Wood Cutting Board

In this instructables, I will show you the process that I followed to create this wood cutting board.

Wood Species:

Hickory
Maple

Tools Used:

Miter Saw
Table Saw
Plainer
Surface Sander / Sand Paper (180 > 220)
Scraper

For my cutting board, I used a long stock of Hickory and Maple. I choose Hickory because I like the look of the grains visible throughout the piece and I chose Maple because it was a different type of species an readily available at the time in the woodshop.

After you have chosen what species you want your cutting board to be, its time to decide the dimensions. They way I chose the dimensions for mine was by looking at the two pieces of stock I had in front of me. I found two marks on either side of the board where the grains looked the nicest.

My final cutting board dimensions are 8" x ~22" x ~3/4"

Next, cross cut your stock to your desired length. For my cutting board I chose a length of 22 1/2". Make sure to leave a little extra length to account for waste created by the cut.

After you have cross cut your pieces of stock, rip your stock into your desired thickness. Discard any left over scraps that fall under an Inch.

I ripped my stock to 1" pieces.

Next, to prevent any warping, Alternate your end grains so that they are opposite from each other.

After you have alternated your end grains, slide your pieces around to find a design you like and then glue your board together. When you glue your pieces together, glue all faces that touch the ones next to each other. Next clamp your workpiece together and let it set for 24hrs.

During this process I used the technique, "Book Matching". Book matching is adjoining two surfaces to give the appearance of the surfaces mirroring each other.

After 24hrs have passed, scrape off all excess glue from the work piece. Once all the excess glue is removed, run your board through a plainer multiple times until you reach a uniform thickness.

After you have plained it to a uniform thickness, perform a miter cut on the table saw to create a flat edge. Do this for both edges.

For this step, there are a variety of different edges you can choose from to route your board.

For my cutting board, I decided to put rounded edges on all of the corners / edges.

Next, sand all the surfaces using any readily available methods. I used a surface sander with 180 grit. Then, I created sanding blocks using two scrape pieces and 220 grit sand paper. With these blocks, I then sanded all the edges and surfaces of the board.

Wipe down your board with a Tack Cloth (100% Cotton Cloth) with Lacquer Thinner. Allow the wood to absorb / finish drying for 10 minutes.

Next, apply linseed oil to your board and allow 20-30 minutes for the oil to set before applying another coat (2 total).

If you wish to engrave your cutting board, now would be the time to do so.

Papp, Donald. “Hackaday.” Hackaday, Sept. 2018, hackaday.com/2016/12/23/convert-that-cheap-laser-engraver-to-100-open-source-toolchain/.