r/Cuttingboards

This is my first time trying to make an end grain cutting board. Maple. This morning I was at the flattening stage.

I used a router sled and a spoilboard bit. At first, I was pretty pleased with how things were going. I was taking very small cuts (1/32"). I had expected the visible back and forth lines; from what I heard, "they just sand out". But, I was also getting large areas of ... end grain tearing? Not tear out, per se, but visible damage to the ends.

I used a new 1 1/4" diameter (1/4" shank) bit with 2 cutters (carbide inserts). At one point, I wondered if the cutters were dulling, so I rotated them. Maybe that made things worse.

It seems the only hope I have is to sand this. I have a 5" ROS and have been working on this for hours. 80 grit and 120 grit. If this is the way, then so be it. I've made some progress, but I want to believe there's a better way. Is a belt sander better? Will it make more of a mess of things?

And... I still have the other side to do. I am wondering if there's something I did wrong to end up with this amount of cleanup -- something I can avoid on the other side.

To make matters worse... the board is now cupped (concave on the side I have been working on) after working on it in the sun and heat all day. Probably lost a lot of moisture on that side. So, using a router sled on the other side will likely end up removing a lot of thickness. I'm hoping the board will level out overnight.

Thanks in advance.

Cutting boards are the metric for the official beginner label right? Haha

Outdoor artisan market number 2 coming up in a few days. For you outdoor market veterans, how do you rack your boards? I have a couple racks but am curious what you all use to elevate your work. Thanks!

I’ve gone through bottles of cutting board oil and mineral oil and my board is still like this at the end of at most 2 days.

Based on my research boards require regular oiling in the beginning but it tapers off as it ages. I never thought I’d have to oil every day even after 2 years. I’m super frustrated.

Any thoughts from the expert as to why this could be?

Tagliere con mogano padouk faggio

I just completed this project for a friend, and it will be a gift as a congrats on his first kid.

This chonker of a board measures 24” x 15”, is 2-1/4” thick, and weighs in at a healthy 22.5 lbs.

Made entirely of 4/4 Maple, and finished with mineral oil and Walrus Oil Wood Wax for Cutting Boards.

Started off as wood serving boards for this client and asked if we could do a donut wall for brunch. Cherry and Maple frame all sealed so it can be wiped down, custom stainless steel removable posts hold the donuts. Posts come in two sizes and can hold a single donut or the longer post holds two donuts. They can be removed and put in the dishwasher.

This is a cherry end grain board I made. I started with a very crooked slab and went through the whole process: trimming, jointing, planing, cutting, more jointing and planing, glue-up, cut, glue-up again and all the other steps along the way.

Is this bleeding normal? Washed it with water. Oiled and then rinsed it down with water. John Boos won’t fix it and I don’t want to toss this out if I don’t need to.

Is this fixable? Do I just leave it and hope it doesn’t get worse and oil more often? Board is about 6 months old have oiled it twice, usually clean with vinegar/water mix and it always lives flat in my countertop but I try to regularly dry underneath it.

After almost ruining a few boards trying to make a board for some friends. Finally made it work for my wife

Bought my first 'real' cutting board and it just got in!

I owned cutting boards in the past ofcourse, but they were all cheap and/or from a certain Swedish furniture store and my recently bought japanese knives don't agree with bamboo appearantly.

This is a single piece of walnut and i think it's very handsome. Really excited!

I want to use it so bad, but the company i bought it from said i have to wait a few days until the tung oil bath has hardened? I bought a maintenance kit with it for the future.

Can't wait!

Bought two boards from a local small business. Had them shipped. One was premade (this one). The other was made to order and looks much better than this one.

These gaps weren’t apparent on first use. The milling on the boards, and the glue up clearly was not great on this board, and I didn’t buy it knowing it would look like this when it came in. The gaps sealed the deal, so I reached out to the seller.

He seems to think this is easily fixable. I disagree based o my limited knowledge of what it would involve. I assume he planned on filling the holes with sawdust, but I’m not sure that’s a solution to me. I don’t think it makes sense to rip this along the joints anyways as it’s already so crooked in spots.

Thoughts?