Making a Black Walnut and Maple End Grain Cutting Board

Black Walnut and hard rock Maple End Grain Cutting Board

I wanted to share with you a little bit of the process of making an end grain cutting board. I am making two boards using a combination of Black Walnut and hard rock Maple. These two woods will give a nice contract of color. The final size of each board will be 14″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″ thick.

The first step is to hand pick nice hardwood, preferably woods with nice grain, color, square, no splitting and no worm holes. If you purchased wood, let the wood acclimate to the conditions of your shop for a week before starting your project. Knowing the final size of the board allows you to calculate the total board feet of hardwood required to make the board. Keep in mind that there are numerous cuts and glue ups in the process. You need to account for all of the cuts as each cut on a table saw waste 1/8 of material.

Prepare your cuts for the best use of the hardwood and the design.  If you plan to use different types of woods, you may need more board feet of one wood verses the other based on your design. Since this board is primary Black Walnut, I will need more Black Walnut than Maple.

Plan your cuts based on final size of the board. Start by cutting the wood into strips. The size of the strips is determined based on the final design and size of the board. Glue all of the strips together in the sequence of your design, leaving the boards in the clamps for a minimum of 24 hours.

The above photo shows the Black Walnut and Maple strips, this is the first glue up. After removing the glued strips from the clamps, both surfaces were sanded smooth to size per my design.

Next step was to cross cut the above boards into strips that are 1-5/8 wide, which will make a 1-5/8 thick board. The 1-5/9 thickness provides 1/8″ for flattening both surfaces and all the sanding. After cutting the strips, each piece is carefully placed in the proper sequence based on the design. Every other piece is the opposite of the last piece.  After each piece is in order, it is time for the second glue up.

The above photo shows the second glue up of all of the strips that were cut to 1-5/8″. This will be the final design.

In the above photo, after 24 hours, I removed the boards from the clamps. I then cut the board to size, 14 x 20 inch and started sanding the surface on all sides. The final thickness will be 1-1/2 inch. Once this is completed, I will cut finger pulls of each end and then sand them smooth. My sanding process starts at 120 grit up to the final grit of 300.

The sanding took nearly an hour to go from 120 grit to 300 grit. They are looking good, flat on all surfaces and all sanded. Next step is to cut the finger pulls, then apply the final finish.

The above photo shows the board after cutting the finger pulls, sanding the finger pulls and applying the final finish.

Finished boards!

 

I hope you enjoyed my post!

This board is stall available, made to order only. If you are interested, please email me from my Contact Us page. Click CONTACT US button below!

 

 

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New Boards Made The Last Month

Above: Black Walnut Board

I thought I would post today a few of the boards that I have made this month. There were a few more that I made but did not get a picture of them!

 

Above: Ambrosia Maple, Cherry and Black Walnut

This one is 14 inch in diameter and has a lot of different grain character and colors, it’s stunning!

Above: Black Walnut and Maple

Customer wanted a long board to place beside her range, 22 inches long and 6-1/2 inches wide.

Above: Black Walnut and Maple end grain cutting board

Rachel was looking for a unique board that could take lot of use. See her picture below!

The above photo was taken by Rachel, she is a wonderful cook, check out her Instagram page, @5280Meat

 

Above: Black Walnut board with handle.

Check out Trina’s picture below of this board, round board and ice cream scoop! Trina is a wonderful cook, check out her Instagram page, @Paleo_Newbie_Recipes

 

My Wood Conditioner is homemade combining a mixture of food-grade mineral oil and pure food grade beeswax. It will help you maintain the finish on your boards, reviving, condition and help protect your boards from moisture and drying out.

Enjoy your afternoon!

After months of hard work and dedication, my NEW website is live!! I would love it if you would go take a look, here is the link:  MichaelsWoodcrafts

www.MichaelsWoodcrafts.com

Purchasing my work is Simple, click the above image or the SHOP NOW button below to be directed to my website.

 

 

 

 

Making My Wood Conditioner!

I spent a couple hours this afternoon making my Wood Conditioner today because I only had a few tins available. If you are not familiar with my Wood Conditioner, when used on your wood cutting board, wood utensils or anything wood it will penetrate and helps to revive, condition and protect it. I also use it on my cast iron pans for conditioning. Read more about my Wood Conditioner!

My Wood Conditioner is made using 100% food grade mineral oil and 100% food grade beeswax.

I have a label on the lid detailing how to use the Wood Conditioner. 

Tins ready to fill, I use the syringe to fill each tin, it makes for easy work and clean up too! Each tin will be filled with my Food Grade Mineral oil and Food Grade Beeswax mixture. It will be hot but once cooled becomes solid.

Once the tins are filled, it takes about an hour for the Wood Conditioner to cool and harden. Above are three tins that were filled at different times, the one in the middle has not cooled and gotten solid just yet.

They are all done, cooled, labeled and ready!

For more information, view more images or to order, click the SHOP NOW button below

Beautiful Pictures!

I have a wonder photographer that is helping me with pictures of my work and I wanted to share a sample of her beautiful work. All of these pictures were taken by Tricia, you might already know Tricia because she is a very active blogger, please visit her site, Saving Room For Dessert.

Tricia is not only a great photographer but wow, she can cook, and is a wonderful baker. She is always creating new recipes and also loves kayaking, hiking, watching great movies, baking and traveling.

Tricia has sent me a lot of photos over the last few weeks, I love all of her pictures!! I hope  you enjoyed seeing Tricia’s pictures and I hope you will check out her blog, Saving Room For Dessert!

I could eat that bowl of ice cream right now!! 🙂

Tricia makes some wonderful, delicious pies and has included many recipes on her blog.

The Teardrop shaped cutting board I hand crafted using Black Walnut!

Honey Dipper Sticks are great if you like using honey!

The above board is handcrafted using Walnut, Cherry and Ambrosia Maple!

Do you remember when no one knew what a kiwi was?

Walnut cheese boards are great for serving your favorite cheeses, crackers and maybe cold cuts!

If you are interested in my woodwork, browse my site or email me if you have any questions!

Love all the pictures Tricia!! 🙂

For more information, view more images, pricing or to order, click SHOP NOW

 

Rustic Black Walnut Wood slices

Good evening y’all!

In early January I wrote about cutting a Black Walnut log into these Walnut cookies slices. At the time the black walnut tree had just been cut down so the moisture content was 100%. After 5 weeks, most of these are at 20% moisture but there are a few at 13-15%. It will be another few weeks before the moisture is between 8-9% so that I can begin finishing them. Check out my previous post from January 7th, Walnut Wood Cookies

I spent nearly 7 hours today removing the remaining bark, running them thru the planner on both sides and cleaning up the edges. They are looing really nice, a few cracks but that adds character. Most all of these are 12 inch in diameter and 2 inches thick.

All of them have really great color and should finish out beautifully! They will make great cutting boards, serving boards or plate chargers!

 

The National Weather Service has predicted a winter storm for our area starting Monday evening thru Tuesday with accumulations of 4 to 7 inches of freezing rain, sleet and snow! Where ever you are, I hope you are in a warm place!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you enjoy your weekend! 🙂

 

I will soon be adding a new board design, see picture below!

Serving boards

 

 

 

 

Cheese Boards

 

Birds Eye Maple

I have added a new Cheese Board or it can also be used as a cutting board. Size I have available are 8 inch round, 10 inch round and 12 inch round. The handle adds another 4 inch plus to the length depending on the size board. You can find my new boards on this page, Cheese Boards

The first picture (above) is Birds Eye Maple, very beautiful and hard to find.

Walnut

Walnut is very popular and makes a beautiful board. Many times the walnut will have curly designs in the wood and cream color streaks that add character.

Quilted Flamed Maple

Quilted Flamed Maple is very beautiful, you can see the beautiful flame colors in the boards above.

All of my boards are hand sanded to a smooth finish then finished with numerous coats of food safe mineral oil then top coated with mineral oil and beeswax. All boards are shipped with a tin of my Wood Conditioner!

 

Makes a very nice gift for someone who likes to cook and entertain family and friends

Charcuterie boards, cheese boards and cutting boards make great Christmas gifts or a nice anytime gift for a friend that likes to cook or entertain! If you get them engraved it makes the gift more personal!!

Do you have a favorite cutting board that you use all the time? I would love to see pictures of your boards!

For more information, view more images, pricing or to order, click SHOP NOW

One of A Kind

I have started making one of a kind cutting boards and serving boards! Each board is numbered and is designed to be unique so that it can be displayed in your home but also makes a great accessory for cooking, cutting and serving.

Like all the boards, I  hand select each  piece of walnut, maple or cherry. Did I mentioned all my boards are handcrafted one at a time by me and only me and they all  have beautiful grain, shiny finish, and smooth to the touch.

My supplier for walnut told me today that the price of walnut is going up very soon, it appears that there is a shortage of walnut. Only hope that the price doesn’t go up too much!

The above board is Curly Flamed Maple, as you can see it has beautiful color and character! My wife really  loves the Curly Flamed Maple, if I don’t get a buyer for this board she said that she will be keeping it.

What do you think of my new boards?

 

Custom Cutting Boards

I wanted to show you a custom board I finished and shipped this week. Sometimes when I pull out my lumber to begin making a new piece I can tell that the wood is beautiful, this time it turned out more beautiful than I initially thought. Walnut has ever rick color.

The customer wanted a large board made from walnut to use in his kitchen. This is a custom size board, 20 x 30 inch and made using American Walnut. I am not sure exactly how they plan to use the board other than he mentioned that he does a lot of baking.

Since he lives in California, it will take 3-4 days before FedEx delivers the board,  I sure hope he likes it!

 

As a gift with every board I send a free tin of Wood Conditioner. My Wood Conditioner is homemade combining a mixture of food-grade mineral oil and pure beeswax. It will help you maintain the finish on your boards, reviving, condition and help protect your boards from moisture and drying out. To learn more, visit my Wood Conditioner page.

Enjoy your afternoon! 🙂

 

 

Oval Cutting Board with Juice Groove

 

A couple weeks ago I was contact by email by about making a board. She was looking for a replacement oval cutting board insert for a sterling silver platter. She told me that she could find these platters on wedding gift website. The problem was if the board gets broken or you lose your board, you are out of luck, they do not offer a new replacement board.

She said the board was used for carving meat and it had a juice groove. It was oval, 14-1/4 inches long by 9 inches wide. The underside was beveled to fit into the silver platter. After several emails with pictures, she sent me her old board, she wanted to know if I could make 4 of them exactly like her old board. The next day her old board arrived.

Her old board was made from maple wood, the measurements were exactly what she had told me.

I first made a template to match her old board. Once I had the template completed, I then made her 4 new boards that were exactly like her old board, handmade from hard rock maple.

I shipped the boards to her and she loves them and they all fit into her silver platter perfectly! 🙂 So if you have an old board that needs repair or you need a replace board exactly the same size or wood, etc. I would be glad to make it for you!

Every kitchen needs a good cutting board or serving board!

Handmade Cutting Boards and Serving Boards

 

 

 

 

Special Gift

June 26, 2014

Round Walnut Cutting Boards or Serving Boards with Handle

I have been really busy making cutting boards, serving boards, and custom woodwork for special wedding gifts. I have gotten a good many orders for wedding gifts. It seems that the round walnut cutting board in all three sizes is the most popular at the moment.

This year I was fortunate to buy a large amount of beautiful walnut 1 inch thick, random widths and lengths. This walnut is beautiful with colors ranging from light to dark and includes some black streaking.

Pictured is a 15 inch, 12 inch and 10 inch board

A good friend of mind gives everyone he knows getting married the same wedding gift. On the day of the wedding he buys a new cooler and fills it with water bottles, sodas, beer, wine, champagne and ice. Along with the cooler full of drinks he also gives one of my cutting boards. The bride and groom always love the cutting board and the cooler full of drinks, especially if they can take the cooler with them on their first night together!

Cutting boards are very popular with people looking for a special handcrafted gift. All of my work is handmade so they become an instant heirloom and will last forever.

With each order I always send along my Wood Conditioner and instructions on how to take care of the board. My Wood Conditioner is also handmade using food grade mineral oil and food grade beeswax packaged in tins and will help keep the board looking good.

Today I shipped these three boards directly to the bride and groom in Pittsburgh, PA for someone who ordered the boards as a wedding gift. Nice surprise, I wish I could be there when they open the package.

For more information, view more images, pricing or to order, click SHOP NOW

Have a great day!