached a new milestone, as this colorific cutting board is my 250th piece in inventory.

The pictorial below shows the board in all of the stages of production, which did actually take me a couple of months. In the beginning the original boards were picked & processed, and then glued together. That “blank” then got smoothed, sliced, and then re-glued into the final configuration for the cutting board. More smoothing and then final shaping on the table saw and router table followed. Even more sanding came next, and then the board was ready for oiling and waxing. Non-skid rubber feet were then installed with stainless steel screws, and the board was finished. Final step: photography!

Join us this weekend at the California Poppy Festival to see the board in person. Plus, you’ll get to see the beginning of our annual Spring Fling!

Boards are picked & processed, and ready for glue up.

Buying a Glue Bot helped a lot.

As did my rubber roller. MUCH better than brushing on glue.

The “blank,” glued up and in the clamps.

Squeeze out must be cleaned up, using the manufacturer’s recommended technique.

And it’s a mess.

I can do 12 full size boards at the same time in my 36 clamps.

Out of the clamps, and curing.

Time for smoothing on the drum sander.

The board gets sliced into 1-5/8″ pieces. You never know what’s inside the wood until you slice the blank.

I tape the slices into the right sequence and orientation, and then tape them together until I start the glue session.

In the clamps, ready for the final glue up.

More squeeze out to be cleaned up.

Final board, in the clamps.

Smoothed on the drum sander … still about an hour of sanding to go.

The Harbstreit Technique starts with a scribed line for the routed finger hold.

A shallow chisel line along the scribed line is next.

The centered line is 5″ long and 1/4″ above the bottom of the board.

Now to route the finger hold.

After the finger hold is routed, then I smooth all 12 edges of the board.

Sanded to 320 grit, with the juice groove now routed, the board is ready to oil.

FINALLY the colors of the board are revealed.

This is the most exciting moment in making a cutting board.

You get to see the real colors of the wood!

The board is now saturated with mineral oil.

Wax on …

Close up detail, routed finger hold.

Close up detail, juice groove & rounded corner.

Cutting Board 17 – 426. Black Walnut, Bubinga, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Hard Maple, Honey Locust, Goncalo Alves & Padauk. End Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 21-1/2″ x 1-1/2″.

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