A whole lot of firsts

[john whittaker]

Been working on several projects including the attached cutting boards. One is an end grain chop block made from 8/4 maple & walnut. The others are all 4/4 lumber and a combination of maple, walnut, oak, lyptus, yellowheart, bloodwood & Brazilian cherry. This whole cutting board thing started for me with a request from daughter. She wanted an end grain chop block like she sees on "The Cooking Channel" So I made her two solid walnut 8/4 end grain blocks. When finished I decided to make some more for gifts.

I enjoyed seeing pics of Vaughn's boards and will probably steal...errr borrow some of his ideas. Also might try something similar to the boards shown on this sites tutorial page.

This was a good learning experience as it gave me a good indication as to the workability of each of the woods used. This is an excellent project for beginners because you will use & improve on many basic woodworking skills. It's also a good way to use some smaller length lumber lying around.

[john whittaker]

Wanted to post a pic of the solid walnut 8/4 boards. I used mineral oil on the walnut boards but switched to Kerfs Cream for all the others. Kerfs is all food grade ingredients and seems to be more of a wax than an oil. I liked the satin finish of the wax better than the mineral oil. Both will require maintenance periodically.

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice work John, those are great looking pieces. Both you and Vaughn appear to be the cutting board gurus. Thanks for the pics!

Corey

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very nice, John. I really like the big maple/walnut chopping block. That's a very substantial piece of wood. I also like the way you did the sides of the zig-zag board. It looks much faster that the "frame" approach I've been using, and it'll likely hold up better over time. (I'll probably be steal...er...borrowing that idea on a future board or three.) I gotta warn you though, as soon as friends and family start seeing those boards, you'll be getting lots of requests for more. ;)

As you mentioned, cutting boards are a great way to hone beginner skills and to get experience with different hardwoods. That was a large part of my motivation for doing them. After about 20 years of not doing any woodworking (other than home improvement stuff and light carpentry), I needed something to build to re-learn some of the basic things I used to know. Cutting boards fit the bill for that. Now I'm looking for a bit more challenge, and starting to think and work in three dimensions. (I have a few box projects underway right now.)

Well done, John -

- Vaughn

[Dick Parr]

Very nice John, beautiful patterns.

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice work John. :)

But there is a problem. :( The boards are so beautiful, that no one will want to cut on them. :D

[Mike Stanton]

All I can say they are beautiful Mike

[Corey Hallagan]

I have to agree with Frank. I would tend to view cutting on a board like those similar to someone painting a walnut cabinet! Of course I am the guy that blows off and wipes all his tools down after using and gives them an armorall treatment when they start to dull :( Hopeless, I know.

Corey

[Russ Massery]

Very nice John, I made some a few years ago, they love them so much they won't use them to cut on, just put them out for show. :rolleyes: Nice work thanks for showing us, we love pics.

[Jesse Cloud]

My wife used to work in a high-end crafts store that sold lots of cutting boards. When customers would say 'I wouldn't want to cut on it because its so beautiful' my wife would suggest, 'well, just cut on one side and leave the other side for show.' Nice idea, but I'm not sure it would really work....:rolleyes:

[john whittaker]

Corey....I need you to come to my shop and clean up a bit. I've seen your shop pics and it is just WAY too neat. When mine gets too dirty, I just pull out the leaf blower and BAM....clean in 10 seconds.:D

As far as the boards being "too pretty". Daughter uses her boards every day (fabulous cook) and the end grain holds up very well. The grain did raise a bit from moisture, but after it's knocked down (scraper)...it stays put. So I started raising the grain on all the end grain boards before giving away. The edge grain boards are not for chopping....just serving cheese and such. Many friends & family are from UNC and known as the wine & cheese crowd so they'll fine a use for em.:rolleyes:

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Very nice work, John.

Bruce