end grain cutting board easy right? nope.... got some questions

There is a little engineering that needs to be considered when building an end grain butcher block or cutting board. First, choose wood where the growth rings (viewed from the end) run as close to 90 degrees or parallel to one edge. Remember, the expansion/contraction is about double along the annular rings verses perpendicular to the rings. You've got to keep the grain running in the same direction as you glue up your strips. In other words, don't glue a flatsawn edge to a quartersawn edge.

Next, the way butcher blocks are made is to glue up strips of wood like you were making a laminated type cutting board. These laminated panels are then run through a planer to flatten them and bring them to equal thickness. Then the panel is crosscut into strips of blocks equal to the thickness that you want the butcher block to be. These block strips are then glued together again keeping the grain running in the same directions.

Not paying attention to the grain orientation will lead to the block cracking and/or joints being pulled apart.

A ANSI type II or ANSI Type I (Titebond III) adhesive will work just fine however, you need to be sure you do everything right to get good adhesion. Wood glues are non-toxic when cured. Your glue faces should be flat and freshly cut. It they were cut more than a few days earlier, freshen them up with about three swipes with 320 sandpaper and block to keep the faces flat.

I have been thinking on this for a couple days, I came up with this,

cut your stock into 1x1x1" cubes, say maple and red heart or a dyed cherry would work well. then make 4 frame rails that are 1" tall by 3/4" thick by however long.

have a pattern made onto a clear sheet. this can be done at any office supply store same thing teachers would use for the overhead projectors screens.

make your frame so you have a box to hold your pieces. then attach the pattern to one edge so you can flip it on and off tape should do the trick.

then: dry fit by filling the frame with all the "whole blocks you can. where you have to split the spot with the 2 different colors you can then put the maple block in. trace or draw the line on the block so it fits the shape, then do the same with the other block. once the 2 fit correctly glue and clamp them together, then place them in. in essence you are making a 1x1x1 block with 2 colors. the 2 color blocks should be the only ones glued at this point. keep in mind to keep your grain direction going the same direction. once you have all of this done. remove the frame.

cut or grab some dunage wood that you can use as cauls to clamp from both sides meaning the dunage will not overlap, leave the cauls about 1/4" short.

when you do the glue up. I would do it on a piece of ply covered with wax paper to keep it from sticking. as you tighten each clamp. tap each block to "seat" it flat.

once it is dried, and since you do not have a drum sander. I would get a very sharp block plane and set it to as fine a shaving as possible and start to flatten the top. and then scrap the bottom with a card scraper.

this is the best I can come up with, anyone have any other ideas?

>>>> cut your stock into 1x1x1" cubes, say maple and red heart or a dyed cherry would work well. then make 4 frame rails that are 1" tall by 3/4" thick by however long.

Not really a good idea. An end grain cutting board is going to want to expand and contract in length and width with changes in humidity and moisture. A solid wood frame around an end grain field will restrict the movement of the field. This will result in the field being damaged or destroyed and/or the glue joint holding the frame being forced apart.

Trying to glue a lot of individual pieces of wood will be almost impossible. As I said in my above response, the way end grain boards are made is to glue strips together, flip them over 90 degrees, crosscut them to the thickness you want the board to be and then glue the strips together into the board.