End Grain Cutting Boards

[Dave Sweeney]

I want to make a bunch of end grain cutting boards to keep on hand for future gifts. I know it's a pretty straight forward project but I've never done anything where the end grain is the primary surface. Am I saying that right?:confused:

I recall seeing that running end grain through a planer can be a tricky proposition. Any hints as to what I should avoid doing or what technique will give me the best results?

[Howard Acheson]

Here's some info that may help.

There is a little engineering that needs to be considered when building an end grain butcher block. 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.

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.

Wood Magazine ran an article last fall on making some end grain cutting boards. You might try to get the Oct, Nov or Dec issue.

[Dennis Peacock]

Dave,

You really don't want to run endgrain through your planer. What you need to so is sand the surface flat. I didn't like it either, but I do have a Performax to run them through to get them flat on both sides. After that, it's just pony up the ROS with one 80 grit, 120 grit, 180 grit and call it done once all surfaces are sanded and look clean. Anything finer than 180 grit won't really yield you any noticable difference.

To cut endgrain? You cutter needs to be as close to razor sharp as possible. If you have some metal scrapers, put a fresh burr on them and use those to help reduce the sanding effort.

I've made several endgrain cutting boards and they turn out really nice, but they are more work than making/finishing up on a standard method cutting board. But hey, the LOML and friends liked the endgrain boards. :D

[al ladd]

The suggestion to keep a constant quatersawn grain orientation might seem to make sense, but when you're done, you have a large board that will experience twice as much (thereabouts) movement in one direction as the other, a sure recipe for cracking, if the board gets big enough, and/or experiences a large enough change in MC. The better approach is to keep your squares small, and flip grain orientation as often as possible, distributing the inevitable stresses to many locations. It's always a bit of a crap shoot trying new woods at larger scales. As for flattening, round over the top trailing edges with router or course belt sander, and plane with thicknesser, limiting cuts to 1/64, ideally sending the piece through on an extended length carrier board with a backer cleat . I know way too much about this subject, but it's still not enough! Al www.alladd.com (http://www.alladd.com)