Thumbling Blocks

This cutting board was my second try at cutting boards.

This board was a little more challenging.

I followed Degoose blog: http://lumberjocks.com/degoose/blog/10460
It is very detailed.

I had few hiccups along the way:

I started with only 1 “hexagonal sausage” thinking I would make my pieces 3/4” thick and that would give me a decent size board..

Well I changed my mind and decided to go for 1” and 1/8 thick to be left with about 1” after sanding. That meant I run out of material pretty quickly.

So I made a couple of more “sausages” but the setup was no longer the same on may tablesaw and the planer also. It did not matter how closely I tried to match the original pieces thickness the new setup was a tiny tiny off. That came back and haunted me during the glue up.

Lesson learned: Make enough of the hexagonal sausage with the same setup.

Sanding was a little cumbersome and I must say I am sloppy at sanding. End grain seems a little harder to sand than long grain.

Finish was much easier; just socked it with mineral oil on both sides, waited a couple of hours and wipe it clean.
The next day I applied a layer of butcher block oil (mineral oil and bees wax) let it soak in for a couple hours and rubbed it clean. Did the same thing again the following day.
I loved seeing dripping oil from the other side of the board (end grain).

The glue up was the most tedious. Those tiny differences add up and some adjustment (sand paper) were necessary to fit those pieces.

I still had some blotches from the glue that was absorbed through the end grain during clamping; that I could not remove. Also in my hurry to finish glue up before the glue dries on me, I flipped a couple of blocks.

Cut it to length et voila.

Wood used: White oak, maple and dark walnut.