Question about laminating different wood for cutting board.

[Erik Litts]

I'm working on cutting board options for my mother who has degenerative issues with her thumbs that has resulted in low grip strength. This means that her old solid maple cutting board isn't usable anymore because she can't grip it tight enough to carry it.

My first solution was a solid wood board made from Paulownia (Kiri) because it's apparently popular for this purpose in Japan. Unfortunately, I suspect that this isn't going to hold up well at all when combined with the kind of hacking/sawing that goes on at my parent's house. (as opposed to the style of cutting done by pros trying to save their knife edges)

So now I'm considering finding a harder wood with similar dimensional stability to Paulownia and laminating 1/4" or 3/8" boards over my 1" of Paulownia. (I'd be laminating 2" wide sections then gluing up the laminated sections) Unfortunately I'm just barely getting into actual woodworking (as opposed to rough construction) and I don't know enough about wood movement and joinery to know whether this is:

• A fool's errand;
• Difficult but worth trying;
• Done all the time and I'm just unaware of it.

Advice?

[Jamie Buxton]

Well, I don't think it is common, but it is not a fools errand either. Make the grain direction of the maple run the same direction as the paulownia. Use a water-resistant glue like Titebond II. (I'd use epoxy like West Systems 105, and a vacuum bag for the lamination step.)

One different thought... Could you just cut holes for handles through her old solid maple board? She could kinda hook the board with her fingers, and not need thumbs at all. And she gets to keep her familiar board.

[Erik Litts]

Well, the thumbs is the biggest problem, but overall her hand strength is just poor. (She'll be 70 in Nov.) I don't think the issue is simply moving the board to the counter to cut on it. She also wants to be able to then carry the board with the food on it to wherever she is preparing a meal and the overall weight of the board plus the food just makes her feel unstable.

But thank-you for confirming that I'm not crazy for considering the idea.

[Mike Henderson]

What's your goal here? Are you just looking for a lighter wood for her to carry, or are you going to work on some special hand holds?

How big are you making the new cutting board (length, width and thickness)? I've made cutting boards that are relatively thin and they work fine for people. That might be a way to lighten the board.

Mike

[Richard Coers]

Just make the board thin. No one is going to wear out a 1/2" thick piece of hard maple. I also find that a 6" wide cutting board works really well for all kinds of cutting. From a sandwich to carrots. If she wants a bigger board latter, the 6" wide will still be useful.

[Erik Litts]

Her general preference for cutting boards is "Freaking Huge". (regardless of the practicality) Her previous board was about 24" wide and basically the same depth as a standard kitchen counter. So I'm trying to make a board out of wood light enough that she can still have and use the size she likes. Thickness isn't something she obsesses over, but I've seen her use her cutting board to transport 20lb turkeys (by recruiting a grandchild to do the carrying) so it needs to be strong enough to deal with that to. Furthermore, it needs to be thick enough to be used with feet on the bottom rather than sitting flat on a countertop because she's lost more than one board to warping when it sat in a puddle of water for days.

Yes, I realize in an ideal world, this could all be dealt with by retraining the cook. But she's got 55 years of her own cooking practices under her belt at this point, so I'm certainly not going to tilt at that windmill.

[Erik Loza]

Her general preference for cutting boards is "Freaking Huge". (regardless of the practicality) Her previous board was about 24" wide and basically the same depth as a standard kitchen counter. So I'm trying to make a board out of wood light enough that she can still have and use the size she likes.

Is wood the best choice, in that case? My wife has a pretty big cutting board made out of Garolite (phenolic) that would probably meet all your criteria. It might be 3/8" thick and very rigid and lighweight. Just thinking out loud.

Erik

[David Utterback]

Can the current board be cut down to size?

[Erik Litts]

Is wood the best choice, in that case? My wife has a pretty big cutting board made out of Garolite (phenolic) that would probably meet all your criteria. It might be 3/8" thick and very rigid and lighweight. Just thinking out loud.

Erik

Can the current board be cut down to size?

Thing is, this really isn't a case of trying to find a functional solution for her cutting needs. She has small cutting boards that she's been using for a year or so. This is an attempt to meet the desire of someone with diminishing physical capacity who wants to retain an aspect of her previous cooking experiences. If it can't be done, so be it; I'd just like to find a way if one exists.

[Jim Becker]

I wouldn't laminate material on top of the paulownia...given the fact that cutting boards come in contact with "raw moisture" constantly, wood movement and uneven expansion/contraction will be exacerbated more than ever. You can do a strip lamination in any thickness that's comfortable for your mother to handle. Clamping is a little harder the thinner it goes, but with care, you can get the job done and with all the material having grain running in the same direction, it will be stable and able to expand and contract across the grain without issues.

It's generally not the best idea to laminate "veneer" that's thicker than about 1/8" or so on dissimilar wood.