I made this end grain cutting board out of assorted hardwoods. It’s 1-1/8″ thick, 15″ wide and 20″ long. Got it sanded flat and was very excited with how its coming out. I’ve let the glue set up overnight while in the house, and thought that the consistent temperature and humidity would help. Further thought that the end-grain design would keep it flat.
Sadly, I came downstairs the other day and the thing had a terrible bow in it, about 3/8″ across the long side! I put cauls on it, and now it’s flat again, but I certainly don’t want the bow to come back after I deliver it to my friends.
I was considering adding a sliding dovetail rail/foot to the underside, running along its length. I have some quartersawn white oak and ash which would work. I don’t have enough flat-sawn stock.
Questions:
1. Would quartersawn be strong enough?
2. Would 3/4″ wide x 3/4″ high rails be strong enough, or should they be wider or taller? I want to make it as short as practical, to keep the board height short.
Thanks!
Ken
Replies
I hate to say it, but IMO that board is doomed to fail. If I were to guess, first would be at the corners where the long and edge grain meet up as butt joints. The bricklaid long sections and the interior field may or may not expand and contract together... with the selection of species in there it is tough to say, but inch-thick wood is gonna move.
Cutting deep dovetail slots for the feet would likely become stress risers and failure lines.... again all just my opinion.
The center field is the most stable area and would have the best chance of survival if the outer border was cut off. Eventually every cutting board winds up a little too wet for a little too long, and usually on one side. The real test is how it dries and settles back after it happens.
This is one time when I hope EVERYONE will disagree with me.
I was thinkinking the same thing. The center is probably stable, but the outside border is causing the issues, and will continue to.
I'm not entirely sure that I understand the "long and edge grain meet up" comment. I thought that I was doing it right by gluing edge grain to edge grain, throughout the field and the border. But I trust ya...
Appreciate your comment on the dovetail slots.
Would it work if I cut the border away and re-oriented the new border in one of the two ways in the attached pictures? Or what if I create the border from smaller 3/4 x 3/4 squares, again glued up with end grain showing?
Thanks for your thoughtful comments!
Your border will move the most along the red arrows and will be almost static in the blue planes. The areas they are glued to each other will be stressed. The outer border boards will move more and pull on the inner ones that are glued to the field and opposing edges.
Without knowing what the field will do you can't really predict a "best" way to add a border except that the best way is not to... if it's not there the field is free to do what it will.
If the field was actually made of the brown planks in your drawings I would expect the image on the right to have the better chance at survival. Good luck!!
That's a fantastic illustration! Thanks so much.
The field is a combination of cherry, white oak, walnut, ash, and maple. It sat for a few days by itself and it remained flat, so you're right that it's more stable. I added the white oak border for a few reasons, to make the board larger, and to provide a plain background for laser etching.
Agreed on the points mentioned here.
Not sure I agree here, its all end grain, including the center so why would the edges change more than the rest ? I think its just too thin for a butcher block style board.
My take on this is that the border of wider boards will behave like sections of a 20" wide tabletop on two sides and sections of a 15" wide tabletop on the other two. The center field being a random pattern of small bits will probably expand equally in all directions...maybe.
I agree that the whole thing is thin for an end-grain cutting board.
I'm not sure if the board will hold together or not. It will depend on the relative expansion/contraction characteristics of the interior vs the border. Shrinkage can vary a lot from one species to the next. There is no cross grain construction by your design, which improves the odds of it holding together.
To get back to the original issue, did you perhaps leave the board sitting flat on a surface after glue-up? Did you use a water based glue? If so, the top would lose thr glue moisture quickly and the bottom would absorb the moisture into the fibers, causing the bottom to swell.
What I would recommend is that you leave the board with equal access of air to both sides for a week or two (and not in direct sunlight), then re-flatten and immediately seal both sides thoroughly with whatever food grade finish you plan to use. Then advise your friends that the board will hold up better if they wash and dry it immediately after use, but there are no guarantees. I don't think the dovetail idea will help much in the dimensions that would be small enough, and might further stress the board.
I've been thinking a lot about the comments here. As much as I'd like to salvage the center mosaic, I'm thinking that it'll be as difficult and time consuming as it would be to start over. This will be a wedding present, so I definitely don't want it returned!
What thickness do y'all typically use for end grain?
1.5-2"... 1.75" is the sweet spot. Bigger boards thicker, small ones lighter.
If you didn't want to trash the board. I would put some rubber feet on the bottom and level it out so it doesn't rock and keep it for yourself or give it to someone you didn't like (JK). You can always leave it smiley face up and see if it flattens out some.
But sometimes you got to call a spade and spade and move on. I built a whole dresser one time and had most of the drawers done and had to trash it bc the panels for the carcass warped pretty bad. Now if lives on as an edge grain cutting board.
This is gold. Sometimes you just have to start again. Wood is a natural material and does not always do what you expect.
Sadly, making things end-grain does not stop the wood movement. End grain boards are buggers for moving and splitting if they are actually used. I prefer a good side-grain board for this reason.
I agree with the wood movement assessment here. If you have any hesitation about making it smaller don't. I've made different size boards and the bigger ones don't get used nearly as often. There is a sweet spot on cutting board sizes in most kitchens. Make something to go with it as a set. Perhaps coasters or a cheese board and cheese knife.
I made a replacement cutting board, keeping all of strips oriented the same (side to side). It's 15" x 20" x 1.75". Got it pretty much flat with the belt sander, and let it sit in the basement. All seemed good... for a little while. I put it in the basement utility room one night and sadly, it bowed along the long axis, about 1/4" over 20" length. Not as bad as the original. I put some cauls on it and flattened it back again and kept it in the basement rec room. And it's stayed flat for a few days... I'm wondering if the gas boiler in the utility room might have a different humidity level. I've oiled it up, kept it out of the utility room, and will see how it stands up.
And for the original board, I flattened it with cauls, too, and it's stayed pretty flat in the basement rec room. I'm going to oil it up and keep it "in reserve", see how it holds up.
Nice board! Get it up an a couple of stickers while it waits to go to its new home. Sitting on plastic the top & bottom surfaces will be gaining & losing moisture unevenly. This takes care of itself in a kitchen bacause they are usually stored standing on edge and dry evenly.