Cutting Board Glue-Up Question

[Marty Tippin]

This cutting board consists of 25 slices, 3/4" thick x 1-3/4" tall each. (It's clamped for the photo)

How would you tackle the glue up, given that horizontal alignment of each slice is critical in order for the pattern to come out cleanly?

I'm thinking 3 smaller glue ups (8, 8, 9) and then glue those 3 together. Any better ideas?

[Jamie Buxton]

Whatever you choose, I'd suggest epoxy with a slow catalyst. It gives you a nice long time to get everything aligned before it starts curing on you. West Systems or System Three. Epoxy is also very water resistant, which is a nice characteristic for something that might get water on it.

To answer your question, I'd test-clamp the whole thing up. If I could get everything to align correctly dry, I'd go to epoxy.

[Steve Wilde]

Holy crap batman! That's really cool but looks like a serious PIA to glue up!

[mreza Salav]

I've made a few similar (but smaller):

325484

The way I did the glue-up was to keep the strips (3/4"x3/4") long and then do the glue-up that gives you 1/4 of the cutting board. Then cut that and get four sections that are put next to each other to get the whole board except that single square in the middle; that is added at the time of gluing those four sections.
I suppose it is too late for this board you are making. I'd use a few rounds of glue-up (don't attempt to glue it all at once).

[Andrew Hughes]

I agree with Batman it will be a very cool board if you can pull it off.Looks like it was hard to make.

[Jerry Miner]

I think your plan is good. Do as many in one glue session as you can comfortably arrange accurately. Remember that things will start to slide around once the glue is on, so be a little conservative with your approach.

[Marty Tippin]

Well, so much for that...

I tried doing a 3-section glue up - 8, 9, and 8 slices each. The individual glue-ups went pretty well as far as alignment of the slices. But the front and back end of the "middle" section bowed a little bit and now there's no way to join the 3 sections together cleanly. I think I should have used a solid piece of hardwood at the front and back of each section when clamping to help ensure that it was straight - the individual slices were only 3/4" thick and were pretty flexible side to side.

Live and learn, I guess...

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> - I think I should have used a solid piece of hardwood at the front and back of each section when clamping to help ensure that it was straight - the individual slices were only 3/4" thick and were pretty flexible side to side.

You may want to re-think that too. Solid wood edging on an end grain cutting board will lead to problems. The small end grain pieces will want to expand and contract with changes in moisture content. The solid wood edging will want to prevent the movement and something will "give". Either the field will split or glue lines will fail. You need to be sure that the field can freely expand and contract without hindrance.

[mreza Salav]

To glue-up my boards I use a piece of melamine with two pieces of "fence" (think 1" wide by 2" high wood, long enough) screwed to make a "corner". Then I put my pieces on the board and push into that corner, use two other pieces of wood on the opposite sides to clamp all pieces into a rectangle sandwiched between them. Works well. You have to use packing tape on the surface of these pieces of wood of course (to avoid gluing to them).

[Glenn de Souza]

Since precise alignment is critical here, I would line the pieces/slices up working two at a time precisely the way you want, make two pencil marks across each pair, and using the pencil marks, drill for dowels for registration. You could drill for the dowels using a spiffy dowel jig like the Jessem or you could simply make a shop made dowel jig for this project. The reference for the jig will always be the top of the cutting board, and the dowels will prevent any horizontal or vertical slipping and sliding when it comes time to glue. I would also use cauls across the glue-up to keep everything flat, although the dowels will help with that, at least along one direction, so orient the cauls across the other perpendicular direction. I hope this makes sense.

[Pat Barry]

Well, so much for that...

I tried doing a 3-section glue up - 8, 9, and 8 slices each. The individual glue-ups went pretty well as far as alignment of the slices. But the front and back end of the "middle" section bowed a little bit and now there's no way to join the 3 sections together cleanly. I think I should have used a solid piece of hardwood at the front and back of each section when clamping to help ensure that it was straight - the individual slices were only 3/4" thick and were pretty flexible side to side.

Live and learn, I guess...
I would try using something stiffer than hardwood for this. Maybe create some cauls out of laminated plywood. That wiill provide a good reference for your glueup