How to Make a 16” by 16”, Two-Tone, Edge Grain Cutting Board

By: Gary E. Fox, SCA Woodchips Member

Materials required:

- Titebond III glue

- 1 - 4/4 by 7’ by at least 6” wide hard maple (3 ½ boardfeet )

- 1 - 4/4 by 5’ by at least 6” wide walnut or cherry (2 ½ boardfeet )

Step 1. Plane 4/4 wood so it has a smooth finish on both sides. It likely will be about 13/16” to 7/8” thick at this point.

Step 2. Cut planed wood into lengths. (2 pieces of maple 22” long, 2 pieces of maple 18” long and 2 pieces of walnut or cherry 26” long).

Step 3. Edge joint one edge of each piece of wood.

Step 4. Cut each length of wood using the chop saw with the joined edge against the fence, to the following sizes:

4 pieces of maple 10 ½” long (from the 22” maple boards)

4 pieces of maple 8 ½” long (from the 18” maple boards)

2 pieces of walnut or cherry 10 ½” long (cut one from each 26” walnut or cherry board)

2 pieces of walnut or cherry 5 ½” long (cut one from each 26” walnut or cherry board)

4 pieces of walnut or cherry 4 ½” long (cut two from each 26” walnut or cherry board)

Step 5. Glue up your boards in the pattern shown below using two, 5-foot clamps placed at the ends of your boards.

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Walnut

Walnut

Walnut

Walnut

Walnut

Try to get the pieces of wood as flat as possible (I stand on them) or use a couple of short clamps and clamp the assembly to the table. Wipe off excess glue with a wet rag.

{This is a good place to end your first work session, or take a break for an hour.}

Step 6. When the glue has dried, use the scraper to scrape excess glue off both sides of your boards.

Step 7. Run each board through the surface planer until both sides are perfectly flat. At this point your board should be .75” thick or a little thicker.

Step 8. Joint one edge of each board again.

Step 9. Cut each board in half with the chop saw placing the joined edge against the fence.

(See the diagram below for Step 9)

Step 10. Now you have eight glued up pieces of wood. Cut each of these into three, 1 9/16” wide pieces on the table saw, starting with the joined edge against the fence.

(See the diagram below for Step 10)

NOTE: There are four pieces

of each of the A and B pieces.

Step 11. Next, arrange the BEST 21 pieces into the pattern shown in the following diagram. Using a large square and a pencil, draw a single heavy vertical reference line on your arrangement. You will use this line to align the 21 pieces that will comprise your finished board during the gluing and clamping process.

Step 12. Gluing is a three-step process. First, glue up and clamp 10 contiguous pieces. Then glue up and clamp the second set of 11 pieces. After the glue has set, about 30 minutes, glue the two halves together and let the glue set for another 30 minutes or longer. After clamping your wood use a wet rag to clean off all excess glue.

Step 13. Remove all clamps and scrap off any excess dried glue using a scraper.

Step 14. Run your board through the 43” sander until both sides are flat and smooth. Your board should be a little over 1 3/8” thick at this point.

Step 15. Joint one end of the board and use the table saw to square up the all the edges. (Your cutting board should turn out to be 15 ¾” on each side).

Step 16. Use the table router with a ¾” cove bit on the bottom edges of your board.

Step 17. Sand your board using 150 grit paper until it is smooth, then sand with 220 grit.

Step 18. Impregnate your work of art with many, many coats of mineral oil.

Total project time: about seven hours