The End Grain Cutting Board

I had been watching some Facebook Reels with woodworkers making cutting boards, and got jealous. I wanted to make one and have it in my kitchen. My wife was very supportive of the idea also. There are countless design options available, with different sizes, shapes, wood species and patterns. I showed the boss some options and she chose a 3D cube pattern. I found a good design online and purchased the build instructions from the woodworker for a few bucks. This would be be enough for me to get started.

The plan chosen was from Kings Fine Woodworking.

The build instructions required the use of 3 different shades of hardwood. and they needed to be wide boards. I purchased some wood that was already milled and ready to be used from my local wood supplier (formerly KJP Hardwoods, now rebranded as The Wood Vault). I choose Maple, Cherry and Walnut. What I purchased were boards that KJP had ready for folks to make simple checker-board patterns with. I wasn't thinking about the cube design at the time of purchase. The wood is also expensive, so once I purchased it, I was determined to use it for this project.

the boards I started with

To use the boards, for this project, I needed to join the boards of the same type. What I realized during that process was that I had some long flat maple boards leftover from the Shoe shelf project. I decided to use that instead of the maple logs I had purchased. It worked out, because the project plan required the maple to be only 1" thick - which is what the boards were.

The boards I ended up using

The long 'logs' needed to be joined, so i ran them over my new Jointer to ensure the edges were perfectly flat. I glued them together to form a long, slab that was about 2" thick.

Glue up! Using boards clamped at the sides to keep all the individual pieces aligned. They are called Cauls.

After the logs/boards were joined, they needed to be flattened and have the glue scraped off. I used the planer which made easy work of it.

the Cherry slab before going through the planer

The Cherry slab after being smoothed out by the planer

After the slabs were formed and cleaned up, I needed to sandwich the Cherry between two boards of maple. I did the same with the Walnut. The project plan I downloaded gave some good advise to reduce waste. Shift the sandwich boards to the side, so the angled cuts that would be needed wouldn't waste so much wood. I slapped a layer of glue across the maple and laid the cherry and walnut slabs down with all my clamps and extra weight.

Lots of glue on the maple sandwich

needed some extra weight in the middle

Once the glue was dried, the table saw blade was angled at 60° and the first cut was made. Unfortunately, the blade couldn't reach all the way through, so I and cut the last few millimeters by hand

Slabs showing the cut from the table saw not reaching through the wood. A hand saw was used and was easy to use since the hand saw blade naturally followed the channel already made by the table saw. 

Several strips were then cut on that angle. Each was finished with the hand saw. Those strips were then fed through the table saw again, laid down flat. The angled sides were cut off, leaving a square top and sides.

Hand saw used to finish the job

the hand saw left a bit of a ridge that was smoothed with the jointer

I didn't know it yet, but the strips I cut were too thin. It would prevent me from forming a proper 3d cube shape. When the angled sides were cut, as per the instructions, I would end up with a different pattern.

The angled edges being trimmed off

Those cuts of the angled edges would allow me to then form a pattern. It's hard to see from the photos here, but it put the maple corners together. They would be glued together a few at a time.

I progressively glued all those strips together. Bit by bit.

The resulting slab that would be used to make the End grain strips.

Once glued, they needed to go through the planer to flatten the new slab perfectly.

nicely smoothed by the planer again.

I trimmed the sides of the board, which would give me straight, flat ends. There were some deviations in the boards (mostly the walnut) that didn't get fully sealed during the glue-up, so I that's why so much was cut off. This length doesn't represent the length of the cutting board, but represents how many vertical strips I would have once this is cut up into strips. For the cuts, putting tape on the board all around helped prevent tear-out while cutting on the table saw.

Now that the board was cut to length and nicely flattened through the planer, it was time to cut the strips that would form the end-grain cutting board (until this point, it was a face-grain or edge-grain cutting board).

The strips were cut and could then be stood on their end, so the end-grain was facing up. Based on the alignment of the strips, the cutting board could have 3 different designs. I presented them to the boss, and she made her choice.

Option 1: alternating colour zig-zag

Option 2: alternating colour stripes

Option 3: 3d cubes that didn't quite work. Notice the light maple diamond shapes. The side points of those diamonds are supposed to be touching the next diamond to the side. They don't, because of a mistake in the cuttings I did earlier in the process. Structurally sound board, but the design didn't work anymore.

The boss chose option 2, the stripes. The boards were glued together a few at a time, so I could ensure they didn't slip during gluing and would stay aligned. If I was doing a production-line, this would delay the project and could be a problem. That's not the case, so this part of the glue-up took a few days.

Again, gluing the strips bit by bit.

The result was the completed cutting board. It had lots of squeeze-out from the glue, which I removed some of with a chisel. It's not wise to put end-grain cutting boards through a planer with straight blades (even helical blades can be a problem). I decided to go to my buddy's Mike A's house and make use of his drum sander. It works like a planer, but instead, uses a rolling pin wrapped in sand-paper. It can handle end-grain boards. 

Mike's drum sander, hooked up to his dust collection bin in the background.

The drum sander did have a bit of difficulty with this very hard wood end-grain board, but nothing nearly as dangerous as with a planer. The sander simply got bogged down with the board and would heat up and burn the board a bit. This actually looked kinda cool and brought out some interesting colours in the cherry wood! 

some slight burn on the board. Won't be a problem after the orbital sander.

What was important is that the board came out flat. Any of the discolouration could be corrected with some sanding back at my own garage. This drum sander was essential to get the board perfectly flat, and for that, I am thankful to Mike A.

My circular random orbit sander was used with very coarse grit then progressively finer grits (40, 80, 120). I didn't bother with 220, because I was finding the end-grain hard wood was too strong to make any improvement after 120 grit. Another reason is that it didn't really matter - the intention is to cut it up with a chef knife, so why make it baby smooth!? 

This photo shows the ridges that the drum sander left in the board. It was using a very coarse 40grit sandpaper, so the grooves are quite visible. Sanding with an orbit sander eliminated them easily.

At the same time as the sanding, I had noticed some small gaps between the boards where the glue didn't fill the space. For most projects, this wouldn't be too much of an issue as the project was still structurally sound, but it would be a problem for a cutting board, as the gap would hold food and moisture. The gaps needed to be filled. I only wanted glue to go into the gaps, and not fill any of the pores of the end-grain wood (the colour wouldn't look right, and the finishing oil and wax wouldn't adhere). I taped around the gaps, filled them with glue and pressed the glue down with my finger, and while it was still wet, I sanded over the area. The glue was wet enough to grab the sawdust and pull it into the gap. This made a sealed gap that matched the surrounding colour. There's no issue with the glue being near the surface either, as it is a food-safe glue (Titebond III).

taping off a few spots to be filled with glue

this close-up photo shows another gap in the walnut at the edge. They would all be found and filled.

After sanding and trimming the sides, the board ended up being 17" x 11" x 1.75" high. Feet added to the bottom would make the board 2" high in the end.

After discussion with the boss, it was decided that a juice groove would NOT be added to the cutting board. We agreed that it would simply be a trap for seeds (and juices) and would prevent easy wiping of the board.

One thing we did want to add to the board was handles to the side. I was going to add simple recesses for fingers to grab, but then I saw an idea from someone else (https://thessboar.com/). They call it a 'plate rout'. That's a dumb name for it, as nobody outside woodworking knows what routing with a router means. It's a recess for a plate. This recess would serve as a handle, and a neat feature for collecting food.

My cutting board is thick enough to be able to cut a recess high enough (considering the board would also be on feet) to allow a plate to slide under the board. Cuttings for food or for scraps could be slid cleanly off the side of the board. No need to pick up the food.

To do this, I got a board of plywood that I could shape with the outline of a plate. That plywood would serve as a guide for my router that would carve out the plate recess.

Used a dinner plate as a template

The router was set on a jig to swing in a circle. Progressively lowered through the plywood.

The plywood guide was then added to the bottom of the cutting board.

This photo shows how the router uses the plywood cut-out as a guide for the plate recess.

When the recess was completed on one side, a smaller one was put on the other side that would simply serve as a handle. In retrospect, I think I should have made a full recess on both sides. I'll do that for whatever board I make next.

Used the same template as the larger one, but just made a small recess for a handle.

Rounded edges added. The slight burn from the router (common with hard woods) was sanded off with a sanding block.

The last step in shaping the board was to add a round-over edge. This would prevent the sides and corners from getting chipped during use. Even a hardwood board can get chipped if it has sharp corners. The router was used with a round-over bit. In some areas, in the plate recess, I needed to use a chisel and sander to complete the rounded edge, where the router bit wouldn't fit.

Use a vertical clamp so I could work on the sides easily.

I took out my branding iron and added my initials to the bottom.

The last step was to sand the board by hand with 120grit sanding block around all the newly routed edges and corners. I then wiped the board and sprayed it with a misting of water. They allowed the wood at the surface to 'raise the grain'. The surface gets rough and can then be sanded down smooth one more time. This needs to be done to ensure it stays smooth after the finish oil is applied.

And that was the next step. Wet it, sand it, wipe it down and then oil it. I used a 2 step process. First, I applied 2 coats of mineral oil - which the board soaked up eagerly. I then applied more. This oil helps prevent the board from drying too much during use (washing after use can dry an unprotected board, causing cracking). Then I applied a mixture of mineral oil and bees wax. This gave the board a nice feel, and helps with sealing the board. I will reapply the oil and wax throughout the age of the board.

the first application of mineral oil

The colour contrast is much more pronounced once the oil is applied!

adding the feet. Including one in the middle. Might not be needed, but I've seen some cutting boards on feet develop a droop in the middle over time, so I'm preventing that with a middle support.

Et voila, with a plate under the board.

With food!