My First Butcher Block

[Dennis Lopeman]

I still consider myself a new woodworker, even though I've been at it at least 10 years now! Why? There's seems to always be something new to learn and do!! I love it. And my projects are constantly changing, so I'm not like some of you contractor types that get to do the same thing over and over (from whom I've learned so much!! thx)

As is my SOP, when I take on a project, I usual find the most difficult and cool thing to do, just to really challenge myself and force me to learn. ( I'll have to post pix of my kitchen cabinet/drawer face upgrades in cherry someday!!! I totally went too advanced right out the gate! But no injuries and a few more jigs later and I'm a better man!!)

Anyway, this cutting board is no exception to that rule. I've done a fair amount of research (reading blogs, you-tubes, etc) over the past couple years and finally took it on, now that my Kitchen Upgrade is nearing completion and I'm sick of working with cherry! LOL... actually I love that cherry....

My very first cutting board:
1. wood is american black walnut, ash, borders are curly maple ($200 of wood)
2. checkerboard (geesh, lineup is quite harder than it appears!!)
3. 2 FOOT square. 3 inches thick. Yup - think about that..... HUGE and HEAVY... actually subtract about 1/8 inch as sanding/leveling changed it (had to work out slight cupping and unevenness)
4. TiteBond 3... and it's kinda old... so I read some concerns about that. I do have to say that it has worked well so far in all my cherry raised panel glue-ups and a couple other projects. I'm still keeping a weary eye on all of them, now. Another thing about this glue... I was piecing together this cutting board and while I was working, I noticed one piece slide a little and I grabbed my dead blow hammer to adjust. I hit that sucker with everything I had to the point I thought I was going to blow out splinters on the maple border piece!! I had JUST glued it and it would not budge. Not even the 1/16th or so I needed it to!!! So... dunno if that's good/bad, but I certainly don't think I should have problems in the future - but YOU tell me!
5. I love my Bessey Revo Clamps. Guys - if you don't have these, get at least 1 pair - DO IT!! INSANE simplicity and holding power and everything. I have some of those cheapo HF aluminum bar clamps, but I find the force I put on them actually bends, twists the metal... still ok for small stuff, though.... but these Besseys are VERY nice.
6. I'm going to use the mineral oil/beeswax finish trick

Please, gurus, give me all your most candid inputs!!! I mean it. You won't hurt my feelings. This is my 1st cutting board. I'm quite sure those who know can appreciate the nutty amount of work I had to put into this, what seemed simple at first glance, incredibly difficult project. I did learn a couple things along the way and I'm sure my next will be better and faster (and smaller!)... that's what it's all about, right!

A couple pix are forthcoming... with some explanations...

THANKS!
Dennis

[Matt Day]

That sure SOUNDS nice... would like to see it though!

[Dennis Lopeman]

First pictures. I posted this on my facebook for some friends, too... I will cut N paste some of my comments from those pix (in case my grammar seems a little off!) [i work hard but tend to do so in the laziest way I can!]
(sorry about the long pause here - I'm sure everyone was holding their breath while they waited for me!!)

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This first picture shows the prior-to-checkerboard glue-up. Notice the walnut outside pieces. 3 and 4 pieces opposite each other. This is only PART of the border, but the other part will have to be done in a separate glue up since it would have been too big.

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There to the left is the stack of ALL walnut, for the rest of the "bordering" walnut. You'll see below what I mean... i think.... i hope... Gurus will get it right away!
(oh yeah... little leftover there on the right. Gonna make Mom a little board!)

[Howard Acheson]

For the future or for others looking to make an end grain butcher block or an end grain cutting board, here is how it's done.

There is a little engineering that needs to be considered when building an end grain butcher block or cutting board. First, choose wood where the growth rings (viewed from the end) run as close to 90 degrees or parallel to one edge. Remember, the expansion/contraction is about double along the annular rings verses perpendicular to the rings. You've got to keep the grain running in the same direction as you glue up your strips. In other words, don't glue a flatsawn edge to a quartersawn edge. NEVER put a solid wood frame around a butcher block or cutting board. The field will need to be able to expand/contract with changes in humidity.

Next, the way butcher blocks are made is to glue up strips of wood like you were making a laminated type cutting board. These laminated panels are then run through a planer to flatten them and bring them to equal thickness. Then the panel is crosscut into strips of blocks equal to the thickness that you want the butcher block to be. These block strips are then glued together again keeping the grain running in the same directions.

Not paying attention to the grain orientation will lead to the block cracking and/or joints being pulled apart.

A type II adhesive will work just fine however, you need to be sure you do everything right to get good adhesion. Your glue faces should be flat and freshly cut. It they were cut more than a few days earlier, freshen them up with about three swipes with 320 sandpaper and block to keep the faces flat.

Generally, threaded rod is not used as maple and most hardwoods have quite a bit of movement when it's moisture content changes. Threaded rod would restrict this movement and either deform the block or pull the nut/washers into the wood when it's expanded leaving the rod performing no function when the wood later shrinks. Proper gluing will keep the block together.

Finally, it always much cheaper, and a lot less aggrevating to purchase a butcher block than to make one. The firms that specialize in end grain butcher blocks have speciaiized equipment to apply the necessary clamping force, plane the initial boards exactly correctly, plane the first glue up and then clamps to make the final block.

[Dennis Lopeman]

This picture warrented it's own single post. This little DIY tool is super! I could probably spawn it's own thread for it... I think I was going to on ShopSmith a long while back, but time doesn't seem to permit!
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This is my way of saving a few grand!! It's a 27 inch drum sander - fashioned after a sand-flee concept. This helps a TON and really needs to have it's own dedicated motor. I'm getting a little sick of changing it out on the ShopSmith (heavy and bulky). It's made from Corian®cutoff left over from my father-in-law's counters, maple wood base, roller spindle made from 4" PVC pipe and 1/2" metal rod, bearings, and careful engineering to fit to the MAXIMUM size that the ShopSmith would allow. I even wanted MORE length, so you can see on the right side how I made it stick out... the PVC pipe isn't perfectly flat, so I perfected it with the lathe duplicator. Velcro tape around the PVC roller allows the the sandpaper to attach and detach. I added a vacuum port to the bottom (VERY necessary - so much dust!!)... Maybe about $60 altogether (which includes the sandpaper, wood, bearings, shaft, nuts and bolts, etc) and quite a bit of fine-tuning. I made 3 PVC rollers before getting it right!! Now, I get tolerances at about 1/100 of an inch of my boards. Not bad!!!! I have a row of adjustment screws under the Corian®... with is attached with a piano hinge in the back. Also in this picture I had to stack a pile of lumber and my granite feed-off-table because the checkerboard slab of wood was so big and heavy!

what would I do different? the Corian® tends to bend a little due to it's unsupported length. Would need some other thrifty material.
that PVC roller... sure would like a tougher material there, too... but gotta stay on the inexpensive side, as always.
of course a dedicate motor. I have one, actually... and old A/C motor. It does different speeds I think - I just need help with the electric control concept... or run it at full speed all the time... I'll need pulleys, too, and a belt... I have that too... hmmmmm.... I feel a new project in my near future!

If people get really really interested, I think I have some progress pix somewhere... or I can take some good close-ups, too. I built a concept one before this one (no vacuum, no bottom, not really level, etc... but still worked quite well... so I knew a final and carefully built one would be MUCH better!)

[Dennis Lopeman]

Oh good - Howie is here... aren't you the guy I thought I saw in another thread, that has done thousands of cutting boards?? If so, you are who I wanted here! If not... well don't go away!! I want you here, too! LOL... wow - that could be read ALL wrong.

[Dennis Lopeman]

continuing on:
couple pix simply showing a couple stages later... the completed checkerboard pattern and now the other all walnut lengths...

Another thing I would do different would be to NOT have the maple "frame" but instead to it last with just full length boards... my final will show that (not complete at the time of this posting)

Also, you see my clamps. I mentioned earlier that I love those besseys. You see here a combo of those and the HF ones. I'll have to post some damage I've done those guys for you folks!

Look - lot's of glue squeeze out. Good sign of good coverage. But a giant pain to chisle, scrape, sand, clean off.... yeah - I know - I shoulda done it like 4 hours or so after glue up - well I glue at night before bed as I work all day to prepare... I set my goal to be GLUE as the final step of a day...

So you get to see I skipped a couple steps for the vertical (aspect in these pix) glue ups. Another learned lesson here is that not all my squares were exactly square! and thus the lines are not exactly matching up... AND since I did 2 separate glue-ups (walnut - top and bottom in the middle picture here) I didn't get the exact width as the checkerboard!! Wow... so many measurements compounded over so much area sure can make engineering... well... more of an art!!! :) Granted, I'm only off by 1/16, 1/32, and an occasional 1/8 here and there... it should hopefully not detract too much. I'm a little OCD, so we'll see how that goes!! :D

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[Dennis Lopeman]

Here we go!! Dress rehearsal! Wet T-Shirt Contest!! I put in place where it will be in my kitchen. I call this my Butcher Block Peninsula (because it's NOT a kitchen Island!) :)
I wet it down with water - raise the grain and get an idea what it will look like with the oil finish.


Couple thing, guys... see that black walnut sap wood?? I sure would like to darken that.
and Walnut is one crazy wood!!! I forgot to mention the tension releases I got. WHILE I was cutting it, on my table saw, it had no soon left my saw blade and it already starting bowing!!! Holy cow! These were rock solid and very straight pieces to begin with...
Another crazy thing is the colors... dry, they all looked pretty much the same... WET - not even close!!!! Man, it's nuts. I read that walnut will lighten over time... how about blend??? An luck of that? This is $200 of wood. I don't think I wanna spring another 2 Franklin's on a new board...


some blurry - sorry - but you get the idea...
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[Dennis Lopeman]

Ok guys - fire at will

Where's Will???

This is about as far as I am. Last night I glued a nice curly maple side to one side... I'm leaving the other (granite facing) side off for now. I'm thinking I want the side to overhang over the granite, and I'll put a seal (silicon bead?) under border and on granite to keep juices/crud from getting under. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to mate it to the whole thing - but still have some time to face that as I need to build the breakfast bar (see the raised part on the counter?) and back panelling... and you see that I'm going to have a garbage slide-out thing there. Great $20 clearance deal at the L-Borg!

I also sanded. OH - i did forget to mention that I had to start at 40 grit!!! yes.... 40. I had not even opened that sandpaper package before!!! This end grain is VERY hard.

Oh - and I forgot to mention my new-found love for Ash. Nice, Straight, pretty defect-free... It's probably the most stable thing about that cutting board!! :)

[Jim Foster]

Hopefully you'll have good luck with it because it's gorgeous!

[Dennis Lopeman]

Howie... just re-read your post... about purchasing a block - I imagine a block THIS big would have been a pretty penny, a heavy nickle, and a dense dime!!

I spent $200 in wood and about a week of time (off and on as time permitted)... not $1000+

Threaded rods?? Rut Roh... Movement is THAT much? I get the feeling that I'm going to learn a lot from my new cutting board over the next year or so, huh!?

[Dennis Lopeman]

Thanks Jim!

I forgot to mention (I just keep thinking of stuff, huh!?) that this is a checker/Chess board 8x8, for real! I did that on purpose. I'll have to take pictures when it's done with Chess pieces on it. :D

[Dennis Lopeman]

So a summary of questions:

How do I fasten it to the frame? I'm guessing stainless steel screws...
is there a safe way to darken the walnut? Coffee?
do I need threaded rods?

I've been away a long time but it seems sawmill is not quite as active as it used to be... What am I not aware of? Did something happen? Ooor... butcher blocks are boring topic makers???? :)

[Don Kondra]

Dennis,

Threaded rods are not necessary.

If it's not too late already, I would immediately cut off that nice piece of curly maple. Did you not read Howard's post ? :)

Cross grain construction is a no - no :)

As to mounting it to the base, the weight alone is enough to keep it in place.

And years later you can flip it and have a brand new surface..

"wet it with water to raise the grain" ???

Bad idea. Now I doubt you soaked it but adding moisture to one side is asking for trouble. If you "need" to see how it will look finished use a thinner.

For a finish I would use mineral oil, that will impart some color to the walnut and not discolor the ash...

Now who am I to tell you that you can't play chess on your chopping block :)

Visually another row in the middle would balance the design, ie., the corners would all be ash.

Lots of work and a nice result but keep in mind the wood movement issues.

Cheers, Don

[Howard Acheson]

Oh good - Howie is here... aren't you the guy I thought I saw in another thread, that has done thousands of cutting boards?? If so, you are who I wanted here! If not... well don't go away!! I want you here, too! LOL... wow - that could be read ALL wrong.

I've only built maybe 10-12 personally but a shop I owned made 30-40 at one point.

[Dennis Lopeman]

@ DON - thx... I will learn to read one of these days!! SO... to be clear, the maple on 2 sides it endgrain butcherblock style as part of the design. It's the other 2 where I was just going to do the NO-NO cross grain ... I better reconsider... I already did one... hmmmm

@ Howie - I mixed you up with another fella... but definitely appreciate your insite.

OH oh... I gotta run - BRB later guys.

[Dennis Lopeman]

OK - back. Well - it's just Maple and I can get it for about $2/brd-ft - It's COMING OFF!!! It was only 1 side so far. I'll do the endgrain trick like on the other 2 sides (shown in my pictures now)

As for GRAIN orientation - This will either be a lesson learned, or not a problem/concern. I have my old cutting board (store bought from some BORG like BB&B) for many years now and the grains go in all kinds of directions!! I just looked... very closely... it's 2" thick and there are absolutely no signs of separation on any glue joints or cracks in the wood... I probably use it everyday... and of course never let it soak in water or go in the dishwasher.

So... I obviously cannot do anything about this NEW board (cept cut that one border off), so I'm taking my chances. I'm going to bath it in mineral oil several times this upcoming week... and then I'll post back in a couple months/years and see how I'm doing! :)

[Dennis Lopeman]

Oooh - I forgot to post progress!! I did rip of the maple "frame" and changed it to endgrain. I must say it looks WAY better that the other two sides that I built into my "slices." I should have done the border LAST (for anyone studying to do this themselves) You'll see in the pictures that two sides of the frame are perfect and the other two are random placement. I didn't account for the differences in position and since there's such a contrast between the maple and the dark black walnut, it's very easy to see. I see it... friends don't really notice... but I'm a crazy perfectionist like that!

I made the corners from some marblewood my wife gave me for Christmas... yes, she gave me wood! :) Marblewood smells like a barn... reminded me of horse or cow doo-doo... farm... something like that!!

I will of course post all findings about this board as/if they occur. Here are the latest pictures in a nearly finished setup, but not quite stationary:224688224689224690

I've actually made a lot more progress from these pix! My wife found some some Corbels very cheap and I have built out several panels and put the corbels in place. Next on the list is finishing the garbage area panels... The corbels were pretty awesome and only $14/each!!! :) I'll post those pix below... but consider that sort of off topic...

[Dennis Lopeman]

you see how the butcherblock peninsula will blend into the breakfast bar... so not COMPLETELY off topic! :D
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YUP - only $14 each!! What a deal! I bought another pair of a different style for $12/each and I have 2 leftover of these... Fireplace Mantel and bathroom mirror projects will be of my future postings!!! :)
I know I know you all just cannot wait!!!