Making an end grain cutting board
I've been doing a lot of cooking lately and want to make a couple of end grain cutting boards. Seems like a simple project but I have some questions for those who've already been down that road.
1. What's the best wood to make a cutting board out of? Maple?
2. After you glue up all the pieces, how do you flatten the cutting board? Since it's end grain, running it through the planer might not work well. Do you sand or use a hand plane? Or what?
Mike
1 Attachment(s)
Black Walnut Chopping Board
I recently made a end grain chopping board out of some left over black walnut cut offs. It was a challenge to get flat. Walnut end grain ( most end grains for that matter ) are really tough. I used a LN Low Angle Jack, a Stanley 80, several card scrapers, a LN adjustable mouth block plane, and a Japanese standing iron plane. After several hours of not quite getting what I wanted, ie. a flat surface with no tear outs, I made a simple jig similar to the ones shown in other threads here on SMC with a Milwaukee router and a surfacing bit. I took the top 1/16th off the whole worse side in a matter of minutes. Then I went back to a freshly sharpened LN LA Jack and had her done with another 1/2 hour worth of elbow grease.
The original blocks were cut with a band saw. Even with being very careful with the cuts and truing the ends of the stock piece between each cut, there was enough irregularity to the work surface that mandated truing with planes. The router jig was noisy, dusty, and not fun. I guess I'm getting too spoiled with my normal happy hand plane use. Still if I made several of these, the non-permanent jig I put together to true the rough surface would get changed to a permanent jig with happy results more quickly arrived at.
Finish was two heavy coats of walnut oil. Once dried, then a quick rinse with hot soapy water. Add walnut oil once a month for 3 months and after that as need arises.