Cutting Boards

[dwg426]

I just uploaded a picture of my first cutting board. It is maple and walnut. Size is 16x14x2, I used mineral oil for finish. I am planning on making a few more for wedding and Christmas gifts. I would like suggestions, tips and warnings for type of wood, design and finish. These will be intended to be functional boards. How do most of you smooth end grain boards? Thank you in advance for any ideas or advise.

 

[Tarhead]

I made a ton of cutting boards earlier in my life and about wore out a hand held belt sander smoothing the end grain cutting boards. I would say that you need to get or find a friend with a drum or wide belt sander for an easy job. A bevel up jack plane (#62 Stanley or Lee Valley or Lie-Neilsen copy) with an iron beveled to a low angle is another tool that will come in handy for endgrain smoothing if you can't get a drum/wide belt sander. Just work from the outside towards the middle to keep from blowing out the edge.

 

[bluedawg76]

For surfacing, a low angle jack does a good job at getting it close and then I put it through the planer, though this limits one dimension to 13". Use a roundover bit along all the edges first to prevent major tearout and make VERY light passes w/ the planer. After that is the standard sandpaper regimen (120, 150/180. 220). Spritz w/ water to raise the grain, allow to dry, and sand again at 220.

Sam

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Where did you upload the picture?

 

[Bas]

WARNING: Useless pieces of advice to start with: I've had some end grain cutting boards that required a lot of smoothing. An 1/8" is a LOT with end grain. I've found it really helps to fine tune the fence/ saw/ sled you're using, to keep the variance to a minimum when you make the second set of cuts. A gram of prevention is a kilogram of cure (this expression doesn't really convert well to metric....)

A 5" random orbit sander can take a long time, even with 60 grit. I recently purchased a 6" sander and that helps quite a bit. I also have a drum sander (Performax 16/32), but it's no panacea. With end grain, it's easy for a piece of grit to get 'stuck' and then you have a scratch across the length of the board, which then needs to be sanded out. It is also really easy to burn the board, which means you have more sanding to do in order to get rid of the burn marks.

A wide belt sander is the way to go. In the time it takes you to say "wow, that's a big machine" the boards are sanded. And you better talk fast.

I've also successfully used my planer a couple of times. The opinions on the safety of this approach vary. You definitely want to first round over the edges (like Sam suggested), and then take VERY light passes. I should point out that I have a planer with helical head, and those carbide cutters do really well on end grain. A planer with regular knives may also work, but there have been reports of people shattering the board and/ or knives.

A third option which isn't too expensive is to make a router sled and level the board using a straight bit. The Wood Whisperer has a video on flattering a bench top, this is pretty similar.

As for which woods to use, you want something with a tight grain, that's not porous. Walnut, maple, cherry, purpleheart and white oak are good choices. Red oak is not.

 

[junquecol]

A big plus on using the router. For a bit, I use a $5 Woodcraft (remember those?) rabbeting bit with bearing removed and stud ground off. There are numerous articles on how to make a "bridge" to support router.

 

[dwg426]

It's loaded to my album, but shows pending.