Cutting board plans, sized to your space

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw or miter saw
• Bar or pipe clamps (3), opening to at least 24″
• Two straight boards as cauls, a little longer than the board is wide
• Random-orbit sander with 80, 120, 180 and 220 grit
• Fine-tooth saw blade
• Old chisel or card scraper for dried glue
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Understand the grain

   Wood is a bundle of long fibres, like a bunch of drinking straws glued together, running the length of the board. That direction is the grain. A board has three kinds of surface: the wide face (face grain), the narrow side (edge grain), and the cut end, where you look into the ends of the straws (end grain).

   This board is edge grain: each strip is turned on its narrow side, so the edges of the fibres face up, and the strips are glued wide face to wide face. Every glue joint runs along the grain, which is the strongest joint wood can make, and the edge of the fibres is tougher than the face, so it wears slowly under a knife.

   Look at the end of each strip: the curved lines are the growth rings, one per year of the tree.

   • Tip End-grain boards (the checkerboard kind) are kinder to knives but take twice the glue-ups. Edge grain is the right first board.

   ✓ Hold a strip on its edge and look at the end: the growth rings run up and down or at a slant, not flat across.

4. 4Pick and arrange the strips

   Reject any strip with a crack, a knot, or a bow you can see when you sight down it.

   Lay all 17 strips on their narrow edges, side by side. Shuffle them until the colour looks good.

   Now look at the ends. Turn every other strip end for end so the growth-ring curves alternate: smile, frown, smile. Any cupping in one strip is then pulled the other way by its neighbour, and the board stays flat.

   Draw a big pencil triangle across the tops of all the strips so you can put them back in order in seconds.

   ✓ Pushed together, the strips make a block about 12 3/4″ wide with no gaps you can see light through.

5. 5Cut the strips to length

   Cut every strip to 19″: 1″ longer than the finished board, so you can trim the uneven ends after the glue-up.

   Clamp a stop block to the saw so every strip comes out the same without measuring each one.

   ✓ Stand the strips on end on a flat surface: their tops are all even.

6. 6Glue up the strips

   Dry-fit first: set 3 clamps on a flat bench, opened to about 24″, every 6″. Lay the strips across them on their edges, in order, and close the clamps gently. Then take the strips off and lay them down again in order.

   Spread a thin, even coat of waterproof glue on one wide face of each strip (not the outside two faces) with an old card or a small roller.

   Stand the strips back on the clamps. Put one more clamp across the top in between each bottom clamp, so the pressure is even top and bottom. Tighten from the middle out, firmly but not with all your strength.

   Tap any strip that sits proud down with a mallet. Clamp the two cauls across each end, over and under the board, to hold the strips level.

   • Tip Wax-paper under the cauls stops them gluing themselves to the board.
   • Tip Leave the squeeze-out until it is rubbery (30–45 minutes), then scrape it off with an old chisel. Wiping wet glue smears it into the wood.
   • Tip Let it sit 24 hours before you flatten it.

   ✓ A bead of glue squeezes out along every joint, about one bead per inch. No squeeze-out means too little glue there; add a clamp.

   STOP. You have about 10 minutes from the first glue to the last clamp. Have everything laid out before you open the bottle.

7. 7Flatten and trim

   Scrape off any dried glue first: glue dulls sandpaper fast.

   Sand both faces with 80 grit until every strip is level with its neighbours. Sand at a slant across the strips first, then along them to remove the scratches.

   Trim 1/2″ off each end with a fine-tooth blade so the board is 18″ long with square ends.

   • Tip Mark the whole face with a light pencil scribble. When the scribble has sanded off everywhere, the face is flat.

   ✓ Lay a straightedge across the face in several places: no light under it. The board is now about 12 1/2″ × 1 3/8″.

8. 8Ease the edges

   Round every edge and corner slightly with sandpaper wrapped around a block, or a 1/8″ round-over bit. Sharp corners chip and catch on towels.

   ✓ Run your hand around every edge: nothing sharp catches.

9. 9Sand smooth and raise the grain

   Sand everything with 120, then 180, then 220 grit.

   Wipe the whole board with a damp cloth and let it dry for an hour. The water lifts loose fibres so the board feels fuzzy; this is what would happen the first time you wash it.

   Sand lightly with 220 again to cut the fuzz off. Now it stays smooth when it gets wet.

   ✓ After the second 220 sanding, the board feels smooth even where you wet it.

10. 10Oil the board

    Flood mineral oil over every face and edge, ends especially (the ends soak up the most). Let it soak 20 minutes, then wipe off what is left.

    Repeat once a day for four days, then rub in board cream and buff it off the next day.

    Care: hand-wash and stand it on edge to dry. Never put it in the dishwasher or leave it soaking. Re-oil once a month or whenever it looks pale.

    • Tip Throw oily rags in a bucket of water or lay them flat outside to dry. Mineral oil doesn't self-heat, but board cream with other oils in it can.

    ✓ Water beads on the surface instead of soaking in.