End Grain Cutting Board - Dovetailed

[Rob Wright]

Well I have been wading for a while now and have decided to finally post something. LOML wanted a new end grain cutting board and I thought that I should also make one for my sister since she is getting some new soapstone counters next week ( I will post that prgress also). I saw a posting a few weeks ago from somebody that linked to Bally Block. The site showed a really neat end grain butcher block with dovetails to link the blocks together better. So tonight I tried my first attempt at one with the dovetails... bear with me!

is what I was thinking of.
the two blocks together.
A milled piece of wood a little less than 2-in square
I centered the dovetail bit by eye into the center of the 2-in stock
flipped the stock 180 deg and ran it through again to make sure that the female dovetail was centered.

[Rob Wright]

finished milled dovetail
my sketch on how I will make the male end of the dovetail. I will mill to parallel dovetails inot the oposite side of the 2x2 and then work out the spacing. Spacing was determined by first placing a 3/4" spacer against the fence ( pic 3)
shows the spacer against the fence. I milled a dovetail, flipped 180 and milled the other side. The coresponding male center dovetail was too large. I ran the 3/4" spacer through my thickness planer removeing 1/32". I then re-ran the dual dovetail piece through. This made the male piece smaller. I kept doing this until I got a good fit that was not too tight.
milling the second dovetail after flipping 180
completed milling of two pieces for male ends.

[Rob Wright]

now we have to remove the waste from the dual dove tail side to reveal the male dovetail. The scrap will be trapped between the blade and the fence - I know - not the safest thing, I just stood out of the way and had the scrap hit the trash bin behind me.
completed first cut
completed second cut
the two test pieces prior to putting togther. They are reating on top of the piece I made of 8/4 rock maple.
I put the two pices together and then cros cut in the chop saw to show end result
I milled 6 pieces of 8/4 to 2" square about 48" long. made the joints, cut them into 16" pieces and then glued them all togther to form the peice that was under pic # 5

[Rob Wright]

I crosscut the larger blank into 2" strips. I am unsure if I prefer the dovetails atlernating from strip to strip or if I like them all the same way ( pics 1 and 3) What do you think?

I hope to glue up the blnk tomorrow night and start the finsihing process on thursday. Hopefully they will be happy!

[Pete Brown]

I crosscut the larger blank into 2" strips. I am unsure if I prefer the dovetails atlernating from strip to strip or if I like them all the same way ( pics 1 and 3) What do you think?

I hope to glue up the blnk tomorrow night and start the finsihing process on thursday. Hopefully they will be happy!

The board looks very nice! I like them alternating.

Pete

[Gregg Feldstone]

pretty cool......how about dovetailing all four sides? THAT WOULD WIN SOME AWARDS!!! AND BE THE STRONGEST CUTTING BOARD EVER MADE!!!

[Rob Wright]

Greg,
Thanks..
I though about all 4 sides. I wondered if I could cut & mill the pieces accurately enough. If I did do a 4 sided joint, I would have to crosscut all the pieces then assemple all of the little blocks and glue together. I am not so sure it would end up square.:(

[Howie French]

Rob, that is really neat, I also like the alternating pattern.
Looking forward to seeing it finished.


Howie

[Jim Becker]

What a kewel project!!!!

[Karin Voorhis]

This is a very cool and exciting new idea please post more pics as it progresses and is finished too...

[Howard Acheson]

Hopefully, not to rain on your parade but you might want to take a look at the following about building end grain butcher blocks. Pay particular attention to the grain orientation section.

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.

Generally, threaded rod is not used as maple has quite a bit of movement when it's moisture content changes. Threaded rod would restrict this movement and either deform the block or pull the nut/washers into the wood when it expanded leaving the rod performing no function when the wood later shrinks. Proper gluing will keep the block together.

Finally, it always much cheaper, and a lot less aggrevating to purchase a butcher block than to make one. The firms that specialize in end grain butcher blocks have speciaiized equipment to apply the necessary clamping force, plane the initial boards exactly correctly, plane the first glue up and then clamps to make the final block.

Before the advent of good adhesives, true butcher blocks were make with dovetails. It's a lot of work.

[Von Bickley]

Rob,

Thanks for sharing the pictures.... Hope to see them when they are finished.:)

[Rob Wright]

Just so everyone understands - the small fir blocks that I made were after the fact to show how I made the large glued up panel that is cut into the strips in the last pictures. I was not going to glue those up, but the end grain in the fir did show off quite nicely with the wide growth rings. In my large maple piece that is shown clamped down with Kreg Bench Clamps in many pictures, I did exactly what you spoke about -laminted the strips into a panel to be later cross-cut- but I first milled the adjoing edges with the dovetails, coated them with glue, slid them together and then clamped them for the day in a rack. The last pictures shows that I then crosscut the larger face grain block, then turned the pieces 90 degrees to expose the end grain. With some good advice form others, I have decided to orientate the dovetails alternating, and will trim the exterior after I have clamped and glued them up.

I agree in the fact that you shouldn't glue flat sawn to quarter sawn, and I have tried to avoid it as much as possible in the largeer maple slab that is shown. Although, I do have a few pieces that are not perfectly orientated, but after looking at the $104 plus shipping one from Bally Block http://www.mapleblock.com/detail/gourmet-cutting-boards-36/
I think that mine follows the form very well.

This is where I got my inspiration from. http://www.mapleblock.com/detail/the-language-of-butcher-block-61/

And a few pictures from their site -

Thanks for all of the comments!:o

[Rob Wright]

Completed the sanding and oiling of the one completed board. The other one has just come out of the clamps. Now to find some time to smooth that one out!

Thanks for looking:) - Rob

[Matt Day]

Very cool!

[Sam Blanchard]

Rob: Definitely one for the 'favorites' folder. Thanks for all the GR8 photos:)

[Merle Clor]

Very nicely done and documented.

[Jim Dunn]

Real neat project. Your wife will be happy I'm sure.