The Woodshop Shed

First Cutting Boards

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


This year's Christmas gifts were cutting boards. Needed something simple since I was in the middle of another big project and had a big set back when my whole family came down with Covid. These still took more effort than I was originally thinking (as usual), but all-in-all a good project.They're made out of hard maple boards and cherry scraps I had on hand. Ripped everything down, glued with Titebond 3, planed flat in my new planer (couldn't have finished these in time without it) and trued up the ends on the table saw. I made a jig for the juice groove – just some fences the boards could drop down into so I could route by hand. Used a 1/2” core cove bit for that, and a 1” core cove bit for the hand holds. The latter were done on the router table. It took some care making sure the router stayed against the fence and the boards stayed against my router table fence for straight lines. Then lots of sanding up to 220. I wrapped sandpaper around a 3/8” dowel for the grooves.Sanding the burn marks out of the handles was tough. The only way I found to actually get it all was with a power sander of sorts. I tried finding an abrasive ball, but nothing in stock locally. I ended up using a dremel rotary tool abrasive buffing wheel for the job. It worked, but they only lasted a few boards and ended up being a bit costly. The finest didn't do anything but polish, so I was stuck with the coarser one. I'll try something else next time. Here's what I used: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dremel-EZ-Lock-15-16-in-Rotary-Tool-180-and-280-Grit-Finishing-Abrasive-Buffs-2-Pack-511E/100484371The brand was a gift to me, and I don't know much about it other than it came on a boat from China. I suspected it would have been harder to use than it actually is. Just heat it up to a specific temperature of pretty hot, and press on your workpiece until it smokes and you're good! Haha.Finish is Odies Oil. I've come to really like this stuff on this project! We'll see if it lasts any longer than mineral oil on the boards. Supposedly it cures, so fingers crossed.

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