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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Engraved Ice Cream Scoops!

Above, Engraved walnut ice cream scoop.

Please note, the manufacturer of the stainless steel ice cream scoop hardware has changed the design. Effective March 1, 2017, all orders will include the stainless steel hardware shown inn above picture and picture below.

 

Above font is Amaze Bold-script

Above: Rockwell font

Above: Curly Black Walnut and Blackwood ice cream scoop custom engraved for Debra at the University of Connecticut, Office of Alumni Relations.

 

Over the last few months I have handcraft over 70 ice cream scoops and engraved more then 40 of them. I wanted to share with you some of the pictures!

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Amaze Bold font

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Amaze Bold script font

The above ice cream scoop was a gift to Maryland Coach Turgeon!

Above: My customer sent me a picture of Maryland Coach Turgeon with the ice cream scoop!

Whimsical ice cream scoops!

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Rockwell font

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Amaze Bold script font

Curly black walnut handle engraved.

I am now also engraving serving boards and cutting boards!

 

Above: Wedding gift

    

The above scoop was also a wedding gift and it had engraving on the topside and bottom side.

 

Everyone seems to be enjoying ice cream this summer!! I know I have had my share of Ice cream too!

Enter a caption

 

Above, Cooper font

Above, Curly Black Walnut and Blackwood engraved scoops.

The above Ice Cream Scoop was made for a FedEx sales rep that is on the State Government Team!

above, Amaze Bold script font

above, Amaze Bold script font

Above, Cooper font

The above handle was special order, walnut with special colored wood. The shape is like the hard rock Maple handle. If you like the handle be sure to let me know and I can make this design in walnut for you!

Above, Engraved customer logo’s

Above, Rockwell font

Above, Rockwell font

Above font is Amaze Bold-script

Above font is Rockwell

Above, Amaze Bold-script and Rockwell

Above: curly walnut old fashion ice cream paddle with Rockwell engraving

Above: Amaze bold-script font

Above: Old fashion ice cream paddle scoop engraved using Amaze Bold-script font

Above: Hard rock Maple and Padauk ice cream scoop handle engraved using Amaze bold-script font.

Ab0ve; Old fashion ice cream paddle scoop with Amaze Bold-script font. Below is Cooper font ice cream scoop

Above: Curly Walnut with Blackwood scoop, Rockwell font

Above: Amaze bold-script font

Thank you for visiting my Blog!

Please check out our handcrafted woodwork, charcuterie boards, cutting boards, wine boards, serving trays, wine stoppers, unique ice cream scoops, honey sticks and more. 

For more information please click SHOP NOW

 

 

 

 

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

Black Cherry Burl Slab

A good customer called me a few weeks ago and described to me a new board that he wanted. He first said he wanted a unique board for his food photography, a board that no one else had, something really special and beautiful. Bob has ordered several times from me, so I knew as he described the board he was passionate about his food photography and his cooking. Bob is a wonderful chef and he post his food photography on his Instagram page, That_Paleo_Guy  

Before we hung up, my mission was to locate potential boards, take pictures and email to him. It wasn’t long before he had picked out the American Black Cherry Burl. This piece is a slab, live each with thick bark on all sides, which is exactly what Bob wanted.

After flattening and all the sanding, I applied half of the board with food grade mineral oil so that you could see the beautiful color transformation as the finish is applied.

The pictures I sent Bob was unfinished but you could tell that the Cherry Burl slab had really beautiful birds eye figuring with crazy grain and beautiful buttery colors. This board has more character than most pieces, it is absolutely beautiful!

The above shows the finish board after I removed it from the food grade mineral oil bath. Once dried I applied my Wood Conditioner.

 

The photo below was taken by Bob last week!!!

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Tuesday’s Autumn View

 

The pictures in this post I took this afternoon from our deck facing 152 degrees SE. This year we don’t have the vibrant colors we usually  have because of the early freezing temperatures and snow. The leaves are more yellow, a lot of brown and of course we have the green pine tree needles.

Today our temperatures were in the mid 50’s but all of that is going to change starting tomorrow evening.

The Plains, Midwest and Rockies are already experiencing the artic cold that started in Alaska and is coming our direction. By tomorrow morning we are suppose to have cold temperature at 24 degrees and by  the weekend they are predicting 20 degrees! I guess the good thing is there is no precipitation in the forecast!

What is the weather is your area? Are you getting hit by this same artic cold? Are you a fall person, winter, spring or summer?

 

 

Curly Figured Walnut

I was able to land some Curly Figured Walnut turning blocks the end of last week. These are hard to find in my area so I bought all this guy had.

On Friday, I prepared a couple of blocks for turning, cutting to size and adding the Blackwood. Today I turned the handle and mounted the stainless steel scoop. What do you think?

The ice cream scoops are heavy duty, the scoop is made of polished stainless steel. These stainless steel ice cream scoops make great gifts for any ice cream lover!

If you are not sure about a handcrafted Walnut ice cream scoop, check out my other designs!

Heavy Duty Ice Cream Scoop

12 inch board with unique handle!

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! 🙂