Good Morning Lumberjock world,
I have recently found a love for creating end grain cutting boards, I am very new to these but have turned out 4 so far, all becoming larger in size as I go. My question goes back to how to glue up these boards without creating a ton of warping.
I should have taken some pictures of what I am talking about but I will do my best to explain my issue. I begin as every end grain does by making a long grain board, run that board through my planer to get consistent thickness. Next I run the board through my table saw on my cross cut sled, the most recent board I made the blocks were cut at 1.75 inches. After cutting the blocks I left them in my shop overnight, my shop is heated and I try to keep it consistent. The wood has been in the shop for well over 6 months so the climate hasn't changed much. The next morning when I begin to line up the blocks with an alternating pattern I realize that all the blocks have about an 1/16 inch crown in them. This creates quite a pain when trying to line up my blocks to get the nice alternating pattern that I set out for. Once I finally achieved the pattern after much cussing and a large pot of coffee I began my second glue up. When it was all said and done the board is a total of 13×20x1.75, as I know I am going to lose some of it in the flattening process I left my self with plenty of extra.
I built myself a Router sled as I have heard many horror stories about running an end grain board through the planer. This sled works great but it does take a considerable amount of time to use when you have a cutting board of this size. I was told that a Bowl and Tray works well to flatten and so far have had good success. My problem lies in the fact that in order to get a board of this size flat I ended up removing an 1/8 of an inch from both sides. The good part is I took that into account with the 1.75 starting thickness but I realize there has to be a better way.
Is it possible that it all goes back to when I'm gluing up my strips in the beginning I am tightening the clamps too much?
Is it just normal and I am new to this?
Is it the wood just reacting to not being cut and cupping to follow the grain?
FYI the wood types Ive been using, Maple, Cherry, Apple, Mahogany.
I have read one article about clamping and that you shouldn't over tighten your clamps as you end up squeezing the majority of the glue out. I find that while that makes sense sometimes when you just need that extra 1/4 turn to really feel comfortable. Many times when I come back to my project 12-24 hours after the initial glue up my clamps are almost loose, almost as if they backed off a little or the wood shrunk. (I am kicking myself for not taking pictures!) I am also sitting here saying to myself this could sound really dumb to a lot of people. I have been teaching myself in this trade and have used many of the helpful tips from the lumberjocks world to help me through a project but this one has me ready to scream.
I am sorry that I dont have a picture to really show you what I mean but I think you very intelligent people will have a reasonable answer for my stupidity.
I look at these YouTube videos and their glue ups seem much easier than mine, my guess is time, talent and patience has a lot to do with that.
Looking forward to your intuitive wisdom!
I have recently found a love for creating end grain cutting boards, I am very new to these but have turned out 4 so far, all becoming larger in size as I go. My question goes back to how to glue up these boards without creating a ton of warping.
I should have taken some pictures of what I am talking about but I will do my best to explain my issue. I begin as every end grain does by making a long grain board, run that board through my planer to get consistent thickness. Next I run the board through my table saw on my cross cut sled, the most recent board I made the blocks were cut at 1.75 inches. After cutting the blocks I left them in my shop overnight, my shop is heated and I try to keep it consistent. The wood has been in the shop for well over 6 months so the climate hasn't changed much. The next morning when I begin to line up the blocks with an alternating pattern I realize that all the blocks have about an 1/16 inch crown in them. This creates quite a pain when trying to line up my blocks to get the nice alternating pattern that I set out for. Once I finally achieved the pattern after much cussing and a large pot of coffee I began my second glue up. When it was all said and done the board is a total of 13×20x1.75, as I know I am going to lose some of it in the flattening process I left my self with plenty of extra.
I built myself a Router sled as I have heard many horror stories about running an end grain board through the planer. This sled works great but it does take a considerable amount of time to use when you have a cutting board of this size. I was told that a Bowl and Tray works well to flatten and so far have had good success. My problem lies in the fact that in order to get a board of this size flat I ended up removing an 1/8 of an inch from both sides. The good part is I took that into account with the 1.75 starting thickness but I realize there has to be a better way.
Is it possible that it all goes back to when I'm gluing up my strips in the beginning I am tightening the clamps too much?
Is it just normal and I am new to this?
Is it the wood just reacting to not being cut and cupping to follow the grain?
FYI the wood types Ive been using, Maple, Cherry, Apple, Mahogany.
I have read one article about clamping and that you shouldn't over tighten your clamps as you end up squeezing the majority of the glue out. I find that while that makes sense sometimes when you just need that extra 1/4 turn to really feel comfortable. Many times when I come back to my project 12-24 hours after the initial glue up my clamps are almost loose, almost as if they backed off a little or the wood shrunk. (I am kicking myself for not taking pictures!) I am also sitting here saying to myself this could sound really dumb to a lot of people. I have been teaching myself in this trade and have used many of the helpful tips from the lumberjocks world to help me through a project but this one has me ready to scream.
I am sorry that I dont have a picture to really show you what I mean but I think you very intelligent people will have a reasonable answer for my stupidity.
I look at these YouTube videos and their glue ups seem much easier than mine, my guess is time, talent and patience has a lot to do with that.
Looking forward to your intuitive wisdom!