Project Information
I decided to complete a rite of passage and build an end grain cutting board for one of my close friends that manages a kitchen. It turned out a lot better than I had imagined but there is definitely room for improvement.
I used a mix of exotics that I was able to snag at woodcraft when they run their monthly wood deals. The big surprise was the Tigerwood. It's grain turned out better than the Zebrawood, in my opinion.
Seeing as this was my first cutting board, I should also mention that there is probably enough epoxy in this thing to consider it a primary ingredient. This project led to the purchase of a jointer, about $200 in parallel clamps, a thickness planer, random orbital sander, belt sander, and a set of Whiteside bits.
When I first told my friend that I would make this at cost I only counted the materials and glue, if I had ended up selling it to him at cost it would have been about a $2000 cutting board. I ended up making it his birthday gift and let him make a donation to a dog rescue. But now I have all the tools necessary to make these at a lower cost. That's the fun thing about the woodworking rabbit hole. Every tool requires a companion tool that seemingly costs more than the previous one, but I still love it.
Dimensions: 16"L x 15"W x 1"T
Materials: Walnut/Maple/Tigerwood/Zebrawood/Purpleheart
Finish: 3:1 Mineral Oil/Beeswax
Tools Used: Table Saw/Thickness planer/Jointer/Sander/Router
Time to Build: 40 hours
I used a mix of exotics that I was able to snag at woodcraft when they run their monthly wood deals. The big surprise was the Tigerwood. It's grain turned out better than the Zebrawood, in my opinion.
Seeing as this was my first cutting board, I should also mention that there is probably enough epoxy in this thing to consider it a primary ingredient. This project led to the purchase of a jointer, about $200 in parallel clamps, a thickness planer, random orbital sander, belt sander, and a set of Whiteside bits.
When I first told my friend that I would make this at cost I only counted the materials and glue, if I had ended up selling it to him at cost it would have been about a $2000 cutting board. I ended up making it his birthday gift and let him make a donation to a dog rescue. But now I have all the tools necessary to make these at a lower cost. That's the fun thing about the woodworking rabbit hole. Every tool requires a companion tool that seemingly costs more than the previous one, but I still love it.
Dimensions: 16"L x 15"W x 1"T
Materials: Walnut/Maple/Tigerwood/Zebrawood/Purpleheart
Finish: 3:1 Mineral Oil/Beeswax
Tools Used: Table Saw/Thickness planer/Jointer/Sander/Router
Time to Build: 40 hours