Cheese Slicer

[budnder]

After seeing some of these finished and completed at a kitchen store, I thought they would make nice Christmas gifts, so ordered a half dozen of the hardware sets from CheeseSlicing.com

This is the first one I did, just to learn the general process, particularly when it comes to doing something end grained. I didn't put a lot of thought into a pattern or wood, just went to Menards and grabbed some 1x2 Maple and Mahogany. I'm pretty happy that I got a keeper out of the effort. Here's what I learned, never having done one of these before:

1) I got a little tear out when rounding the edge near the kerf cut. I should have rounded the edges over before I did the kerf cut, I think.

2) The clamps I had weren't very good for the glue ups, as I had the wood on a flat surface and clamped over the top. So that made it hard to see the exact alignment on the pattern. I picked up some bar clamps so I can lay the wood on top of the clamp, and that seems like it will work a lot better.

3) For usability, I think it really needs some rubber feet, so ordered a few of those.

4) I had a long 1/4 inch bit to drill the hole, but it was still a little more complicated than I expected. I ended up starting it with my benchtop drill press, but then finishing it with a cordless drill as I didn't have the clearance on the drill press to use my long bit. It all worked out ok.

5) Sanding probably took more time than anything else. I was using a bench oscillating sanding belt, which I think of as fairly aggressive. It didn't think my material was that uneven, but took a lot of sanding to get the thing smooth (where my fingernail wouldn't catch passing over). I've been eyeing those drum sanders that I see everyone use in the videos of making these things. I wonder how many passes it would take with one of those.

 

[PhilW]

Roy, very nice

 

[Skie_M]

1. yup ... round it first, then cut the kerf. but before that make the hole and glue it up. (more below)

2. Glue up a 4x6 block section and then do the drilling and then glue 2 sections together to get your full length. Makes better sense to take several evenly sized strips of wood and glue all together side by side, then flatten it, then crosscut and flip every other crosscut strip to provide the pattern and glue into the 4x6 block sections ... do the drilling and glue up. Then flatten it again, true up all the sides, rout around the sides to round it over, and cut the slot ... apply finish (oil) and assemble.

3. You ever seen those "anti-slip" mats that people put on their kitchen counters? The ones where you can cut little pieces off about the size of a very small dish towel and then use it to get a very good grip on a glass container and lid so that you can get it open? (gripper style mats)

I would say .... cut a piece of that off and glue it under for your stability .... nice non-slip and very low profile. Don't ever have to worry about losing the feet and/or having the board rocking around or slipping during use.

I do something very similar for my coasters .... good non-marring layer.

4. answered above, but your workaround still works.

5. The key is in seating those bearings properly so that they cannot shift and change the angle of how the central bar is being rotated, which will then end up in the surface being angled as it is sanded down. The other key is ... how flat is the surface you are putting against the flat table in order to sand it?

In order to take out angular warp (where the part is twisted/cupped) you may need to set up a router station to manually CNC mill the top flat to a registered surface and THEN flip it to mill the other side flat with reference to the new flattened surface .... after that, sanding will be smooth and trouble free, with no further warp in the surface.

If you don't flatten it this way, what could end up happening is when you put your board or part through, the section where the rollers are will be sanded smooth but as the board goes through it simply follows the twist. You end up with a smoothly sanded or planed TWISTED BOARD because it cannot sit flat.

A way to do this is to set up a "table" .... it needs to have 4 legs to sit up above the work, and be large enough to do so but not so large that the bit won't have the reach to get to the work. You will need a sliding box that your router will freely move from side to side in ... this box will ride on the "table" sides to give you a single smooth plane of movement.

I'll leave a link to the jig I am talking about below ... I think you might like it as a way to help flatten a LOT of strange objects that certainly will not fit through a planer or joiner or any kind of surfacer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbz0lZQyVGY

 

[randyrls]

Roy; That is nice. AND functional

Gregory; That is an interesting video! I wonder if you could make a pancake piece of wood and then use that for a cheese cutter. Likely the pith would need to be removed.

 

[Skie_M]

Mmmm ... obviously, before using the router joiner to flatten the surface of a small or lighter piece of wood, you would want to secure it down so that it cannot tip or move while you are working on it with the router ... and again after you flip it.

If you flatten it and then STABILIZE it and give it a food grade safe epoxy coat ... I doubt the pith would ever be any kind of issue. Just don't stick it in the dishwasher...

 

[budnder]

Glue up a 4x6 block section and then do the drilling and then glue 2 sections together to get your full length.

Brilliant - love that idea Thanks for all the insight - really enjoyed the router video. I have a real pretty, but badly cupped slice of a limb that this idea would be perfect for. I guess I'll have to clamp it in place while I route it.

I could see where the non-stick pad would be super functional. Not sure it'd be to my tastes for appearance. I bought the small "screw attached" rubber feet as I was worried about the glue holding long term.

 

[budnder]

FYI - An interesting video of a glue up where they clamp down to get rid of any cupping (in addition to clamping together). It's a table top, so maybe overkill for a cutting board, but I thought it was another interesting idea.

https://youtu.be/wxBvAljrjFw?t=652