The Story of a Board: An End-Grain Cutting Board Tutorial

I've been dabbling in the world of wood for about two years now. Like many others, my first real project - the first thing I built from scratch using exotic woods and precise measurements - was a cutting board. I learned from an online tutorial and ran out to the closest wood shop (even though we were trying to keep a tight budget after moving into our new house) and promptly dropped $280 on three pieces of wood: purpleheart, rock maple (aka hard maple), and jatoba. My wife flipped her lid when she learned what I had done, but I had a vision (of building a board thousands of others had built) and nothing would keep me from achieving it!
Two years have passed since that first hard-won monstrosity of purple, brown and blonde. I have better machines now, and I've improved my technique. I've also created some designs of my own that I think better reflect my own sense of style. I'll share one of these designs below and outline how I go about it. Head over to our blog for the full post (70+ pictures) and cut sheet.
This board is made from walnut, hard maple, African mahogany and redheart.
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First I cut the source lumber to 27 inches and planed them all smooth and to an equal thickness. Then I cut the lumber into strips ranging from 1/4" to 2." The full cut list for anyone interested can be found on our blog (link at the end of this post).





Here are all the strips, arranged by species.





Next I arranged them in their proper order and glued them up.





I clamped them up and let the glue dry.





I ran the board through the planer to smooth it out.





Since the final cutting board would be 1 1/4" thick, I cut the board into 1 1/4" strips. These strips will later be turned 90 degrees, exposing the end grain, then glued together. (Walnut dust is toxic, hence the dust mask)





I arranged the strips in to the final pattern by flipping every other piece. The two pieces of pine on either end are sacrificial pieces that will protect the end-grain edges during final planing.





One more glue-up...





When the glue was dry, I again ran the board through the planer, then cut off the sacrificial pieces of pine.





I routed the edges with a 1/4" round-over bit.





Then I sanded with 60, 80, 100, 120 and 150 grits.





After engraving the board (not shown - see blog), I cleaned it with mineral spirits, then finished it with 4 coats of salad bowl finish - a food-safe varnish.





Finally, I added some rubber feet.





And it's done!





Please head over to our blog for a much more detailed post and 60 more photos. I've also included a cut sheet for anyone willing to make a similar board. Good luck!
If you are interested in similar DiY projects, click here to see more DiY & crafts projects from The Navage Patch.
--Posted by Greg






Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/11052907/the-story-of-a-board-an-end-grain-cutting-board-tutorial site