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I Had To Mention Cutting Boards 5 comments

I was finishing up the 2nd round of routed bowls, and I mentioned that the process used to make the bowl blanks … building up the wood by gluing together several boards to get to the bowl dimensions … was the same as used to make cutting boards.

So, of course, I was asked to make a cutting board. And another. I ended up making 5 cutting boards and 3 cheese boards. Velda’s cutting board and cheese boards are discussed separately (link below). Here are the details on these 6x boards.

Alley and Christopher asked that their board be made in brown tones, so it is made from Walnut, Jatoba, Honey Locust, Tigerwood and Cherry. That board is 21″ long x 15-3/8″ wide x 1-1/16″ thick.

MrsMowry asked that her board be very red, so it is made from Purpleheart, Canarywood, Cherry and Hard Maple. That board is 14″ long x 12-1/4″ wide x 1-1/8″ thick.

I made two end grain cutting boards, as made famous by The Wood Whisperer. Fun project, though it’s definitely challenging to work on end grain like this. One is made from Walnut and Hard Maple; the other is Walnut and Yellowheart.

Finally, there’s a cheese board (PERFECT for the scraps that were left over!) which is 10-1/4″ long x 8-3/4″ wide and 1″ thick. The woods used are Cherry, Teak, Canarywood and Mahogany.

Selecting and arranging the boards is done with an eye towards grain, color and balance. This is also the time to inspect each board individually for any defects that might arise as the boards are planed down. Applying mineral spirits to the boards will give you a great look at the finished color of the boards.

Once the layout of the board is done, I taped the individual boards together until I was ready for the glue-up.

When you’re doing multiple projects simultaneously – the only way to be efficient! – organization is key.

The router table is the only way to get smooth & consistent handholds in place.

I did a 3/8″ roundover on each edge, as well.

After a great deal of sanding, it’s time to apply the finish.

I started with a double coat of mineral oil, and then did a topcoat of mineral oil and 25% beeswax. This topcoat will need to be re-applied regularly to keep the cutting boards water-resistant.

This is an end-grain cutting board: each board has been turned on end, so the knife will cut down on the grain, instead of across the grain. This design was made famous by The Wood Whisperer.

The photo doesn’t show much difference, but the upright board is Hard Maple and Walnut. The bottom board is Yellowheart and Walnut.

This colorful board was requested by MrsMowry. Canarywood, Hard Maple, Purpleheart and Cherry.

This cheese board is Mahogany, Cherry and Walnut.

As requested by Alley. Tigerwood, Walnut, Jatoba, Cherry and Honey Locust.

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The Cutting Board

Posted December 29, 2013 by henrymowry in Woodworking

Tagged with Canarywood, Cheese, Cherry, Cutting board, Honey Locust, Hymenaea courbaril, maple, purpleheart, Teak, walnut

Done – Round 3: The Bowl Adventure 1 comment

In round 3, I created a few patterns for personalized bowls … in this case, Velda drew the pattern for her “perfect sourdough loaf” bread bowl.

After hogging out the waste on the drill press, the routing begins.

Here the routing is about half done; I’m through the top layer of Red Oak and just beginning to route the Walnut.

I made two versions. The bottom one was from a single White Oak board, and the other was made from two pieces of 4/4 Red Oak sandwiching a piece of 1/2″ thick Walnut.

This blank is two glue-ups of 4/4 Black Walnut sandwiched around a glue-up of a wonderful old piece of 8/4 Black Walnut.

The perfect snack companion for a football game!

One of my favorite pieces, made from Yellowheart, Teak and Walnut. I was able to piece this together out of scrap, and the results were very unique.

Here’s the same pattern made from two very different wood combinations. On the left, 4/4 Purpleheart and 8/4 Red Oak gives a very different result from the yellowheart/walnut/teak version.

This large square server was fun to make from Hard Maple and Purpleheart. The problem is always that Purpleheart burns SO EASILY when you are sanding or routing. These pieces were still wet (they hadn’t dried out in the workshop for a few months before I machined them), so I believe that made the problem worse.

I made two of these small, shallow bowls. Woods are Koa (in the middle), Cherry (next to the Koa) and Tigerwood. Rather spectacular, and the Koa changes colors as you rotate it in the light.

This simple bowl is made from Honey Locust (on top), Walnut and Cherry. The color variation in the Honey Locust is due to sapwood in the piece that I used … that’s a feature, not a defect!

Same blanks were used for all three: 8/4 Hard Maple with 4/4 Purpleheart. The one on top shows more of the passionate color when filled with candy. Your preference?

I found some wonderful Padauk on sale at the Pasadena Rockler store for just $5.99/board foot. This large bowl is a sandwich of two glue-ups of 4/4 Padauk surrounding a third White Oak glue-up, planed to 1/2″ thick. This bowl used 3 board feet of Padauk and 1-1/2 board feet of White Oak (most of which became sawdust, unfortunately!).

The color is not re-touched. It’s really that orange.

Walnut oil was used to finish all of these bowls. And, oh my, does the color pop on this one!

Padauk is photo-reactive. Over time, UV light will change the bright orange to a warm brown. Better keep it in the dark until Hallowe’en!

This multi-wood blank is destined to be a pretty bowl. After I glued up Jatoba, Cherry, Walnut and Tigerwood, I ran it through the planer to get what will become the bottom of the bowl absolutely flat on both sides.

With the bottom of the bowl flat, I can attach it to a second glue-up of Honey Locust, that will be the rim of the bowl. I used cauls across the top of the bowl to ensure the Honey Locust was glued to the bottom blank at all points.

Colorful shavings when you drill out the not-a-bowl.

You begin to see the ultimate look of the bowl as it is routed out.

All of the bowls got their bottom edge rounded on the router table.

Some got a smooth bottom edge, but this bowl got a relieved bottom, making the bowl appear to float above the table.

The wonderful grain pattern on the outside of the bowl is a piece of Jatoba.

This brand goes on every piece … but Velda has claimed this one!

This bowl has different sections routed to different depths. The blank is two pieces of 4/4 Hard Maple sandwiched around Purpleheart, that I planed down to just 1/4″ in thickness.