 |
I
know it has been a while since we last wrote. For some reason the
keyboard on the computer just doesn't fit our fingers any more... Just prior to Christmas 2013 I got a wild idea to build a cutting board. We have three of them and they are all functional, but I wanted to try and do something neat challenging with wood. I took a week off of work and while home with the kids, I found myself wanting to play around with wood. The three cutting boards we have are probably pine and are arranged with the boards next to each other. They are about 0.5" thick. I wanted to make a butcher block pattern with end grain on the cutting surface. |
| First
I secured some hardwoods. I went looking for two that were
different colors so the pattern contrast would stand out. In my
search I founds many different colors and patterns, but when I came
across cherry wood, I thought that one would be perfect. Terra
really likes the look of cherry wood. So I selected some cherry
and some hickory to go with it. The cherry wasn't as dark as I
wanted and the hickory wasn't as light as I wanted either. |
 |
 |
The
first step was to cut them to the same lengths. I cut a pattern
of 2", 1.5", 1", and 0.5" wide boards. I cut the cherry and the
hickory at the same time so the thicknesses would match each
other. After that I alternated the boards cherry, then hickory,
then cherry, ect. and glued them together. As luck would have it
I was not able to get back to the project for a while. When
Symantha came to visit I had some time and we cut the block in 7/8"
thick slices. This is what the different slices looked like after
the cutting. |
| The
slices were then turned 90 degrees and laid over on their side.
Then every other slice was rotated 180 degrees to give an alternating
"checker" type pattern of the different woods. This also yielded
an alternating size of the blocks. Then these boards were glued
back together in this different pattern. I ended up with 23
different slices, so I decided on making 3 cutting boards.
1 board with 7 slices and the other two boards with 8 slices. |
 |
 |
After
gluing the slices together I sanded down the glue joints and tried to
get the thickness uniform across the surface. This proved much
harder than I anticipated - due to the hardwood and the end
grain. I used 50 grit sandpaper on a belt sander and I had to
sand each surface for about 20 minutes to achieve that result.
After the 50 grit I went to a palm sander with 60 grit and then to 100
grit to polish it off. Originally I was going to try to achieve a
smoother surface, but this was so hard to sand that the 100 grit was
more than perfect. |
| Once
the surface was close to level, I squared up the board by cutting it to
length and width. This gave the sides a smooth edge. |
 |
 |
Then I put a 1/4" round bit on the router and rounded all of the sides. After that it was back to the sanding for the finishing touches. It turns out that the cherry wood is softer than the hickory. In the router the cherry wood would chip when the cherry block was at the corner of the board. The hickory would stand up better to the router blade. Also when I was sanding with the palm sander if the board wasn't flat yet, the cherry would sand down quicker than the hickory leaving divots in the surface. You could feel and see these imperfections if the light were placed just right. |
| Then I applied a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. This gave a nice coloring, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. I am a bit disappointed in the final product of this board. I was hoping for more of a contrast in the different woods. I guess I should have gone for White Oak and Purple Heart. Maybe next time... |
 |
 |
To
this point, I have finished two boards (obviously the one on the right
wasn't finished in this photo). The 3rd board is still
gluing. Maybe I will manage to finish it tomorrow. Now the
dilemma of what do I do with these? We have 3 all ready sitting
on the counter. One larger, one smaller, and one about the same
size (bout of course they are inferior to these new ones). I
think that I will probably keep one of them and then find a home for
the other two. I would like to give all three away and try again
with different colored wood, but Terra really likes them, so one will
probably stay... |
 |
In other news, Rachel was Student of the
month for January. She went to a school board meeting and was
recognized for her achievement. She loves to read, and is currently
reading at a 3rd grade level. Her 6th birthday is in a two weeks,
and maybe we will get her a few more books for her birthday. She
would enjoy that. |
 |
Return to Start Page