Projects: Fun end-grain cutting boards

[David Glauser]

I've been doing these for a month or two, for fun. Turns out to be a good combination of labor, thinking and aesthetics. Woods used here are cherry, walnut, maple, and purpleheart.

Boards01.jpg 20210830_131002.jpg 20210830_130339.jpg 20210809_103151.jpg
This is actually going to be the top for a cherry footstool:
20210720_171824.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Some stunning designs there!

[David Glauser]

The rotating squares and the offset squares designs are built from the inside out, a layer at a time. The rotating squares alternates a thin layer and a thick on, then the thick one is cut at an angle. While making it I wondered what it would look like if both woods were cut at an angle, so I decided to make one and see. There will be no rotating square as such, but the spiral effect should be more pronounced. Or not - we'll see in a week or so.

Since those designs are assembled layer by layer, after the cutting it's 10 minutes of glue-up, then nothing until the next day, when there is 10 minutes of cleanup and 10 more gluing. So, you need to be making multiple boards at once or it's hardly worth going to the shop. I started a basket weave board today to fill in some time. This one will be cherry and purpleheart.

[Patrick McCarthy]

David, color me IMPRESSED. Wow

[David Utterback]

Clever and cool!

[Bernie Kopfer]

Since they will be hanging on the wall as works of art, they will never wear out. The thought of some of those sitting around as drink coasters would probably cause some consternation.

[Ted Calver]

Absolutely beautiful!! The designs are fantastic, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how you built them even though you gave us a word picture of the process. Do you have any progress pictures you would be willing to share?

[John K Jordan]

I like the optical delusions.

JKJ

[David Glauser]

Love that - "optical delusions".

These are working cutting boards. That is, they are all end grain and finished with food-safe finishes. Whether the recipient uses them as such is out of my control.

As for progress pictures, I can dredge up a few. These are from the sunken squares boards. I made up a bunch of strips in two widths, of four woods. The grain runs across the strips, so if stood on edge the top is end grain.

unnamed.jpg

Then I built the board from the inside out. Take the center, glue a thin and a thick strip on sides 1 and 3. On 2 glue thin strips of both woods, and thick strips of both on 4. Then glue a thin and thick on 1 and 3. After each glue-up, I true and square the board. Those three steps add a layer, and part of the next layer:
unnamed.jpg
In that pic, I just glued on a thin purpleheart and a thin cherry on the bottom, and a thick PH and cherry on the top. Then I sanded the part where they extruded (each board is made slightly long because gluing is not always precise). The next step will be to glue a thin cherry and a thin PH on the left side, and a thick one of each on the right. Those to will stick out slightly, then get sanded even, and the process repeats.

For the rotating squares board:
unnamed.jpg
I wrote up this description for some friends:
Steps:
1) Glue 4 walnut pieces together to make center. Let it dry, remove all excess glue.
2) Glue two thin pieces of maple on opposite sides of the center piece.
3) When dry, sand the protruding ends down flush with the center.
4) Glue two thin pieces on the other two sides, wide enough to go from one outer edge of the other thin pieces to the other, plus a little extra. At the same time. glue on two pieces of walnut, 1 inch wide and the same length as the maple.
5) When the glue dries, sand the protruding ends flush.
6) Glue two more 1 inch wide walnut pieces on the other edges, wide enough to extend past the inner maple square.
7) When dry, draw a line from the corner of the inner maple to the outer corner of the walnut. Cut close to that line and sand to the line.
8) Repeat step 7 three more times, making sure that each new cut is at right angles to the previous. The result is a larger square, with the maple square inside it at an angle.
9) Repeat steps 2-8 again for each layer. In this case, that is 4 more layers, so 28 more steps.
10) When you're happy with the size, after gluing on a maple square, glue on a purpleheart square, then another maple square, then a wider walnut square. Each of these squares is a multi-step process as described above. The only step you leave out is the angled cuts.
11) Sand. Sand. Sand. End grain takes a LOT of sanding. Start with 80 grain, move to 100, then 120, then 150.
12) Sand the corners round.
13) Sand the edges slightly round.
14) Sand with 180 grit, then 220 grit.
15) Apply food-grade mineral oil to the board. Repeat 3-4 times - the end grain will soak up a lot of oil. Let it dry between each coat.
16) Apply a mix of mineral oil and beeswax to the board. Let it dry, then rub. Repeat this step 3-4 times.
17) Apply feet to the less-perfect side.

[David Glauser]

I got the idea of trying to see what it would look like if I made a double-rotating squares board. By this I mean a variation of the rotating squares board above. That one has a thin square that rotates because a thick square is added on the outside, then cut at an angle. I'm building a pair now where both woods are applied as thick layers, then cut at an angle. Again, this is lifted from something I wrote for friends, so there is extra explanation of some woodworking things you undoubtedly know already.

I drew up the concept:
unnamed.jpg

After some discussion, I decided to make the center maple and use walnut for a contrast (the reverse of the drawing). I'll keep adding layers until I like the result or I'm sick of it, then probably add a border of some type.


First thing, I need wood. The way I buy it is 8/4, which means it is nominally a 2 inch thick plank. (Actually, it's 1 13/16" and is S2S - surfaced on two sides, with the others rough.) I want to make the plank edge grain, not the face grain that the boards come in. For this board, I want the layers to be 3/4" wide (the maximum thickness of a triangle). So, I rip the board into 3/4" strips, rotate each one 90 degrees, and glue them together. This turns a 12" wide 2" thick board into a wider board that is 3/4" thick. The result has a banded appearance that looks really good in the final piece. Of course, before that I need to use the jointer to get a true flat edge.

This:
unnamed.jpg
becomes this:
unnamed.jpg
That happens to be cherry; I had other ones made from maple and walnut. I took those and crosscut them into strips about 1.5" wide, which will be the maximum depth of the final board (reduced by sanding, of course). The raw materials for the boards (I'm going to make two):
unnamed.jpg
You can see the banded effect. The long thin edge of the board is end grain, and the wider dimension is edge grain and has a nice stripe.


This prep is a pain but you have to do it before you can get to the fun part.


Finally I started the actual board. I cut a small chunk of maple to be the center, then glued two pieces of walnut to it:

unnamed.jpg
That evening, I went to the shop and cleaned them up. The walnut is slightly wider than the maple, because they tend to move a bit during gluing. I just sand the edges flush.
unnamed.jpg
Then I glued on the second pieces of walnut. The next morning I started cutting the angles:
unnamed.jpg
What I do is extend the line of the left edge of the inner maple square out to the outer edge of the walnut, then draw a line from there to the right maple corner, and on to the edge again. Each layer gets a slightly flatter angle, as the layers are the same thickness but longer. Once I made the first cut, I use a combination square to get the other three all perfect. I use a bandsaw and cut outside the line, then a heavy duty belt sander to get to the line and ensure the right angle.

Here is one complete. You can see that there is a lot of waste at this stage.
unnamed.jpg
Continued in next post.....

[David Glauser]

OK, so we're adding layers, and here is the first one, plus maple pieces for the next layer.
unnamed.jpg
I glued two of these onto the cores.
unnamed.jpg
After cleaning up the edges, two more get applied:
unnamed.jpg
These are then cut on an angle, but here I goofed:
unnamed.jpg
The top one is correct, and I could glue on those walnut chunks and go forward, but the bottom one is bad. The maple was cut at the wrong angle, so it is not continuing the rotation. I had to saw the maple back off, make 4 more pieces, clue and trim, then cut a new angle. I let the good one sit until the bad one was corrected.

OK, here we are again:
unnamed.jpg
This shows how the angles are marked and cut. I use a square to ensure that the boards stay perfectly even.
unnamed.jpg
The top one is perfectly square - the camera lens makes it look off. The next layer will be walnut, so I cut those pieces:
unnamed.jpg
Then start gluing:
unnamed.jpg
You can see how the process works. I have added another couple of layers since, but then I had a setback. The sanding belt on the sander broke, and dragged the work into it, damaging one of them. I have to cut another layer off and put new ones on. Gah.

I'm going to keep adding layers until I get tired of it or the board is a nice size. I haven't yet decided what I'll do for a border.

[Ted Calver]

David, Thanks for the additional pictures. This is an amazing process...and you are a very patient person. Nicely done!

[Christopher Charles]

Those are awesome. Thanks for the extra pictures-looks like more fun than legos! And I agree that you must be a patient person!

[David Glauser]

I'll post some more as it grows. Currently sidetracked, as DW had surgery and I'm being cook, housekeeper, nurse and general mom.

[Tim Andrews]

Really nice designs and execution David. You got your creative juices flowing!