# Craftsman inspired "cutting" board



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

This site seems to look to see the builds. I do not have the build pictures, but will offer the details of how the design evolved.

Last December a colleague asked if I would make a cutting board for her father. No design details, although I sent her some links to boards made by various artisans. The only feedback was a positive reaction to "Craftsman" style as she looked through the links.

 The other input to the design is that her father is a 'tree hugger' (her words), so preferred domestic renewable woods. 

I like to mix domestic and exotic. I love the colours in some exotics. I also love grain patterns in any wood. 

So this was my solution based on my desire to use only the wood I had on-hand in the spirit of the 'tree hugger'. 

I had a 1.5in x 6in hard maple board. I cut into strips. I then found the 'side grain' had some curl showing, so decided to make this the exposed surface. 

I added inlay's of bloodwood (top to bottom) and purpleheart (side) including purpleheart squares between the strips. The ends are also hard maple, but a different board, so the grain patterns do not match. I wanted the 'bread board' end effect. I also try to minimize exposed end grain. Just my preference to try and prevent future cracking, which happened in one of my early boards. 

This is meant to be the cutting side. The side edges are beveled to accent the craftsman style. The top and bottom edge is white oak. The oak evolved as another 'tree hugger' detail. The bottom assembly was wider than the top. So I either had to cut off the bottom, or add some strips to the top. I added the strips. I could not waste either the curly walnut or the curly maple. I just loved the grain patterns.









This is the bottom. I wanted a side for display, and not intended to be cut and to showcase domestic woods. 

I had an assembly of two sequential 1/4in panels cuts from a piece of curly maple, my first attempt at popping the grain. I ended up preferring just oil over tinting. This was the left over piece. 

I cut two 1/4in strips of curly black walnut to fill out the top to bottom side. 

I then cut a piece of cherry into two sequential 1/4in strips to fill out the left and right edges. 

I added some 3/4in by 3/4in squares of black walnut to give the appearance of pinned tennons, but also to act as the feet. These were bevelled on all sides. Uses my disc sander to bevel the ends, then cut the piece off the 3/4in x 3/4in piece.

The bottom side was also bevelled. 
I love the grain patterns in the curly maple and curly walnut. The picture shows the grain well.










I like to add inlays to the edges, to try and hide the fact this is two distinct layers in addition to minimizing exposed end grain. 
The long edges are inlayed with lacewood. The ends are inlayed with Agate Orange. Selections based on the strips of wood on-hand to minimize waste.









This shows the detail of the thin strips on the top side. These were 1/8in wide. I wanted them thin and so my choice was 1/8in or 1/4in as these were the router bits I had available. I liked the way the 1/8in looked. The only challenge I found is that I did not have a 1/8in chisel to square off the end, so I had to sand the ends round to match the slot.








The finish is clear 'Butcher Block Oil' by General Finish. This is clear in the bottle, but adds a hue when applied to the wood. 


The recipient was very happy when this was presently at a family gathering over the holidays.


The jury is still out for whether he will ever use the cutting side for cutting. :smile:


Thanks for reading.


----------



## CasinoDuck (Jun 15, 2011)

I love your attention to detail and how you chose wood for the feet. beautiful! Thanks for sharing this, your hard work shows:thumbsup:


----------



## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

That's a beuatiful board. I'm worried for you that with all the different grain directions and woods that it will eventually split or come apart at the joints. I hope not.


----------



## Fudwrecker (Jan 27, 2011)

I'm pretty sure this board will not come apart as no one in there right mind would use a beautiful cutting board like this for actually cutting!


----------



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I also hope it does not come apart.

The top side is about 1 1/8in thick hard maple.

The bottom side is about 3/8in thick.

The inlays for the edges are about 1/4in thick.

The only joint failure so far was my first hard maple board, and I feel this was due to exposed end grain. I retrofitted to have "bread board" ends and since then no issues. Has to be 10+ years since the repair and the board gets frequent use.


----------



## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Not much you can do about it now Dave. Nice job, nice detail. Definitely a unique piece.


----------

