Custom Cutting Board from Scrap Wood | How to Make

Hey I'm Brad from Fix This Build That and today I'm going to show you how to make a custom cutting board from scrap off cuts and leftover wood I'm also going to show you an important step that most people leave out I started with a piece of walnuts about 12 feet long and two and three quarters of an inch wide I got this from a local mill workshop for free because it was an off cut from their milling operations the first thing I did was figure out how much I could get out of the board and how much I needed to work around the big knots that were in the piece so I marked out where the knots were keeping in mind how the grain was flowing since this is an edge grain board having straight grain lines on these edges will make for a more seamless look on the top when it's assembled I make most of my cutting boards around 16 inches long so I set up my miter saw stand and adjusted to stop blocks at 16 and a half inches it's worked out perfect cuz I was able to get three full cuts from the board before the knot and I trimmed off the naughty part don't need that after that I got three more full cuts from the rest of the board for a total of six parts these boards had one flat side from the mill workshop but the rest was rough I ran the board's through my planer flipping them over after each pass and lowering that cutter head until I had a smooth and parallel surface on both sides the stock I started with was about an inch thick and after the surfacing I was down closer to the round 7/8 for the board's were right at about 2 and 3/4 of an inch thick and then the other two were from the ends they had a slight taper on them making them shorter on one side I set the table saw fence to just under an inch and a quarter and I cut each of the full width pieces into two parts since I'm making an edge grain board the width of these pieces will be the thickness of my finish cutting board if you want a thicker board then just go ahead and cut these a bit wider I would have liked to really been around an inch and a half thick but you got to work with what you got when you're using scraps but the Maine walnut pieces ready I switched over to the accent wood I grabbed a rough cut piece of maple I planed it's smooth on both sides I ripped it on the table saw to the same width there's a lot of pieces and then I turn it on edge and split it into two center pieces I did the same thing with one of the walnut pieces that I cut earlier and these will be the accent strips that flank the yellow parts on the finish board speaking of the yellow heart here's a little scrap board I started with a guy gave me this off cut when I bought tool from an office Craigslist since I have so little of it I didn't want to split it on the table saw because you're losing H of an inch there just to the sawdust from the blade curve so instead I cut to the size I needed on my bandsaw I'll be able to use this other piece here and another cutting board later I wanted the two walnut in the two maple pieces to be a quarter inch thick in the yellow heart to be a half inch thick when I'm finished there were slightly larger than this as I cut them if I use the planer to get them down to the final sizes with all the boards cut and prepped I moved over to the layout I ended up with nine walnut boards and the maple and yellow heart accent strikes I arranged the accents on one side and then I moved over a piece of the walnut to complete the look next I looked over all the boards and I decided what the best show side would be for each piece there's a little bit of SAP wood and some defects here and there let's lift those over to the bottom so you wouldn't see them now it's time for the glue up I use parallel clamps but you can use inexpensive bar clamps or even quick clamps here after getting my supplies I stack the board's together and then I flip each one down so the face to get the glue is up now I just slather that glue on there and I spread the glue evenly over all the boards I'm using type on to a water resistant glue versus type on three a waterproof glue I always get asked why don't you use waterproof glue and basically I don't think it's needed on tight bonds website they actually list cutting boards as a recommended use for both of these blues so if they're cool with it then I'm cool with it with the glue spread I rotate the pieces back into place and line them up and plant them all together until I get a good glue squeeze-out you can wait about 30 or 45 minutes and come back and scrape off the glue squeeze-out at that point but I like setting a timer and having to come back so I just scrape the excess off with my glue brush and then I wipe the whole thing down with a wet paper towel I let the glue dry overnight and then I take the boards out of the clamps there's usually a little bit of dried glue where the clamps were and I knock those pieces off with a scraper or a putty knife I take one more trip over to the planer to even out any misalignment from the glue once the board is smooth on both sides I'm done it only takes a few light passes to get there you can see the board here is still almost an inch and a quarter after the whole process so you're really not taking off a lot next I square up the end of each board on the table saw using my crosscut sled and I cut it to final length which here ended up being a smidge under 16 inches next up is the edge treatment in the sanding I use my down draft sanding table for these steps I made a version specifically to fit the size of the boards that I build I use the sixteenth of an inch roundover bit in my handheld router and I start with the end grain and then move on to the sides if you have a router table this is be much easier but this turn router is nice and easy to handle before sanding I draw a pencil marks on the face of the board this lets me know when I've sanded that very top surface away and I'm ready for the next grit I start with 100 grit and I sand the faces of the board and then I arrange the board up a little bit higher and I sand the edges right there on the table as well after a hundred I move up to 150 grit and I'll repeat the same process now here's an important step especially for these edge grain boards after 150 grit I spray down the board with water this raises the grain on the board and it makes it rough to the touch basically you're making all the severed wood fibers from the milling stand up on the board wet it down and let it dry if you skip this step the first time that you wash your new board it's going to feel really rough and if you've gifted this to your old Aunt Betty she's gonna question your woodworking prowess don't disappoint Aunt Betty after it dries I sand it to 220 grit then I use the flexible sanding pad and I smooth it up all the edges making sure everything has got a nice round to it and everything feels smooth after that I finish out my hand sanding with 320 and 400 grit paper for that super smooth finish now this is everybody's favorite part oiling the board this is where this comes the lights I'm using just 100% mineral oil this is food safe this is from just any grocery store or large box store you can get that from soaked as much as you can on there I'm going to put it on here show you show you how it comes to life no narration needed for this part just sit back and watch this grain depart the final step I'm going to take is to put on a top coat of beeswax and mineral oil blend I'll have a link down below to what it is but this basically gives it some extra protection against the water and well as the beeswax lets you buff it to a nice Sheen the wax is set up I'm just going to buff this out with a dry shop towel and this is going to look beautiful there's links down below to all the items I use today as well as a detailed blog post if you like what you saw go ahead and subscribe you can do that right here or below as well if you hit that Bell it will turn on notifications and you'll know every time I post a new video until next time guys get out there and build something awesome

Channel: Fix This Build That

Views: 1,238,551

Keywords: how to make a cutting board, making cutting boards, wooden cutting boards, wood cutting board, cutting board, cutting boards, edge grain cutting board, end grain cutting board, cutting board tutorial, diy cutting board, mtmwood, woodworking for mere mortals, wood whisperer, woodworking, woodwork, diy, diy project, fixthisbuildthat, fix this build that, woodworking project, how to make your own cutting board, making a cutting board, cuttingboard

Id: aONpB1yOlpE

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 21 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/benzethonium]

Beautiful. My only question is concerning the top, which you say you carefully scrutinized the wood to ensure the best is on the top. Which side is it? Does it really matter now, and how is aunty supposed to know which side is up? Thanks.

[u/[deleted]]

Does the beeswax provide any protection against a knife? Is this just more of a showpiece or will this hold up to everyday normal cutting board use? How does the knife blade not damage the wood?

[u/hicketre2006]

I'm sorry if this is a bit intrusive, and you can choose to not answer the question. As I was watching, I was laying here thinking, "How can all these people afford these great woodworking tools and machines?" So, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living? Or rather, how much would you say you've invested in your shop?

I would love to have something like this someday to create cutting boards and all sorts of projects, perhaps as gifts. I graduate in May and maybe I can start building up a collection? As it stands, I have a Dremel 4000 and a drill. lol - So, quite a ways to go I suppose.

LOVE the cutting board by the way. I've been searching around for something like it, but everything is just too expensive for me right now. So, I resort to a crappy bamboo thing I have. ha