End grain cutting boards

[mmayo]

I think of myself as a woodworker and as part of that description I turn pens. Yesterday, I turned and completed 10 Streamline/Saturn/Trimline pens. Today, it is keychains and tackle boxes.

Last week a person bought one of my opal rings and a stratus pen. Her daughter bought one of my most expensive pens: a Triton convertible with an Opal Effects blank. Later that week a different customer bought an end grain cutting board (our best), a ying yang charcuterie board set and an acrylic seam ripper. Yes, I sold pens but other woodworking items sold too.

Here is how I make end grain cutting boards with two of the finished boards. The woods used are: maple, walnut, cherry, padauk, purpleheart and poplar. The ying yang charcuterie boards are included too.

 

[mark james]

I really admire the cutting boards. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mmayo]

If anyone wants hints about the lengths and how to make the end result interesting, just ask.

 

[Curly]

This Cutting Board Designer might be helpful to some.

 

[gimpy]

Ok, I'm asking
My wife wants to get
into cutting boards
You can put it on here or pm me

 

[mmayo]

Ok, I'm asking
My wife wants to get
into cutting boards
You can put it on here or pm me

Pm sent

 

[howsitwork]

Mark

Never made an endgrain one so I too am asking please!

I have used oak then pyrographed barley plants onto them. Would like to burn mice onto them but not that good at pyrography .

 

[wolf creek knives]

Pretty cool Mark!!

 

[mmayo]

We make all of the boards shown in the photos. The board shown IAP was an end grain. We sell it for $175 and sold quite a few. It requires making a motherboard in which a bunch of strips of wood varying from 1/2" to 1-1/4" are asymmetrically glued up long grain to long grain. It is imperative to not only get them clamped tightly but keep them flat along the whole length. My motherboard is 32" long by 12.5" wide. Use Titebond III ONLY or get out of the cutting board business. When cured overnight I drum sand the glue up flat. Then I cross cut slices about 1-1/2"-1-5/8" thick. Assemble them with the end grain up reversing the orientation every other piece. I glue these up with plenty of glue and serious clamping pressure and cauls. This dries overnight. I have a Dewalt 735 planer with Shellix cutters and can VERY LIGHTLY smooth out the boards or drum sand. Padauk and purpleheart load up sandpaper like crazy. Yes I know folks say don't plane end grain, but it works very well with just a bit of edge tearing. I'll attach a sacrificial maple strip to each end and cut it off when squaring up the board to eliminate the end tearing.

You need

Great source of wood: maple cherry, walnut, poplar, padauk, purpleheart and perhaps bloodwood.

Bessey K body clamps (12",18",24")

Titebond 3 glue

2"x2" cauls

Perhaps the clamps that also press flat at the top in addition to towards the middle. The last photo shows two of these clamping up the end grain motherboard!

Either a drum sander and or a planer hopefully with helical cutters

Good sander with dust collection

Lots of grits of sandpaper like Norton 3x

Ask more questions anytime.

Mark

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