Wavy Chopping Board

I've made a few chopping boards over the past couple of years. I saw a picture of a wavy wood chopping board and thought I've got a load of off cuts so why not give it a go.

Various hard woods. I used oak, Sapele, ash, walnut and cherry. approx. 25mm x 600mm or 1" x 24".

Titebond III Adhesive or another food safe alternative.

Scrap wood to make the clamping jig.

As many clamps as you can get your hands on.

Bandsaw.

Thicknesser or a belt sander.

Router with a round over cutter.

Orbital sander.

Chopping board oil. I got mine from a well know Swedish furniture outlet.

I cut the strips on my not too accurate bandsaw from offcuts of the wood listed above. I set the guide at around 3mm or 1/8". The blade left quite a rough finish and a variation in thickness. Both of which I worried about but with enough glue and clamps there was no need to worry. I cut 68 pieces which gave me a finished width of approx. 200mm or 8". Cut more if you want a wider board.

I used a piece of old worktop as the base and screwed two pieces of 50x50mm or 2"x2" one along the edge of the base the other approx.150mm or 6" higher so the difference in level was around 150mm or 6". I covered the base in decorators carpet protector tape so the glue wouldn't stick the project to the base.

I applied glue to around 10 strips then clamped one end to the jig, I then loosely clamped the other end, added clamps along the length before finally tightening the second end clamp.

I left the strips to dry for a couple of days before repeating the process again and again until I had used up the strips.

As can be seen in the image of the offcut several of the strips had slipped and had not sat against the base of the jig.

I marked the ends and cut off the uneven strips to leave the board as long as possible.

I ran the board through my second hand well worn thicknesser flipping it over after each pass until it was flat on both sides. I guess you could use a belt sander if you've got one.

I rounded the corners then ran around the edges with my router to take off the sharp edges both top and bottom.

Next sanding, sanding and more sanding. Once good and smooth make it wet to make the grain stand up, allow to dry then sanding, sanding and more sanding. Repeat the last step and guess what? Sanding, sanding and more sanding.

I applied food safe chopping board oil several times until the board could not absorb any more. Polish with a clean cloth.

Use it which ever way you please. I just seemed to fit the tomahawk steak better than coffee cups.

I hope I made some sense of the process.

All the best and stay safe.

Power tools bite.