Cutting board clamp jig

I decided to try my hand at cutting boards. Im always hunting (IE dumpster diving) for scrap wood for boxes. I take whatever I find, thinking, Ill use it for something someday. Any piece that was too small for box use, got put in a pile. This past Christmas, my father was kind enough to give me a gorgeous cutting board, with all kinds of exotic woods. As im sitting there staring at it, taking in the beauty, I start naming off the woods. Maple, walnut, lacewood, purple heart…then it occurs to me….how do I knwo these woods? Because I have piecs of them in my shop…...light bulb goes off in my head and I decide its time to make cutting boards. As with many things, to me half the fun is making the jig. I dont have a ton of clamps, so I thought a jig might save a few.

The idea behind this is the fences are 90 degrees square, so right off the bat lining up your pieces, there going to line up square. The clamping area is 12”x16”. I knew I wanted some type of caul, and hoped this would save me a few clamps. I ended up milling maple strips as cauls, 3/4”x1 1/4” and I dont know the correct term for this, but I lined up the grain while milling so that if the natural way the wood would want to flex would be sideways, not up and down. They came from a large thick piece of wood, not 3/4 stock from HD. If anyone smarter then I am knows what thats called, help a brother out! I left spaces in the fence so that the cauls could be used in either direction, so that if I need to clamp the 16” end for end grain butcher blocks I will have that option. The cauls are clamped down using t-bolts and knobs. I can put a decent amount of pressure on them, and it keep the board flat while the bar clamps put the real work in. The whole thing has a few coats of danish oil to resist glue, and the underside of the cauls have a layer of tuck tape for the same purpose. I line the bottom with a sheet of wax paper. All in all this makes it faster, easier and I save 6 precious clamps. I could also make a few of these and stack them.

The boards are my first attempt, made from jatoba and birch glued up with tightbond III and finished with 6 coats of walnut oil.

Thanks for viewing, any and all feedback is welcome!

-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil