# Tumbling Block Cutting Board



## ETBee (Feb 10, 2010)

I got this idea on another woodworking board and thought I'd give it a try. First I made hexagonal "sausages" out of walnut, cherry, and hard maple. Then I sliced the sausages into pieces.




















Assembling all of the hexagons to make the cutting board is a lot harder than it would seem. Try as I might, the hexagons do not all come out exactly the same, so there are tiny gaps in some areas. It's also more difficult than you'd think to keep the orientation of each hexagon the same as you glue them together.










But the final product looks pretty good. I think I'll make several more for Christmas gifts.


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## gideon (May 26, 2010)

that looks awesome!

I am trying to wrap my mind around how this gets done. Is there a tutorial on how to do this somewhere?


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## Wema826 (Jul 22, 2012)

Looks Great!!


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## Gary Beasley (Jan 21, 2009)

gideon said:


> that looks awesome!
> 
> I am trying to wrap my mind around how this gets done. Is there a tutorial on how to do this somewhere?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkZwp9tXQVM

Somewhere in Don Russell videos on segmenting he goes over making these shapes with a cutoff saw set at exactly 60 degrees. Once you have it set up you can turn them out pretty quick.


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## ETBee (Feb 10, 2010)

Here's where I got the idea.

http://lumberjocks.com/degoose/blog/10460


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

That looks fantastic. You have no idea how much I want to make one of these and do a video tutorial on it. Hopefully, one day I will do that and I can only hope that it is as gorgeous as yours.
Great work.


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## Burb (Nov 30, 2012)

That is a cool idea. I will have to add that to my project wish list.


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## GROOVY (Apr 27, 2008)

That's a good looker there.. I especially like the sausage idea, and I know what a bugger aligning the pieces is.. I wonder if it would be possible to join several sausages, enough to make a whole row and then saw to length.


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## Travico (Dec 25, 2012)

That is neat looking, but I am afraid I would cut one of my fingers, using it as a cutting board! I am CROSS EYED now!!


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

That's truly sick!!!! 
Where's Q-Bert. Laughing!!!!!


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## chopnhack (Dec 16, 2007)

GROOVY said:


> That's a good looker there.. I especially like the sausage idea, and I know what a bugger aligning the pieces is.. I wonder if it would be possible to join several sausages, enough to make a whole row and then saw to length.


I was thinking the same, ala the woodguy's chess table video, however, I think you can make small adjustments among the loose pieces to make up small differences along the way. If you spent the time making strips of glued up rows, you would still have to glue the rows together. I don't think there would be much time savings there plus no ability to fudge the joints.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

BEAUTIFUL cutting board! I too always wanted to make a tumbling block, uhmm, anything. It looks so cool.



Dominick said:


> Where's Q-Bert.


I'll bet he's proud as @#$*! <------- see what I did there?


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## chsdiyer (Dec 12, 2011)

Man, I had to look at this 10 times over the last few days before I could get my eyes fixed right on it. And in the mean time, Dominick beat me to my initial thought...



Dominick said:


> Where's Q-Bert.


Great job!


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## SawRdust (Jun 11, 2013)

Looks great. Had to take some thought on that one . Thanks for sharing


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## Burb (Nov 30, 2012)

Does anyone know if there is a building thread on making these style boards? I couldn't find one. Thanks.


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

Burb said:


> Does anyone know if there is a building thread on making these style boards? I couldn't find one. Thanks.


Try the link in post #5.


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## Anguspapa (May 4, 2013)

That is awesome! Now I get to try and make one.

Eric Williams


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## 27207 (Jan 25, 2012)

That's an awesome cutting board! My wife brought up a good point though. I asked if she wanted one. Her first reaction she loved it, but then she said no. Says it's so busy, she's afraid she'll lose focus and cut a finger off. 

Have you used the board yet? What's your thoughts on this?

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Dwillems26 said:


> That's an awesome cutting board! My wife brought up a good point though. I asked if she wanted one. Her first reaction she loved it, but then she said no. Says it's so busy, she's afraid she'll lose focus and cut a finger off.
> 
> Have you used the board yet? What's your thoughts on this?
> 
> ...


I suspect your wife isn't giving herself enough credit.


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## 27207 (Jan 25, 2012)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> I suspect your wife isn't giving herself enough credit.


Well she is a pretty good cook. Her mom used to teach cooking classes and taught her a lot. But she has sliced her finger twice in two years. You're probably right, but she does get distracted easily. Kinda like my dog and son lol.

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs


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## ETBee (Feb 10, 2010)

Haven't used it as a cutting board yet. After all the effort that went in to making it, I am afraid I will never want to put a scratch on it!


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## 27207 (Jan 25, 2012)

ETBee said:


> Haven't used it as a cutting board yet. After all the effort that went in to making it, I am afraid I will never want to put a scratch on it!


Lol. That's like buying a car and not driving it. Any scratches can be sanded out. Don't be scared.

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

gideon said:


> that looks awesome!
> 
> I am trying to wrap my mind around how this gets done. Is there a tutorial on how to do this somewhere?


Yeah! I know what you mean.









Here's a little demystification.

http://lumberjocks.com/degoose/blog/10460

Also worth a look...

http://lumberjocks.com/poroskywood/blog/10833


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## Anguspapa (May 4, 2013)

If I may ask, how many hrs did it take? Never doing anything like this, and working full time, it would probably take me 2 weeks.

Eric Williams


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