making cutting boards

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I thought Id be in full swing on my next project, but my vision is so bad right now(even with my glasses, screen is blurry for me) I decided to lay off any major projects.
I did start milling down some sapele/mahogany for my next attempted solid wood piece of furniture.(way above my level of woodworking, but its only wood, and when I fail, Ill toss it, but at least its worth a shot)

As most of us know, this site is loaded with people with great talent and artistic flare.(other people besides myself)

I visited Vaughn's website and think his cutting boards are top notch.

I made a board with the 3-D look vaughn has on his website.I used all cutoffs and scraps, so I didnt get one as large as Id like. All my boards get rubber feet attached to the bottoms with SS screws.Im thinking of giving my new neighbor the 3-D board as a house warming gift, just a hi, Im glad to welcome you.

The shelf piece is going behind my sons bar, Ill shoot a picture after its installed to show why its been cut like that.(its 1/2 inch ply laminated with 1/2 inch mdf, 3 slices and then covered with 1/4 inch mahogany fronts)

Im keeping busy, hopefully my eyesight will give me a break and I can get started again.

Thanx vaughn, your tutorial is so easy peasy even a idiot like me could make an attempt.(I dont own any purpleheart or fancy woods, so its just walnut, maple and mahogany)

on another note, the contractor is finishing up my kitchen and other work today....
 

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Hi Allen, sorry to hear that you are having eye problems, I hope that you can overcome the problem soon. Your projects look great to me I really like your use of scraps for the cutting boards, they are really nice. thanks for posting them.
Charles
 
Nice pieces there Allen!

Hey, take care of your eyes and give them a break.

Can't wait to see your next project... :thumb:
 
Your eyes are probably wacky from looking at the 3D cutting board. Mine are from just looking at the picture :eek::rofl:

I'm getting ready to make some as well. Never made on before. I hope they come out as nice as yours.

Looking forward to seeing your sons bar all finished :thumb:
 
thanx everyone.
I did get some good news just now.
The high sugar levels did not do any damage to my eyes and the bluriness should go away in a few weeks.
Gonna start a serious project this week and just take it real slow.
 
Hey Allen, don't look now but there's a big ol' notch missing from your shelf. :p

Glad to see the tutorial was useful. I really like your version of the 3-D board. It looks like you used thicker wood. I've only had 3/4" stock available when I've made mine, but I like your thick version better. :thumb:
 
This is my first attempt at attaching photos, so wish me luck:

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This is a board I made a month ago. Figured maple, cherry, and black walnut. Finished with mineral oil. I like the way it turned out, but I had a problem I want to share with you.

I followed Vaughn's tutorial, and had 18 strips for the final glue-up. Decided that 16 would be better. Glued two half sections of eight strips each, set them aside for a day and then cleaned them up so that I could glue the two halves together. Then the surprise.

I found that both halves were wider in the center than on the outer edges, by a little less than 1/32nd; in other words, when I put one half against the other, they touched in the middle, but there was a gap of almost 1/16 at either edge.

I have an Incra Miter5000 and TS/LS system, and the saw is well tuned, so I'm sure the problem was with the gluing and not the cuts. I used two Bessey K-bodies on each section, and I thought they were spaced properly, but it appears that i squeezed a tiny bit more glue from the edges than the center each time, with the result I described. I didn't think I could safely force the gaps closed in the final glue-up.

I thought about edging both halves (to cover the biscuit slots) and settling for two small boards, but I hated the idea and decided to try a fix. I can't sand a glue joint, so I ran one of the unused strips through the jointer, but I had too much tear-out on the figured maple.

The outside edges of both halves were dead straight; the bow or belly was in the middle. I decided to trim the bellies off with really fine cuts on the table saw. Used a new Freud thin kerf glue joint rip blade, and got my money's worth from that fence. Good glue joint and no evidence of the fix. Everything fits well.

Next time, I might just glue one strip at a time until the board is complete, rather than build two halves.
 
I followed vaughns advice and glued each two strips seperately.
I waited 45 minutes with each one. I used 3 Jet clamps on each section.
I had one piece that slipped a bit when I ran it through TS, but only one side showed a tiny gap not worth measuring. I turned that side down and my board is only a one use side with feet on the bottom.

I also used 45 degree cuts. Im wondering if I might handle it on the sliding mitre next time.

btw, it was one of the things I liked about Vaughns pages, he listed all the little pitfalls to watch out for.
It wasnt like, ok, cut and glue, then recut and glue strips.

tony, your board is beautiful. Did you make it a tray or leave it as a cutting board?
 
Wow Tony, yours came out looking awesome, too. :thumb:

I get jazzed when someone does one of these boards and shows it to the rest of the gang here. I wish I knew who to give the credit to for this style of cutting board. I have no idea who made the one I stole the idea from. I just saw a small, fuzzy photo of something similar on the Internet and figured out a method for doing the pattern.
 
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