The Easiest Cutting Board You Will Ever Make
by Madebymitch in Workshop > Woodworking
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The Easiest Cutting Board You Will Ever Make
My first cutting board! I know it isn’t super glamorous or trendy but I had a piece of maple that I wanted to use and I really needed a small cutting board so that is what I did. You can check out the full video for all the details on this project, but it was very simple and straightforward. I believe that anyone can make if they put their mind to it so I know you can do this project. I know there's a lot I could have done to enhance this and a lot I could have done differently. It wouldn’t take you very long to make this either but with that said, I hope you enjoy this project.
Tools and Materials
MATERIALS
- Piece of Maple
- Wood glue https://amzn.to/2qTtTWg
- Howards Cutting Board Oil https://amzn.to/2qTtTWg
TOOLS
- Thickness Planer
- Table Saw https://amzn.to/2qTtTWg
- Router https://amzn.to/2qTtTWg
- Random Orbital Sander https://amzn.to/2qTtTWg
- Clamps
Mill and Cut the Wood to Size
The first thing I you will have to do is mill all the lumber down to a usable size. This is only necessary if you are using rough lumber like I was. I know not everyone has access to the tools to mill lumber like this. You can purchase and have your lumber milled down at your local hardwoods dealer or planing mill. I used a scrap piece of maple I had leftover from an earlier project. The first thing I did was use the planer to get the board to the thickness that I wanted which was about ⅞” thick.
After that I cut the boards to size. My board already had one flat side from an earlier project, so I used the table saw to get a straight edge on the other side. I just put the already straight side against the fence of the saw and ran it through the table saw to make the board about 5” wide. After I had my width, I cut the board in half so I had two pieces.
The Glue Up
Once I had my two pieces, I added glue to one of the sides of the board and then I glued and clamped the boards together. Make sure your clamps are on very tight to get a good bond with the wood. My pieces were not very even or straight, but this was a little bit of an experiment for me so I wasn’t too concerned. After a few hours the wood glue was dry enough to move to the next step.
Sand and Prep for Finish
After the glue was dried, I trimmed the sides of the cutting board by running it through the table saw.
Then I had a nice straight rectangle shaped cutting board. After this, I used a router and went all the way around the edge of the cutting board with a ½” roundover bit to give the board a rounded look. If you watch the video you will see how I did this and how I did it incorrectly. If I did this again, I would have used a smaller bit for the router. I would have probably used a ¼” or even ⅛” roundover for this. Once I had the edge that I wanted, I sanded the board using 120 grit paper and then 220 paper.
Finish
All I had left to do was apply finish to the cutting board. I used Howard’s Cutting Board Oil. It is food safe oil mainly made with Mineral oil. I really liked this product. I just wiped the oil on and let is soak in the wood. I have heard of some people soaking the board in mineral oil, but I have never tried this. I plan to in the future, but for this board, wiping on worked just fine.
how it really brings out the walnut grain. I just wiped it on. After this, the cutting board was complete.
Video
Make sure you check out the video for this project to see all the steps I mistakes I made while doing this. This is a good project if you are just beginning in woodworking or just want something to make. And it works perfectly! Thanks for reading.
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