Cutting board question

[Mitchell Ristine]

Good morning. I have recently began making cutting boards as gifts. I have noticed that after glue up some of the boards have very small, but noticeable, ares where the joint is not perfect and you see a small thin opening. I am wondering how others deal with this? Do you scrap the whole broad? can you fill it with something?

Oh, they are edge grain boards.

Thanks

[Dan Hulbert]

I would rip the board at the bad joint and re-glue.

[Al Launier]

Actually I let my pride dictate my course of action. If I can't redo the joint, as suggested above, I'll scrap & start over, unless I can repurpose the board to a smaller cheese board.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I would rip the board at the bad joint and re-glue.

If this method will spoil the intended design there are methods, such as a clever re-design or ripping out an entire strip and replace, to cope. For instance, if the crack is only at the very edge, perhaps you could cut a half moon shape out of the edge and replace. Do this at other areas as well to balance. You might think about inserting some strips at other angles. There are ways to recover from most challenges.

[Dave Cav]

When I was teaching Shop we would fill gaps in cutting boards with epoxy. If I were making gifts I would redo the joint.

[Pat Barry]

Good morning. I have recently began making cutting boards as gifts. I have noticed that after glue up some of the boards have very small, but noticeable, ares where the joint is not perfect and you see a small thin opening. I am wondering how others deal with this? Do you scrap the whole broad? can you fill it with something?

Oh, they are edge grain boards.

Thanks
I'd be more interested in why there were gaps in the first place. What went wrong to start with? What will be done to correct/prevent the root cause? That's where the bigger focus should be. With regard to the gaps - they either bother you or they don't and the answer to that will dictate your action amongst the ideas offered here by others.

[glenn bradley]

As in many things a picture would help us define "a small thin opening". Take one of the offenders and flood the area in question with mineral oil (I assume you would flood the whole board prior to completion). If the gap is very minor the swelling of the fibers may take care of things. If not, a board with an area that can trap food is not good; repair or replace at your judgement.

Since you have multiple boards with the problem you probably want to fix the process instead of continuing to fix products. Make sure that the pieces to be glued fit together nicely without glue or clamps.

372617

Gaps can come from a poor initial fit.

Increase the number of clamping points or use curved cauls to assure even pressure across the joint.


372616

Whatever the cause, correcting the process beats fixing a problem every time.

[Jake Elkins]

Glenn, what is that orange wood?

[Mitchell Ristine]

Glen,
See the pics. I would love suggestions how to correct the process (I do not have a jointer).
372620
372621

Here's the short version of my process:
Stock through the thickness planer
Cut the stock to length
Rip the strips for glue up
Glue

(sometimes I take the strips and run the face (the gluing surface) against the blade of the table saw and take off like 1/64)

Other than that I am at a loss

Help?

[glenn bradley]

Glenn, what is that orange wood?

Padauk; orange when fresh cut turning through purple all the way to chocolate brown as it reacts to exposure.

[glenn bradley]

Glen,
See the pics. I would love suggestions how to correct the process (I do not have a jointer).
372620
372621

Here's the short version of my process:
Stock through the thickness planer
Cut the stock to length
Rip the strips for glue up
Glue

(sometimes I take the strips and run the face (the gluing surface) against the blade of the table saw and take off like 1/64)

Other than that I am at a loss

Help?

As you state, face jointing is your missing step. Without a reliable reference surface all following steps can potentially add cumulative error. This can be amplified by the rotating, re-cutting and re-rotating of parts when making end grain boards.

The secret to success for me in making my boards is accurate milling. A planet sled can be made in hours and will pay dividends for years to come. I’m at my day job but will try to post more pics.

[Barry McFadden]

When reading your process it seems you rip the boards then do the glue up...I pretty much follow the same process as you but after I rip the boards i run that edge through the thickness planer then do then glue up and everything joins up nice and tight.

[Mitchell Ristine]

As you state, face jointing is your missing step. Without a reliable reference surface all following steps can potentially add cumulative error. This can be amplified by the rotating, re-cutting and re-rotating of parts when making end grain boards.

The secret to success for me in making my boards is accurate milling. A planet sled can be made in hours and will pay dividends for years to come. I’m at my day job but will try to post more pics.

Are you suggesting I can joint the face with my planer using a sled?

[glenn bradley]

Are you suggesting I can joint the face with my planer using a sled?

Yes, I did this for quite (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?58735-Planer-Sled-2-0) a time whilst I saved my pennies for a good jointer. I'll send you a PM.

[Al Launier]

Are you suggesting I can joint the face with my planer using a sled?
Yes, you can and I'm sure Glenn will provide more helpful info on how to make a planer sled. It basically amounts to shimming the top of a board that might be cup/crowned or twisted to minimize the amount of material removal to optimize the amount of useable material (thickness) left that you can work with.

This can be done with wedges or adjustment screws and there are a number of plans available on line. This is the one I built (https://www.google.com/search?q=plans+planer+sled&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPnITQiu7XAhWH44MKHQdkB_kQsAQISQ&biw=1536&bih=760#imgrc=6q8ELEMS8c9dXM:) It can be much simpler than this design, but I tend to complicate. ;)

I believe Glenn has photos of the one he made, or it may still be available from an earlier post he made. You're in good hands with Glenn!

Oops! Looks like Glenn already posted his design/make pictures. Time to wake up Al.

[Al Launier]

Glen,
See the pics. I would love suggestions how to correct the process (I do not have a jointer).
372620
372621

Here's the short version of my process:
Stock through the thickness planer
Cut the stock to length
Rip the strips for glue up
Glue

(sometimes I take the strips and run the face (the gluing surface) against the blade of the table saw and take off like 1/64)

Other than that I am at a loss

Help?
Since you have pieces of varying widths I'd saw cut down that single joint, then plane each adjacent glue side side & re-glue. You can individually place each board section on edge & plane the edge. However, when the board gets to be too tall it would be better to place scrap boards of equal height & plane them all together. Using the additional side boards will add stability when planing. However, the bottom sections of the cutting board should be flat & square to the face of the cutting boards before planing, otherwise the glue face may not mate properly during glue-up & the resulting cutting board may still show an open joint line if things aren't square.