Cutting boards WIP

[cusimar9]

This is just a quick WIP but I thought it may be of interest.

I had some left-over oak worktops and I had the crazy idea of cutting it up to make some end grain chopping boards. I'm quite sceptical this will work but I thought for a few hours work it might be worth a go.

So I cut the boards up into 35mm strips and edge joined them all with waterproof glue.

This was then rough cut into two cutting boards:

The glue up didn't go as well as I had hoped so I decided to make a flattening router jig to quickly flatten the top. Never done this before but I'm very happy with the result, a quick sanding and this will be perfect:

Should have these finished in the next couple of nights so I'll post some more pics then

 

[Fatboy]

I've been keeping some offcuts of oak worktop to do exactly that, I'll be interested to see how yours come out

 

[John Brown]

I made a couple a few years back. One I routed handhold cutouts on, and it immediately cupped the wrong way. The other I left to see which way it would jump before routing the handholds, and it has remained resolutely flat.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Oak is ring porous, so isn't ideal for a chopping board - beech or maple is better.

 

[cusimar9]

There's plenty of oak cutting boards about so I'm sure it'll be ok. Going to finish it with 2 coats of osmo wood protector and then a couple of coats of top oil so it will be fairly water resistant.

 

[bugbear]

Oak is ring porous, so isn't ideal for a chopping board - beech or maple is better.

That's certainly true for long grain chopping boards. I don't know how applicable
it is to end grain.

BugBear

 

[John Brown]

I would have used beech were it not for the fact that the worktop offcuts I had were oak.

 

[cusimar9]

More progress:

Quite a lot of material removed with the router. Looks like too much material in this shot but it was uneven across the length as well.

Finished board ready for sanding:

Belt sander with 80 grit helped to remove any leftover marks and smooth everything over:

Final piece with the edges all rounded over and a final finish sand:

Now just the staining to go!

 

[Dalboy]

I made a Walnut one from the cut out of a sink. I also did the same as you all I finished mine with Walnut oil it has seen many years of use

 

[Claymore]

How much are oak worktops? just a rough idea is fine

 

[cusimar9]

They vary but I paid £100 for a piece 1.8 x 1.2m if I recall