Menu
What's new

End Grain Cutting Boards

Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,631
Location
Thomasville, GA
Nothing fancy here - these are meant to work!

I had a nice hunk of 8/4 red oak left over from my queen size platform bed project and had thought for months about using it for an end grain cutting board. This is the result.
EG1_a1.jpg


The large board is about 15.75" by 12.25"; small one is 7" square. I had intended to make just the large board and made up a couple of extra strips in case I had an issue with any others. All of them worked out fine, so I decided to make a little sister for the big board.

EG1_a2.jpg


The board I started with was about 1.875" thick by almost 10" wide. By the time I milled it up, I had strips a hair larger than 1.75" square by 14" long. The wood remained stable throughout the processes because it was a quartersawn piece to start with and had been in my shop for a couple of years. I wanted something other than square corners and played with some options in SU. I printed a template and shaped a scrap of 1/4" plywood to use as a pattern to mark the corners. After bandsawing and disc sanding, I had the shape I wanted. A 1/4" roundover on the top and bottom edges finished both boards. The next step was to apply several coats of mineral oil.

EG1_b.jpgEG1_c.jpgEG1_d.jpg
 
Really nice Bill :thumb: Did you run them thru a drum sander or did the glue up go well enough you could just go to orbital?
 
Ken Cook said:
Looks great, the big one should just about hold a nice sized steak ;) and the little can be devoted to the onion rings :D call me when they're ready Bill :wave:
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan, Ken!


Jeff Bower said:
Really nice Bill :thumb: Did you run them thru a drum sander or did the glue up go well enough you could just go to orbital?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jeff. I ran them through the drum sander with 80 grit to knock off the glue squeeze-out. They were actually pretty flat, but I ran them through the drum sander with 120 grit to perfect them. After I rounded the corners and the top and bottom edges, I used my ROS with 150 grit to smooth out both boards.
 
Nice boards, but I think I'd have a problem using them.

Oak is an open cell wood. Food juices can turn the board rancid. The mineral oil finish would have to be renewed often, I would think. Don't know really. Just have this thought.

That said, I have a couple of boards for show only; one because it has mahogany, also open celled, in it, and the other is a demo board of complimentary template routing, maple, cherry and walnut swirl. I have other boards to use, so these are for show only.
 
Love the look of the grain pattern. I too shy away from open cell species for "daily user" cutting boards but, have used all kinds of things for decorative boards.
 
Carol Reed said:
Nice boards, but I think I'd have a problem using them. ...
Click to expand...

I've used a wood cutting board for 15 years. Granted, it's an edge-grain board I made, but still wood. When I use it, I wash it immediately with dish detergent (Dawn) and a scrubbing pad to cut the fats, etc., from the board. After a few uses, I refresh the mineral oil. When one actually uses a board like that, one can see when it's time to add more oil to the surface.

After the initial coats of mineral oil settle into these boards, I'm planning to add beeswax to the blend for a bit more protection.

While many commercial boards are made with woods such as maple and ash, a lot of them are made with red oak.
 
Bill, those are wonderful looking boards. One question how did you get the halo effect around each square? In the photos it really makes the board pop.
Love to make these boards as your imagination can run wild. Never had any problem with the finishing of boards. Just soak with mineral oil a bunch of times.
Make sure end user under stands they have to do the same.
I'm usually into cheese boards with the wire cutter. They sell pretty well at small store here.
David
 
Bill, handsome boards! I'm about to do an oak board myself. Noone has selected oak in my KS project, but I picked some up, so it will be in the first run of boards I'm working on right now. (I'm doing a bunch of the smaller boards just to get them out of the way).
 
David Johnson said:
Bill, those are wonderful looking boards. One question how did you get the halo effect around each square? In the photos it really makes the board pop. ...
Click to expand...

Thanks, David. I wish I could say the halo effect is my aura emanating from the wood!

But, reality says it's most likely a result of a bit of residual glue. I had enough squeeze-out to ensure a full joint. As it set up, I scraped it off with a putty knife, then sanded when the glue was cured. The photos were taken after only a couple of light coats of mineral oil. As they sat overnight inside the house, some of the halo effect was going away in some areas. I suspect the color will even up more when I get some paraffin mixed with mineral oil.
 
Ned Bulken said:
Bill, handsome boards! I'm about to do an oak board myself. Noone has selected oak in my KS project, but I picked some up, so it will be in the first run of boards I'm working on right now. (I'm doing a bunch of the smaller boards just to get them out of the way).
Click to expand...

Well, I assure you I'm not trying to compete with your project, Ned. Truth be known, I'm going through my stock deciding what to use for a couple of projects. The best thing for that leftover oak board was the cutting boards. I need to spend some time organizing my stock so I can see it better!
 
Bill. You said you used wax with the mineral oil. How much do you use? I figure it is melted and the mixed into hot MO.
That the way to go? Does it effect the finish, appearance?
David
 
David Johnson said:
Bill. You said you used wax with the mineral oil. How much do you use? I figure it is melted and the mixed into hot MO.
That the way to go? Does it effect the finish, appearance?
David
Click to expand...

Well, David, I haven't done the wax part yet - having trouble finding paraffin around our little berg. The mix ratio I've seen is a tablespoon of paraffin shavings to a cup of mineral oil, heated in a microwave oven. I'll have to let you know about the appearance after I try it.

Another process I've read about is using only mineral oil applied once an hour for a day, once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, then once a year forever. I could do that, but I feel like I should get a little wax into the end grain boards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top