End Grain Cutting Board (with Hand Cut Inlay)

This is an end grain cutting board made from reclaimed white pine with inlay made from reclaimed mahogany. This pine comes from some salvaged paneling in a church renovation and the mahogany came from some old deck balusters. The cutting board features a moose as requested by a customer up in the great white north.

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Notable Materials:

> Pine

> Mahogany

> Mineral Oil

> Waterproof Wood Glue

> Rubber Feet & Screws

> Spray Adhesive

Notable Tools:

> Miter Saw

> Table Saw

> Thickness Planer

> Pipe Clamps

> Bandsaw

> Palm Router

> Chisels

> Belt Sander

> Palm Sander

> Router Bits

This salvaged pine paneling was the base for the cutting board. I dig some out of the snowy pile and bring it down in the subterranean shop.

The pieces are first cut to rough length on the miter saw.

These pieces are then cut down into strips around 1-3/4" on the table saw.

It takes a lot of strips!

I then use the thickness planer to clean up the top and bottom surfaces prior to the glue-up.

Like I said, lots of strips...

A waterproof glue is applied to all of the strips and spread out.

These strips are all glued together in 3 sections by skipping glue in 2 locations. I actually ended up getting 5 cutting board blanks out of this glue-up, one was for the moose cutting board.

Once dry after about 24 hours, the three glued panels are removed from the clamps.

These planks are then sent through the planer to bring them down flat and prepare them for the 2nd glue-up

The strips are cut down into pieces around 1-5/8" long. This will make the final thickness of the cutting board 1-1/2" after it's flattened.

Pieces are alternated prior to the 2nd glue-up to increase the stability of the board along with adding a cool alternating grain pattern.

These pieces are then glued up with scrap pieces on the flat on the end to prevent chip-out later when sending the board through the planer.

Once this drys for a day, I send it through the planer with some sharp blades to bring it down to final thickness.

I glued up another small panel for the inlay using the same process, this time out of mahogany. I used contact cement to temporarily fix the moose pattern to the mahogany to follow as a pattern while cutting out the shape.

The key to the inlay is to cut the inlayed piece first, then use this as a pattern for what is cut out of the board.

I cut the moose out on the band saw as accurately as possible, but with this being used to trace out the hole in the cutting board it doesn't really matter how close it is.

The shape was then traced on the cutting board to be removed.

This hole was done by hand, slow and steady, with a palm router and cleaned up a bit with chisels.

The moose inlay was then glued and clamped into place

The excess thickness of the inlay is cut off and sanded flush.

And sanded...

And sanded...

Handholds are created using a router with a coved router bit in it.

4 coats of mineral oil are rubbed into the finished cutting board with time in between to allow the oil to soak in.

Rubber feet are attached with screws to the bottom to keep it from sliding around the counter.

And it's complete! Just a trip to the beach for some timelapses and a photo shoot before being sent off to Canada.

The names on the from were applied using toner transfer with acetone.

Don't miss the build video!