After giving away every cutting board I had to people for Christmas, I had to make one for my wife. I made this one "extra chunky."

It is 12.5 x 15 x 2.5.

It is mesquite with an oak border. The mesquite is from a dead tree on my property and the oak is from a recycled pallet.

Now THAT is nice!

Great job, hope she liked it.

Great work!!

Perfect

Nice work.

Looks awesome!

beautiful

Very nice

one of my favorite woods to work with, the 2011 Bastrop fire destroyed the sawmill that was my source for mesquite & walnut, they had their own kiln.

That looks very nice.

Very nice! How bout some details on how you made it!

Great work

Started with mesquite logs.

I screwed a 2x4 onto each log and used it as a guide to get a fairly straight cut with the chainsaw.

From there I milled the logs out using the tablesaw, jointer and planer. This is the longest most difficult part. If I just bought milled lumber, I could crank these out by the truckload, but I think I enjoy making the lumber just as much as I do making the cutting boards.

Once I had the size I wanted (roughly 2" x 2" and 18" long strips) I glued them up side by side, clamped them and let them dry overnight. I use either Titebond III or Gorilla wood glue because both are FDA food safe.
This is the only pic I have of the process.......



I then planed both sides of this so they would joint up tight. I then crosscut the slab into 2.5" sections. Turned them on end and rotated and flipped every other one to stagger the grain. Then glued them up, clamped them
and set it to dry overnight.

At this point you have the finished square pattern. Some people will run them through the planer again at this point but I don't. It's never a good idea to put end grain through a planer. It's very probable that either you or the planer will get broken.

If you were careful during glue up, it is pretty flat at this point anyway. I hit it with a belt sander with 80 grit and get everything evened out.

This one had a couple of boards that had bark inclusions all the way through so I filled those voids with 2 part epoxy and then sanded that down even after it dried.

I cut the outer edges on the tablesaw to get them all square and then glued on the outer border.

I then hit it all over again with 80, then 150, then 220. Sanding is the second longest part of the process.

I heated the surfaces with a blow dryer and then put on Howards butcher block conditioner. It's a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. I usually melt the stuff after I put it oon and just rub it in with my hand. I put on a pretty thick coat this way and then let it sit for about 10 minutes, then hit it with the heat again.

Wipe it off and it is ready to go!


Next time I make one I will take more pictures and post them.

This isn't the actual log I used for the cutting board, but it gives you an idea of how I cut it with the chainsaw.

Do you have to retreat occasionally with the conditioner as the board is used?

Very nice!!

Excellent job! I've gotta get busy AFTER deer season and make a few of these.

You got a real talent there. Great job! Anyone should be proud to have that in their kitchen.

That's a real beauty. Trying to talk myself into the shop space and money for a planer and jointer.

Amazing

Excellent craftsmanship!