A Cut Above - Endgrain Cutting Board Pt. 1

[Music Playing] Welcome to episode seven of the Wood Whisperer video podcast. I am your host Marc Spagnuolo and on today’s episode we are going to make this awesome endgrain cutting board. Now if you make this as a gift and you plan on using in your very own kitchen, this durable and extra fancy cutting board will serve as an excellent project for honing your wood working skills. [Music Playing] Now as you probably already know, cutting boards come in several varieties. First there is plastic. Now just as a disclaimer I do not really recommend throwing your wife’s cutting boards around the shop. There is also your state of wood cutting board. Now something like this little guy is a long grain cutting board. They are very popular and they could be inexpensive due to the fact that they are easy to make. These are first for most standard kitchen tasks, but if you are anything like me, standard just is not good enough and that is where endgrain cutting boards come in. This colossal kitchen companion is heavy, it is durable and if made properly it can be a gorgeous addition to your kitchen decor. [Music Playing] So you might be wondering why we care so much about endgrain. Well endgrain wards are much easier on your knives. They are much more durable and they tend to hide your knives marks better. Now let us use this paint brush as an example. The bristles here represent a bundle of wood fibers. Now on a long grain board, we are constantly chopping across the grain. That can lead to cracks on the board and possibly even pieces of the board being dislodge. It is also a lot tougher on the knife. Now endgrain on the other hand is much more forgiving. The blade will chop down between the fibers giving it a nice soft cushion and when the blades pulled out the fibers will spring right back into position. [Music Playing] Now the traditional wood of choice for cutting boards is hard maple. It is also referred to as rock maple. Hard maple is, well it is hard and has a very tight grain structure which means less places for bacteria to hide. Now to make our cutting board I am using two woods, maple and Purple Heart. I choose Purple Heart primarily for its color. Unfortunately the South American hard wood is also a very dense and tight grain. Now there is a lot of other woods up there that you can use to make a cutting board. Just be sure to avoid woods that are open grain, oily or soft. Before we get started I just want to quickly mention that if you follow these plans exactly you should end up with the board that is approximately 18 inches long by 12 inches wide, by about an inch in a quarter thick. So without any further delay, here let us get ready and make a cutting board. [Music Playing] To get started we need to mill some eight quarter purple heart and eight quarter maple stock down to an inch and 5/8 stick and also 15 an a half inches long. With any of the reap these pieces to the following widths, two and a quarter inches, one and three quarters of an inch, one and one quarter inch and three quarter inch. When it is all set and done, we should have two pieces of each width, one for maple and one from Purple Heart. Next we need to arrange the boards for our initial glue up. Each board is in descending order with the largest piece toward the outside. I notice how I also alternate the maple and the Purple Heart. [Music Playing] Before I apply the glue I turn every piece but the last one, 90 degrees to the left so that the glue surface is face up. [Music Playing] At then spread a generous amount of glue on each phase. Using an ink roller, I ensure a nice even coat. Notice that I am only applying glue to one phase. This is a great time saver when I have got a lot boards to worry about. Just be sure to apply a generous amount of glue. It is always a good idea to throw the roller into a bucket of water so that the glue does not try on the rubber surface. [Music Playing] Once the boards are in position, I apply just enough clamping pressure to hold the boards in place. Next, I clamped two cos across the face of the board. This ensures the board will stay as flat as possible. And here is a quick tip, cover the business end of your calls with clear packing tape to prevent the glue from sticking to the call. Lastly I had third clamp to the middle of the glue up just to ensure even clamping pressure.