[Marine04]

My wife had been asking me to make her a new cutting board so for Christmas I did. I had to give it to her on Christmas morning just glued up but not planed or finished. I was able to get a great deal on a planer at sears the day after Christmas so I got it planed, put a round over on the top edge, sanded up to 220 grit and finished it by letting it soak up mineral oil until it would soak anymore then made a mineral oil and beeswax mix and rubbed it on and let it sit for 15 minutes before buffing it, all finished up today. This is my first cutting board I've made and I'm impressed with it. It looks so much better than her old one and I've not seen anything at the stores that look a nice. I made it with maple, and cherry, Paduk and yellow heart for my accent woods.
Here's the pics. First pic is clamping it to get my design, then gluing, sanded, gifted, planed, sanded again, edged, finished. Should all be in order. Think I'll definitely make more for gifts and to sell on my website

 

[rayking49]

Looks nice. I bet she loves it.

 

[TomC]

Very nice looking board. I'm sure your wife loves it. Just like to know how do you soak yours in mineral oil. I apply a coat for 6 to 7 days straight and would like something requiring less of my time.
Thanks, Tom

 

[Broken Bat]

Looks great. I like the pattern

 

[Paarker]

Looks great!

 

[Carvel Loafer]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Looks great.

 

[Marine04]

Very nice looking board. I'm sure your wife loves it. Just like to know how do you soak yours in mineral oil. I apply a coat for 6 to 7 days straight and would like something requiring less of my time. Thanks, Tom

I bought the Kroger pharmacy brand mineral oil and would slab it all over one side of the board an the sides and end grains very heavy thick coat. After about two hours that side of the board almost completely absorbed the oil. I did start light by soaking a shop towel a few times and rubbing it in before I soaked it over the board. Then I flipped it and did the same thing including sides and end grains since end grains always soak up finish tons more and faster than the rest of the piece no matter how well sanded they are. The second coat I let sit for about 2 hours each and it didn't soak up anymore so I rubbed out the rest of the oil that didn't soak up which was pretty much all of it and cooked the beeswax oil mix to a thicker consistency and rubbed that on and let it sit for 15 minutes per side then buffed off. It may not have soaked up as much because I sanded 80, 120 then 220 before I applied oil. It grains may not have been as open but the finish feels like I did 3 coats of poly and finished off with a 600 wet sand. It's as smooth as glass just being sanded to 220 and the amount of oil it soaked up. It did soak up about 3/4 of a bottle.
I'm letting it finish drying now and may try to put more on today but I really don't think it will need it anytime soon. Maybe in a month after being used a few times I might do it again just to keep it maintained and protected.

 

[Marine04]

Thanks everyone! She really loves it! The stuff we make like this is stuff you just don't find in most stores and typically the quality is better since we are our biggest critics lol.

I don't know what it is lately but I've now had smooth sailing with two finishes that have turned out really good. I guess I've just hit a lucky streak with finishes lately. I'm definitely writing them down like a recipes so I can come back to them once my finishing luck runs out lol

 

[Marine04]

Also I was going to make her a jewelry box out of Purple Heart wood. I wanted to use that because it such a unique wood and one of those things you just don't see on shelves at any stores. But, since I didn't have a planer I was going to have to use craft packs at woodcraft and needed two which would have cost 70 bucks I decided against it. They had a cutting board demo set up by their pieces you can buy and my son and I sat there for an hour putting a bunch together trying to come up with a pattern that would be affordable and I bought two piece of 3/4 maple and ripped and cut those to the size of the pieces we bought for the accents and went that route. It cost about 60 bucks for the wood which now will drop since I can plane my own stuff now and picked up the mineral oil, a bar of beeswax, and of course I just had to buy a new whiteside round over bit for the project
I have a set of ryobi but am slowly trying to switch to whiteside and I thought what better time to get a new round over. Plus the guys at woodcraft gave me a 10 dollar off coupon for it so that helped

 

[johnnie52]

I followed along when you asked about which mineral oil to use and I agree with your choice. The drug store stuff is heavier and takes some extra work, but it works just as well and costs less. This board is a beautiful example of that fact. :thumbsup: Your wife must be very pleased with her new board.

I have been considering making one for a long time, however I have been think of making the end grain type rather than long grain. I just need to build up the nerve to actually try it. :laughing:

 

[sawdustfactory]

If anyone here is going to make more than a couple of cutting boards, check out http://store.steoil.com/categories/Crystal-Plus-Food-Grade/. Great product at a great price.

 

[Marine04]

I followed along when you asked about which mineral oil to use and I agree with your choice. The drug store stuff is heavier and takes some extra work, but it works just as well and costs less. This board is a beautiful example of that fact. :thumbsup: Your wife must be very pleased with her new board. I have been considering making one for a long time, however I have been think of making the end grain type rather than long grain. I just need to build up the nerve to actually try it. :laughing:

Yeah I'm very pleased with the Kroger mineral oil. 1.54 compared to HD 9.00. Can't beat that deal. Plus I did see a couple reviews on the HD stuff and someone said it ruined his wood. I don't know if he messed something up or the oil did but I didn't want to risk it. I just picked up 4 bf of hard maple and 1.07 bf of premium cherry. I was going to buy 3.50 bf of Purple Heart but it had a couple cracks. I'm planning to build another one of these very soon. Hopefully my wood supplier gets more Purple Heart in soon though. I wanted to use it as an accent and use the left over for a jewelry box.

I'm also planning to do my homework on the end grain boards. Might try to tackle one in the near future

 

[Marine04]

If anyone here is going to make more than a couple of cutting boards, check out http://store.steoil.com/categories/Crystal-Plus-Food-Grade/. Great product at a great price.

I'll definitely check it out! I plan to make a bunch

 

[TomC]

If anyone here is going to make more than a couple of cutting boards, check out http://store.steoil.com/categories/Crystal-Plus-Food-Grade/. Great product at a great price.

That's where I get mine. I know they have it in three different viscosities. I get the middle one which I believe is listed as 200.
Tom