Maple & Bubinga Cutting Board

[John Michaels]

Made this cutting board for my wife. The dark wood is Bubinga and the lighter wood is Eastern Maple. I was able to use scrap pieces from a larger woodworking project I'm working on. It's roughly 16" X 16".


http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/BubingaCuttingBoard.JPG

[Corey Hallagan]

Very nice...never made a cutting board myself. You did great.

corey

[Karin Voorhis]

That is a very nice cutting board. I will be making my first one soon. Could you give me any tips on what tools and anything else I need to know.

I have for this project so far:

Wood
tightbond 3 glue
Mineral Spirt
round routing bit 1/2" and 1/4 " (never used one before any tips?)
Tablesaw

I could really use some help on this one. This will be the project that gets me full blown into woodworking..:cool:

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I make them quite often. First I plane the wood, then cut into strips of whatever width I want the thickness of the cutting board to be. Mostly this means 1" strips. Once planed the wood is around 13/16"-7/8" thick so each strip is this wide on the board. I use the Woodcraft clamping system to keep the glue ups as flat as possible.

Once the glue dries, it's time to plane again on both sides to clean up the glue and also level the board. After I cut the shape [which is never square or a rectangle anymore, then I rout a roundover on one side.

The finishing starts with sanding...120 then 220 grain with my ROS. Lastly I coat liberally with Mineral Oil and wipe off the excess after a few minutes.

You can see the clamps and a few boards I made here...
http://www.hannawoodworks.com/KellysCuttingBoards.html

[Jim Becker]

Very nice work. The contrast between the bubinga and maple is great and the figure in the bubinga stands out nicely, too.

Cutting boards and similar are really great projects, both by themselves and as "filler" projects using scrap from other larger efforts.

[Karin Voorhis]

Wow Those are lovely!!! Nice work!!!! Very helpful directions too.....
The only thing is that @ the moment I have no planer and everyone that I have talked to says plane them.
Any other way or else if not a nice inexpensive so to speak planer????




I make them quite often. First I plane the wood, then cut into strips of whatever width I want the thickness of the cutting board to be. Mostly this means 1" strips. Once planed the wood is around 13/16"-7/8" thick so each strip is this wide on the board. I use the Woodcraft clamping system to keep the glue ups as flat as possible.

Once the glue dries, it's time to plane again on both sides to clean up the glue and also level the board. After I cut the shape [which is never square or a rectangle anymore, then I rout a roundover on one side.

The finishing starts with sanding...120 then 220 grain with my ROS. Lastly I coat liberally with Mineral Oil and wipe off the excess after a few minutes.

You can see the clamps and a few boards I made here...
http://www.hannawoodworks.com/KellysCuttingBoards.html

[glenn bradley]

Love the contrasting woods. I failed miserably on my first attempt at an end grain board (a large belt sander could cure my skill-ills). I'll have to have a go at a long grain board to try to redeem myself.

[glenn bradley]

Karin, this thread has some tips:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=24746

[Jason King]

Excellent job on the cutting board. If you don't have a planer to make everything even and level you do have other options. I personally use a hand plane and scraper. A thickness sander would also work. A belt sander would work, but it would be dusty and somewhat risky if you have a tendency to gouge what you sand like I do.

[Marcus Carr]

I like your choice of spatial relation between the two woods. Beautiful work.

Marcus

[Mike Cutler]

John.
Nice cutting board. It's pretty with the contrasting woods,and irregular widths. Nice work.
Cutting boards are fun. I made a few learning to make breadboard ends. Scrap wood is great for them.

Karin.
There are a number to ways to plane a board flat in abscense of a planer. There is the handtool method with handplanes.
There is also a method to plane them with a router suspended overhead in a travelling transome. Using a bowl bit or a 3/4" straightbit with bottom cutters.

I'll post some pic's in a seperate thread if you are interested tonite when I get off work.

[Karin Voorhis]

Thanks very helpful full thread there.

Marcus: I would love to see the extra post and the router tips.


Karin, this thread has some tips:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=24746