LITTLE PROJECT...

I'm working on a gift for some friends right now--a cutting board. It's a plan from Wood Magazine. It's a deceptively simple project. Deceptive because it looks like it took lots of cutting and lots of effort. It's actually fairly simple and straightforward. Really, it's more a test of how accurately your equipment is set up and performing than it is of your woodworking abilities.

I drove down to Pomona on Saturday morning, to Mark Frieden Hardwoods, since that's the only place around where I've found hardwoods for a decent price. I have to put in a plug for this guy. He's a farmer that also has a kiln & a good selection of hardwoods from Missouri and beyond. I bought a total of about 5 board feet (hard maple, cherry, and walnut). I asked about Kentucky Coffeetree wood, since he had a huge piece last time I was in there. He said he had stopped carrying it for lack of demand, but had about a board-foot left. He threw that in for me to play with, at no extra charge. There was a 7/8 piece of purpleheart there that was probably 11" wide and 7' long. I almost had to buy it, just because I've never seen pieces that big. Really nice guy, and I love walking around that shed full of mixed hardwoods. I'm becoming a real wood junkie. It's really fun to get lumber that's got rough edges and fairly rough-planed surfaces, and turn it into something beautiful.

Anyway, the way this thing works is that you glue up strips of maple, walnut, and cherry of differing widths, to form one big laminated plank:




I like the way these laminated planks look. I would like to make something (cabinets? a folding screen?) that makes use of that look. Once I ran it through the planer it looked as though it was one piece of wood with some very sudden color changes. So I guess I did OK getting things cut straight, etc. Not bad, considering I don't have a jointer.

Next you crosscut strips from the plank:



Then you turn every other strip end-for-end. The differing widths of the maple and cherry strips staggers the wood to produce a funky pattern. Here's how it looks laid out flat, right before gluing up:



These pieces get stood on edge, though, so that the cutting board surface is all end grain, which will make it really durable. The plans call for you to glue this up in three separate sections, then glue those three sections together, for two reasons (I guess): 1) because waterproof glue generally has a short "open time" during which you can move things around and get clamps on, and 2) to make sure there's adequate clamping pressure. I knew #2 wasn't really an issue, since f clamps like the ones I used have something like 1,000 psi of clamping force. I also thought I could get everything together within that 7 minute open assembly time that TiteBond III has. It turns out that it was pretty easy. I laid the strips out flat so I could put glue on each one, then turn it up on edge next to the previous one. The clamps and cauls were all laid out and ready to go.

It worked just fine to do it all at once. Check out the deflection on the bars of those f-clamps! Plenty of pressure there.... I actually kind of bruised my palms twisting those handles! It would have added an extra session, at least, to do it the other way, and wouldn't have made any difference. Joints either fit together, or they don't.



I should finish this up tonight, and then it needs a few coats of mineral oil. It's been sort of a fun project because it was quick, and it also allowed me to work with three different species side-by-side. If you look close, you can see that the cherry burned when going through the table saw. The walnut tore out a little in the planer. The maple was the easiest to work, overall, but had a little splintering going through the table saw.

Oh, and this is a good time to update my review on a couple of my tools. The Ridgid table saw (TS3650) is still performing like a champ. I've used it enough now to trust its accuracy. It's nice to be able to trust the measurement the fence guide shows. The Ridgid planer (TP1300LS) is still working really well, too. Except for a little tearout, and some snipe (which is mostly due to the operator not paying attention during infeed/outfeed), it produces a glass-smooth finish. It didn't bog down with that wide laminated plank, either. I am really happy with both.

-m