bone2wood - About the boards

How to Make a Cutting Board in More Than 20 Not So Easy Steps:

1. Purchase a lot of expensive and dangerous tools.
2. Watch a lot of YouTube videos.
3. Watch a lot of safety videos on YouTube. If you do this, you can proceed to step 5.
4. If you skip #3, have your family member or friend drive you to the hospital for emergency surgery. Then, while you are recovering, return to #3.
5. Drive to lumber yard to select rough lumber.
6. Trim off knots, cracks, and other non-useful portions of wood (that you paid for but can’t use).
7. Plan the board design. Planning avoids a lot of confusion and wasted materials. A calculator is helpful. There are many good and well-illustrated ideas to copy on YouTube.
8. Cut lumber into appropriate lengths.
9. Run all pieces through the jointer to get one flat side.
10. Using the newly created flat side for reference, rip all pieces on the table saw to get second side flat and parallel to the first side.
11. Run all pieces through the jointer again to get one flat face.
12. Run all pieces through the planer with the flat side down to get the second (top) side flat and to get the pieces to obtain uniform widths.
13. Rip all pieces to planned widths on the table saw.
14. Now it starts to get fun. Following the specific board design plans, glue pieces together with Titebond 3 food-safe glue. Better to use too much than not enough. Sprinkling salt on the glue helps to prevent the boards from sliding out of place when the clamps are applied. Put a protective layer of painter’s tape on the clamp bars to prevent glue from gumming up the sliding mechanisms of the clamps. Use a square to ensure that the board is being glued with square corners. Using cauls on both ends helps to glue the board flat. If the board isn’t glued flat, excessive thickness will be sacrificed when the surfaces need to be smoothed. No more cutting or gluing necessary if an edge grain board is planned. If doing an end grain board, see section below for additional steps.
15. Remove excess glue and allow to dry overnight in clamps.
16. Remove clamps and scrape off and/ or sand away dried glue.
17. Clean up sides of board using table saw sled to get nice straight sides and square corners.
18. Sand one face of board to get a flat surface.
19. With sanded side down, run top (rough) side of board through planer to get second flat surface.
20. Round off all edges with a quarter round bit on router table.
21. Bevel all four bottom sides with table saw at 45 degrees for ease of lifting. or make recesses on the sides or on the bottom.
22. Create juice groove. It is helpful to make an adjustable jig for this step to create accurately placed grooves. This may create burns that take quite a bit of effort to sand away, but it does enhance the look and function of the board.
23. Sanding. Random orbital sander at 100, 150, 220 and 320 grit. After sanding to 220 grit, moisten all surfaces and allow to dry in order to get wood grain to stand up before moving up to last grit level, which will remove the raised grain and ensure a nice, flat surface. Sand juice groove and any other hard to reach areas by hand.
24. Finish. Saturate with food-safe mineral oil and allow to absorb oil overnight. Apply thick layer of mineral oil/ beeswax paste and let sit for several hours. Wipe off excess paste and buff surfaces with a lint-free cloth—by all YouTube accounts and from personal observations, by far, the most satisfying step!
25. Apply rubber feet to the bottom corners. Pre-drill holes to prevent cracking.
26. Restock glue, sanding material, respirator filters. Sharpen or replace router, saw, jointer, and planer blades. Scrape glue off clamps, workbench, and the floor. Sweep up sawdust…and start over…

If an end grain board is planned, perform steps 1-4 below after step 19 above and then proceed to step 20 above.
1. Using table saw sled, crosscut board created from first gluing. Width of cut will determine the thickness of the final end grain board. This will create several pieces which can be arranged in different patterns.
2. Rotate pieces ninety degrees on their sides to get end grain surface facing up. Arrange the pieces according to the specific plan.
3. Repeat steps 14-17 above.
4. End grain surface boards take hours to sand smooth, even with a belt sander, which can damage the board. It is dangerous to attempt to smooth them with a planer. Local cabinet makers have industrial machines and can smooth the surfaces safely and faster with a drum sander. They charge around $90/hour, which comes out to about $15-20 per board when I take in a batch for processing. Alternatively a home-made router sled works well for obtaining flat surfaces.

Caring for your board
Your board looks beautiful, all modesty aside. It’s fair to assume that running a sharp knife across your board will not improve its looks. End grain boards are “self-healing,” meaning that they show fewer knife marks. They are also gentler on your knives.
The wood, glue, mineral oil, and beeswax used for your board are food-safe. The screws on the bottom are stainless steel.
While your board cures, you may notice oil coming to the surface. This is normal. Just keep wiping it away with paper towel. It will stop once the board is fully cured.
The boards are waterproof, but DO NOT PUT THEM IN A DISHWASHER.
The boards can be polished periodically with a little bit of the paste supplied with your board. Use an old t-shirt or other lint-free rag to apply a thin layer. Let it sit on the surface for a while and then rub it in. I can get you more of the stuff I made or you can purchase some commercially. Howard Butcher Block and Walrus wax and oil conditioners are popular.
If you drop your board, the wood can bruise. The boards aren’t completely indestructible, but they are pretty tough. If your board cracks or breaks, I can try to fix it, or I can replace it. If desired, I’m happy to re-sand and re-finish your board once it has seen a lot of wear. Or you can do that yourself. Start at 150 grit, then 220, then 320. Then treat with a thin coat of wax.