CLASSY

CUTTING
BOARDS

© 2009 August Home Publishing Co.

 Feature
Project

Classy Cutting Boards

Sweeping arcs and cherry accents help make these kitchen accessories
as attractive as they are practical.

W hen it comes to choos-

ing a material to make
cutting boards out of, it’s
hard to beat wood. Natural wood
you need one that’s fairly large and
other times when a smaller board
will do just fine. And that’s why this
set of cutting boards is ideal.
has a charm and warmth that can’t These three cutting boards are
be matched by other surfaces. really the same design, just in a
Plus, wood doesn’t dull knives like variety sizes. They’re made of edge-
some other materials. grain maple. And each one has a
But the question I usually face is cherry handle with a finger hole,
what’s the best size to make a cut- making them easy to move around { The cutting boards can perform
ting board. There are times when and hang up for storage. double-duty as serving trays.

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Making the Boards b.
Each of these cutting boards is
made up of three parts — the panel,
a handle, and a spline. I started by
making the boards first.
EDGE-GRAIN BLANKS. All the boards
start out as oversize blanks glued
up from strips of maple. But there’s
something worth noting here. I cut
the 1"-wide strips out of 13⁄4"-thick
stock, and then rotated each strip
90° so the edge grain is facing up
(detail ‘a’) before gluing them.
The reason for this is simple. Edge
grain is tighter, harder, and will hold
up better than the face grain. Plus,
an edge-grain blank is less likely to
warp than a blank that is glued up
from face grain strips.
One other thing: You’ll want to use
a waterproof glue when gluing up the
blanks. (I used Titebond III.) But
even with this glue, it’s a good idea
to keep the finished cutting boards a.
out of the dishwasher.
SLOTS. After cutting the blanks to
overall size, you’ll need to cut a slot
on each end of the blanks. These
slots will hold the handles and splines
that will be added later. But it’s a lot
easier to cut these slots while the
blanks are still square, rather than out the profiles, I made a template saw and then sand them smooth
after the profiles have been made on out of hardboard (detail ‘b’). with a drum sander.
the ends (refer to the How-To box at Centerlines drawn on the tem- The last step before moving on to
the bottom of the page). plate and the blanks will help you making the handles and splines is to
PROFILES. Even though the boards line everything up. After tracing the rout a chamfer around all the edges.
are different sizes, the profiles on profiles on the ends of the blanks, I did this on the router table, as you
the ends are identical. To help lay you can cut them out on the band can see in the box below.

HOW-TO: CUTTING BOARD DETAILS

a. a.

Cut the Slots. You’ll need to use a tall auxiliary fence and special Chamfer the Edges. After cutting the boards to final size
push block to cut the slots in the ends of the cutting boards. and shape, I eased the edges by routing a chamfer around
Shop Notebook on page 5 shows how this is done. both sides of each cutting board on my router table.

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 !/4"-dia.
a.
Dowel

1"-dia.
b.

c.

Adding the Handles

If you take a look at the drawing then sand the edges to the line. Next, WOOD MOVEMENT. As mentioned ear-
above, you’ll see that each cutting you can take the handles over to your lier, the handles and splines are pinned
board has a handle (with a finger drill press and drill the finger holes in place with dowels. To drill the holes
hole) at one end and a spline at with a Forstner bit. I also chamfered for the dowels, I simply inserted the
the other. These pieces are pinned the edges of the finger holes before handles and splines into the ends of
in place with hardwood dowels. I starting to work on the splines. the cutting boards and then drilled
started with the handles. SPLINES. Unlike the handles, the the holes. But because the grain of the
HANDLES. The radius of each of the splines are flush with the ends of handles and splines runs perpendicular
three handles is slightly different the cutting boards. To get the best to the grain of the cutting board, you’ll
(detail ‘c’). After laying out the arcs fit, I started by cutting the splines to have to allow for wood movement.
(see How-To below), you’ll want to rough size. After they are pinned in To do this, I just elongated the
cut them proud of the layout line and place, you can rout them flush. outer holes on each handle and

HOW-TO: CUTTING THE ARCS

Lay Out the Arc. This simple jig will help Cut to Shape. After laying out the arcs, Sand to Final Size. Sand the handles
you draw the proper arc for each handle cut the handles to rough shape, staying to their final shapes before drilling the
of the cutting boards. to the waste side of the layout lines. finger holes with a Forstner bit.

No.
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spline, using a hand drill. This
allows the maple strips in the panels
to expand and contract freely with
changes in humidity.
The handles and splines are
installed using just a little glue in the
center. Then the dowels are driven in
place and sanded flush with the sur-
face of the cutting board. After this
is done, you can trim the spline flush
with the end of the cutting board,
using a router and a flush-trim bit,
as you can see in the box below.
JUICE GROOVE. At this point, the two
smaller boards are done. But there’s
one more detail to add to the large a. b.
board — a “juice groove.” This is a
channel that runs around the board
to capture the juices from any food
that you may cut.
To make the juice groove, I used
a router and a template, as shown in
the drawing at right. The template
is just a piece of hardboard shaped
to mimic the profile of the cutting
board. I mounted the template to
the board using carpet tape.
When you’re ready to rout the
materials & hardware
groove, install a bushing and a core Large Cutting Board Small Cutting Board
box bit in your router. I set the depth A Panel (1) 1 x 12 - 18 A Panel (1) 1 x 8 - 12
of the bit to cut a groove that’s 3⁄16" B Handle (1) 3 ⁄ x 3 - 12
8 B Handle (1) 3⁄ x 3 - 8
8
deep. Then it’s just a matter of rout- C Spline (1) 3 ⁄ x 2 - 12
8 C Spline (1) 3⁄ x 2 - 8
8
ing in a counterclockwise direction
around the template. Medium Cutting Board • (1) 1/4"-dia. Cherry Dowel (36" long)
Once the groove is done, the final A Panel (1) 1 x 10 - 15
step is to apply a finish. I used Gen- B Handle (1) 3 ⁄ x 3 - 10
8
eral Finishes’ Salad Bowl Finish on C Spline (1) 3 ⁄ x 2 - 10
8
the cutting boards.

HOW-TO: TRIM EDGES EVEN

Shop Tip: Flat Bottom
a.
a.

Flush Trim. After securing the spline into a cutting board with hard-
wood dowel pins, use a flush-trim router bit to trim them even with Sand Bottom Smooth. To get the bottom of the dado
the bottom arc of the cutting board. perfectly flat, wrap 120-grit sandpaper around a flat
strip of wood and sand until smooth.

No.
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 Cleat

Clamp tall
auxiliary
fence
to rip
fence
9!/2

Push block
Base supports
workpiece
Stand
from side
Cutting Deep Slots workpiece
on end
and rear to
make cut
Cherry accents really make the set
of cutting boards stand out. How-
ever, it can be a challenge to cut the Handle
deep slots in the end of the boards
on a table saw. There’s just not
enough backing to hold the parts.
To solve this problem, I built a
push block specifically for tall work-
pieces. Used in combination with a #/8" dado
blade
tall auxiliary fence, it provides solid
support for this task.
Making the push block is fairly a little off-center to give you good
straightforward. It’s made from leverage when pushing the work- a. TOP VIEW

three pieces of 3⁄4" plywood. Detail piece through the blade. Rip fence
‘a’ on the right gives you all the in- A cleat attached to the back of Tall aux. fence
formation you need to build it. the base pushes the workpiece Workpiece &/8
The base and handle are simply from behind. You’ll want to trim Push block
glued together. The wide footprint the cleat so it clears the fence, but
3
of the base will provide plenty of leave it deep enough to help pre- 1%/8
6
support along the side of the work- vent chipout while you’re pushing a
piece. The handle is set back just workpiece through the blade.

No.
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